{"id":4861,"date":"2023-06-20T07:09:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T14:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/?p=4861"},"modified":"2023-07-08T14:24:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T21:24:58","slug":"choosing-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/2023\/06\/20\/choosing-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image.png 768w, https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The cutest wire formed into words hangs over my kitchen table. I put it there so each and every day I can remember my best friend, CC. She\u2019s the one that gave it to me as a housewarming present three years ago. Two words. \u201cCHOOSE HAPPINESS!\u201d That\u2019s something everyone in the world needs to do right now. Just sit down and be truly grateful for the blessings in our lives. Face it. No matter the trials we face, we all have an abundance of things for which be thankful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t buy a jar of \u201cHappy\u201d through Amazon. The biggest jackpot at the local casino won\u2019t do it. Even living in the best house on the best street in the most wonderful desert town won\u2019t do it. It sprouts from within. Very quietly at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Happiness strikes a chord in our heart when we find THE ONE THING we are supposed to do with our lives and do it. I\u2019m finally healed enough to go on with my journey.  MY ONE THING used to be teaching. It was my passion. A fire that never went out, but instead, was dwarfed by the flames of grief, sadness, and loneliness that&#8217;ve consumed me over the past two years.  The time is now to search for new gifts and talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No one can leave a box of happiness on your doorstep. It doesn\u2019t appear with prideful demands or expectations.   It just happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s  no measure to tell you when you\u2019ve found enough. Like painting, a small stroke turns into a smear and pretty soon, everyone who sees you knows you\u2019ve been painting the hallway. You might not even see it at first.   Internal happiness oozes out like that and friends begin to notice a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.\u201d&nbsp;<sub>George Bernard Shaw<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, isn\u2019t that is just the best quote ever?  &#8220;Feverish Selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy?&#8221;  I just love that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I intend to be thoroughly worn-out before I&#8217;m thrown into the scrap heap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I refuse to waste another moment as a \u201cfeverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I choose to be a force of nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What affirmations! The only person who can turn on the happy is me. It\u2019s a choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A year ago, I had the most wonderful lunch with three couples and a mom and daughter. Each individual couple carried heavy burdens. One couple would enjoy their mother on this earth only a few more days. One couple shared only three legs between the two of them. Everyone had scars from Covid. I was the \u201cPlus 1\/2\u201d that no one wants to be. Each one of us had reason to dominate the table with tales of woe. But we didn\u2019t choose to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, there we sat after church, brand new friends enjoying each other\u2019s company. For two hours, we laughed, enjoyed our meal, and got to know one another. Even the teen daughter, who had ever right to be very unhappy due to the 50 year age difference between us, added humor to the lunch, enjoying little conversations with everyone at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The man that had the best attitude of all had just had his leg amputated a few months before. With an infectious attitude of kindness and gratitude, he had us all laughing with his amazing stories during this most special lunch. It was an afternoon I will remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, make a choice today. As VST would always say, \u201cFake it \u2019til you make it.\u201d We all have our \u201csomethings\u201d that are unpleasant and painful. If we truly take inventory, we\u2019ll see that the basket that holds our \u201cbeautifuls\u201d overflows into a colorful puddle that can look a lot like happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More tomorrow.<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cutest wire formed into words hangs over my kitchen table. I put it there so each and every day I can remember my best friend, CC. She\u2019s the one that gave it to me as a housewarming present three years ago. Two words. \u201cCHOOSE HAPPINESS!\u201d That\u2019s something everyone in the world needs to do &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/2023\/06\/20\/choosing-happiness\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Choosing Happiness&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4861"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4864,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4861\/revisions\/4864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grievinggardener.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}