Keep a smile at least, and a happy attitude

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci …

Things can go wrong in life. In fact, I can be certain that my life will always involve a small amount of trouble and distress. The question I must ask myself then is this: “do I still keep my happiness when times like these come?” And if not, then why?

A few years back, I had some car problems on my way to a hockey game. While I was on the interstate, I noticed that the car was starting to rumble loudly, and deduced that either the road is in terrible condition and causing the vibrations, or I probably had a tire going flat. It was evident, of course, that he road was not in terrible shape, so I pulled over to assess the car. As I got out and looked at the back tire, I saw it was collapsing down, and at this point looked to be barely holding the rims off the road. “Just great,” I thought to myself. “Now there is no way I will make it in time to play.”

It was a nice day–not too hot with a soft breeze. However, my attitude grew quite sour. And as I spent the next couple hours changing my tire, and missing my game entirely, I was only thinking about how unfortunate I was to have this occur to me today.

The point of this story is twofold. First, I choose my attitude in life each moment of every day. I could have choose to be happy and at least enjoy and make the most of the time I have on this Earth, even though changing a tire was not the most enjoyable thing. But I did not. Secondly, who am I to look so negatively at the outcomes of life if they do not go my way? Who knows exactly what the grander scheme of life is? Perhaps what is unfolding before my very eyes is precisely what I need. Maybe I would have ended up in an accident had I not had a flat tire. Maybe I would have got hurt playing hockey and ended up in the ER. Who really knows? In the end, I missed one hockey game and had to cover the cost of replacing a tire–by no means was it the end of the world.

Our experience in life is determined by our attitudes… not by the things that life brings our way.

Keep a smile at least, and a happy attitude throughout the day.

Questions to consider:

Is there always just one way of looking at something that happens to us?

How can we learn to see things that happen to us in different ways?

Why does trouble and distress so often affect the way we act and the way we see the world?

For further thought:

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” ~ Marcus Aurelius