Happiness

I've been thinking a lot lately (I know... right?!) about happiness. Happiness is a choice we make every day to not be depressed. That's something I'm usually pretty good about. I pride myself on being a rather happy person, that doesn't let things get to her very often. Of course.. nobody's perfect.. and a sink full of dirty dishes definitely bugs. But that's beside the point. I realized that lately, in those quiet moments I have where I just have time to sit and think, that I've ended up feeling sad or just down. I don't really know why this is, but I'm going to change it.

Happiness is such an amazing thing. It doesn't just stay with you. If you are happy, it shows. If you are REALLY happy, you just can't contain it, and you have to go tell others about it to get them to feel the same way! Depression works the same way. If you are down, it shows. If you are REALLY down, you feel like you're going to explode and you have to go tell others about it. In church today someone told a story about a man that was driving home from work and got cut off. When he got home he was just about to tell his wife all about it and be upset, when he realized something along the lines of "She doesn't need to hear about it. There's no reason to walk into her day and make her upset about something too."

I love helping people. And I've been told I'm a good listener (I don't really know how you can be a bad listener... you just sit there) so it always makes me happy when someone feels comfortable enough with me to tell me about the problems they are having in their life. I love being that person that you can vent to, and I love knowing that people I care about can trust me. But I have also noticed that sometimes if I have too many people all venting to me at the same time, it really starts to drag me down with them.

I have decided that for this next week, I am going to focus on not complaining. I will only say things that are positive or helpful, and leave snide or sarcastic comments out of my conversations. I'm hoping that by the end of the week, I'll be able to see a difference in how others see me, and how I feel just overall. My goal is to have those quiet moments at the end of the day be filled with happiness, instead of heaviness. Here's hopin!