12.
I am often asked: "Are you happy ALL the time?" My answer is no.
[Sidenote: Continuous Happiness Impossible.]
A continuous state of happiness cannot be enjoyed by any human. There are no plans, no habits, no methods of living that will insure unbroken happiness. Happiness means periods or marking posts in our journey along life"s road. These high points of bliss are enjoyed because we have to walk through the low places between times.
Continuous sunshine, continuous warm weather, continuous rest, continuous travel, continuous anything spells monotony. We must have variety.
We need the night to make us enjoy the day, winter to make us enjoy summer, clouds to make us enjoy sunshine, sorrow to make us enjoy happiness.
But, dear reader, mark this: We can be philosophical, and have content, serenity and poise between the happiness periods.
When you get blue, or have dread or sorrow, or possess that indescribable something that makes you feel badly; when you have worry or trouble, then"s the time to get hold of your thinking machinery and dispel the shadows that cross your path.
Occupation and focusing your thoughts on your blessings--these are the methods to employ.
As long as you dwell upon your imagined or your real sorrows, you will be miserable and the worries will magnify like gathering clouds in April.
[Sidenote: Think Happiness.]
Change your thoughts to confidence, faith, and good cheer, and busy your hands with work. Think of the happiness periods you have had, and know that there are further happiness dividends coming to you. Keep this sort of thought, and with it, useful occupation, and the sunshine will dispel your gloomy forebodings and sorrow thoughts like the sun dispels the April showers, bringing about a more beautiful day because of the clouds and storms just pa.s.sed.
When trouble or sorrows come, sweeten your cup with sugar remembrances of joys that have been and joys you are to have.
Envy no one; envy breeds worry. The person you would envy has his sorrows and shadows, too. You see him only when the sunlight is on the face; you don"t see him when he is in shadowland.
[Sidenote: Brace Up, Cheer Up.]
No, dear ones, I, nor you, nor anyone on earth can have complete, unruffled, continued happiness, but we can brace up and call our reserve will-power, reason, and self-confidence into action when we come to the marshy places along the road. We can pick our steps and get through the mire, and sooner than we believe it possible, we can get on the good solid ground; and as we travel, happiness will often come as a reward for our poise and patience.
My friends say: "You always seem happy," and in that saying they tell a truth, for I am happy often--very, very often--and between times I make myself seem to be happy. This making myself "seem to be happy" gives me serenity, contentment, fort.i.tude, and the very "seeming" soon blossoms into a reality of the condition I seem to be in.
You can be happy often, and when you are not happy, just seem to be happy anyway; it will help you much.
13.
A little child is crying over a real or fancied injury to her body or to her pride.
So long as she keeps her mind on the subject she is miserable.
Distract her attention, get her mind on another subject, and her tears stop and smiles replace frowns.
This shows how we are creatures of our thoughts. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" is a truth that has endured through the centuries.
We are children in so far as we cry and suffer when we think of our ills or hurts or wrongs or bad luck.
We can smile and have peace, poise and strength if we change our thoughts to faith, courage and confidence.
[Sidenote: Fear-Thought and Faith-Thought.]
Our condition is what we make it. If we think fear, worry and misery, we will suffer. If we think faith, peace and happiness, we will enjoy life.
Every thought that comes out of our brain had to go in first. The kind of thoughts we have afford an indication of the kind of people we are.
If we feed our brain storehouse with trash and fear and nonsense, we have poor material to draw from.
[Sidenote: Thought Control.]
The last thought we put in the brain before going to sleep is most likely to last longest. So it is our duty to quietly relax, to slow down, to eliminate fear-thought and self-accusation, and to subst.i.tute some good helpful thought in closing the mental book of each day.
Therefore read a chapter or two from a worth-while book the last thing before going to bed.
Say to yourself, "I am unafraid; I can, I will awake in the morning with smiles on my face, courage in my heart, and song on my lips."
These suggestions for closing the day will be of instant help to you.
The great power for good--the wherewith to give you strength, progress and efficiency--is within yourself and at the command of your will.
You can"t think faith and fear, good and bad, courage and defeat, all at the same time.
You can only think one thing at a time.
Your great power is your will, and the wherewith to help yourself is your thought habit.
Change your thought habit as you go to bed. You can do it; it"s a matter of will determination. The more faithful you are to your purpose, the easier your task will be. Be patient, conscientious, rational and confident.
You are what your thoughts picture you to be. Your will directs your thoughts.
Don"t get discouraged if you can"t suddenly change your life from shadow to sunshine, from illness to wellness.
Big things take time and patience. The great ship lies in the harbor pointed North. A tug boat could make a sudden pull and break the great chain or tow line.
Yet you could take a half-inch rope and with your own hands turn the great ship completely around by pulling steadily and patiently. The movement would be slow, but it would be sure and you would finally accomplish your purpose.
Don"t jerk and fret and be impatient with yourself. You have been for years perhaps worrying and thinking fear-thoughts. You have put a lot of useless and harmful material in your brain.
You can"t clean all your brain house in a day or a week, but you can do a little cleaning each day.
You can take the faith-rope of good purpose and start to pull gently, and finally you will turn your whole life"s character toward the port of success.
The great crowd worries; only the few have learned the power of the will, and the benefits to be derived from mental control.