___________ New Year

Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”


That’s true isn’t it? I’ve always been a bit amazed at how I’ve come accustomed to someone “wishing” me a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year as if it were a guarantee. After all, saying HAPPY NEW YEAR is really just a condensed version of, “I’m hoping you have a Happy New Year.” It’s a hope, not a promise. How merry we make our Christmas or how happy we make our New Year is really up to us isn’t it?

Sure, we can blame our lack of happiness on a death in the family or a divorce or the loss of a job. And it’s normal, in fact healthy, to feel sadness or loss at those things. We SHOULD feel that way. But does that mean we can’t be happy? I don’t think so. Happiness comes from a different place. It isn’t influenced by outside sources. It comes from waaaaaaaaaay down deep inside. It can be most difficult to find sometimes, but it’s there alright.

For some it just bubbles to the top like fizz from a soda. For others it’s more like a bubble escaping from a tar pit……perhaps a bit slower, if you will. But it’s there for everyone. Maybe you need a little help finding your happiness. That is certainly ok. What ISN’T ok is making it someone else’s job to find your happiness for you: to make them responsible for your happiness. That just isn’t fair, and frankly, it just doesn’t work. Those bubbles burst whether from soda or tar.

For some, not being happy is really nothing more than habit. Maybe some low spots in their lives led them to stop looking. Now THAT truly is sad. I believe we’re all here to be happy. So…..ok…..yes I get it. No one said it was going to be easy. In fact at many times it is excruciating, that search to the abyss where happiness lies. But it’s still a choice we each make personally as to whether or not we trudge on……searching, probing, learning, reeeeeeeeeeeeaaching.

As we near the end of a new year, a new decade, let’s support each other in mustering the strength to be happy. (And by the way, for those of you who think this isn’t the end of the decade, explain to me why 1970 wasn’t the last year of the 60’s). I can’t guarantee any of you a Happy New Year, but I can certainly wish you one, hope for one. And although I won’t be Happiness for you, I’ll certainly help you look for yours if you ask nice and I’m not too busy looking for mine.

Let’s do this. Let’s do everything we can to make 2010 a HAPPY year! It doesn’t have to start January 1, you know. Every day is the start of a new year. It all depends on when you start counting.

So raise a glass. Here’s wishing, hoping, and even praying for each and every one of you to have the best year yet. May the best of your past, be the worst of your future.

Matt