Reflections for a Better Year

In Praise of Cheerfulness “The highest wisdom is continual cheerfulness; such a state, like the region above the moon, is always clear and serene.” -Michel de Montaigne Cheerfulness, the tendency to feel and to be happy and positive is always preferable to its opposite, that gloomy sadness which keeps us looking downward and living in the mire and muck. Cheerfulness tends to raise our eyes to the blue skies and keeps us moving forward; sorrow and sadness tend to lower our gaze and look backward in regret and forward only in fear or anxiety over what tomorrow might bring. When problems arise, the cheerful person sees an interesting challenge or an exciting opportunity to grow. The gloomy pessimist sees only problems and more problems, and even positive events are viewed as potential difficulties. The cheerful person greets every new day as pregnant with possibilities whereas the gloomy pessimist sees it as full of snares and entrapments designed to ruin everything. Some people are blessed with a naturally cheerful disposition and sadly some are burdened with its opposite, but all of us have some control over our outlook and can, with conscious effort and work, improve our outlook. We are wise to remember that we don’t sing because we’re happy; we’re happy because we sing. If you’re feeling gloomy, go out and take a walk in the sunshine. Skip around the block or climb a tree. Do something cheerful and you will soon find that you are cheerful. “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 15:13 NIV