A colleague of mine always shows up with a smile on his face. In a recent conversation, I asked him how he manages that. He shared that he realized early in life that he hoped for 3 things –
(1) Good health
(2) Someone who’d love him as much as he loved them
(3) The ability to afford life’s “small pleasures” – a nice holiday, a lovely meal, a memory with family or friends
All 3 of these are part of his life now – so he has no excuses to not have a big smile on his face every day.
Hearing his story reminded me of two ideas.
First, happiness is reality over expectations. It helps to keep those expectations simple/low as it is much easier to shape our expectations vs. our reality.
And next, it isn’t happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.
Happy thanksgiving!
