You cannot control what happens, as I’m sure you are well aware. However, you do get to choose how you let it effect you. Happiness is a choice. It’s easy to be happy when things are going your way. The hard part is making that choice when they aren’t. This doesn’t mean that you have to be happy about stepping in gum, or getting a bad parking spot, or receiving bad news. All of these suck but instead of staying there with your thoughts, in the suck, I choose to say something to myself like, “this sucks but I’m glad I had shoes on when I stepped in the gum,” or, “this parking spot isn’t great, but at least it’s not icy out and I’m getting in a few more steps,” or “this news isn’t what I was hoping for, but it could be worse.” It’s sort of like when I was a kid and we played this game called, “Slug Bug”. For those not familiar with the game…it was often played in the car on long car rides, when you spotted a Volkswagen Beetle (aka. Slug Bug), you yelled ‘Slug Bug’ along with the color of the vehicle and if you were the first person to do so, you got to punch (ie. slug) someone riding with you in the arm. It was fun, especially when you were the first to spot the Slug Bug, you’re just going to have to trust me on this. Anyhow, my point is, when we were looking for Slug Bugs, we saw a lot more of them. This is so true in life as well. If you are looking for the negative, you most certainly are going to find it. The opposite is true as well. When I started this journey and things weren’t going my way, sometimes all I could muster was to repeat to myself, “I’m going to choose to be happy and grateful.” Sometimes that’s all you have in you and that is ok. I challenge you to give it a try. Choose to slug yourself happy.