Why do people feel the need to justify merriment? It’s almost as if maybe they feel bad for those that might not have anything exciting to celebrate, like a birthday, anniversary, new job or anything else that seems a monumental change in life; so, they want to give an explanation for their happiness and wanting to share it. Perhaps they don’t want to be a braggart by boasting about something good that happened to them or their family. Or, possibly they think they need to knock themselves down just a bit, feeling the negative, in order to enjoy the celebration?

“It’s a milestone,” you might hear at someone’s 60^th birthday festivities; or, “we didn’t think he’d get through school,” if you are invited to a graduation party. What a shame that people think there has to be a need to celebrate. A few times in the last year, while being seated at a restaurant, I’ve been asked, “celebrating anything with us tonight?” “Yes, Thursday!” is a similar answer that I provided. Every day can provide us with some reason to celebrate; and, we should be pleased to give a “good for you” back to whoever has found a reason to celebrate life, love or whatever happiness has come their way.

In just the past week, I’ve heard, “there is so much sadness in the world that we felt the need to host a party to celebrate something good” or “just in case someone isn’t around in ten years that we would want here, we felt, we should get everyone together”. Well, how about the truth – the world for anyone, at any time, could be over tomorrow. If the sun doesn’t rise for you tomorrow, will you be able to say that you lived well and did your best to enjoy what you had? If not, take a moment of your day and think of something positive that you are happy about – I promise it will make your day better. It can be anything…you got a call from someone you are pleased to be able to call a friend for many years; you turn on the television to miraculously find the beginning of one of your favorite movie scenes starting; your tea was just the right temperature with your breakfast this morning; you are wearing comfy shoes; you missed most of the red lights on the way to work…it doesn’t have to be anything big, it just has to be something that makes you smile. There doesn’t always need to be a scale of happiness. I guarantee ten mini happy things can provide just as positive an outlook as one big happy thing.

Yes, I guess you’ve figured that I’m a glass ½ full kind of person.

A few weeks ago, I found a bracelet that featured a cloud charm. I stared at it for a while, puzzled, trying to understand why someone might want a bracelet with a cloud on it. And then I read the attached card. The cloud was surrounded in sterling silver. It wasn’t just a cloud; it was a cloud with a silver lining. Genius, I thought! Here on this little beaded bracelet was the most profound sentiment. You can choose to focus on the cloud, or take just a moment to look a little closer to notice the silver lining – I’m sure most people miss it. There is always something positive to find no matter the gloom. And, it’s the way I try to look at every situation, despite the despair. When I concentrate on the loved ones I’ve lost, and feel the hurt in my heart, I get a bit of comfort in the rationalization that the only reason it hurts so much is because the moments spent with them were so wonderful, meaningful and good. If I didn’t have the positive experiences, it certainly wouldn’t hurt so much to know those moments are gone. So, how lucky I was to have had all those happy times.

You can only experience as far down the sad spectrum as you have experienced the opposite in the other, joyful, direction. When life gets you down, try to realize you’ve also been that far on the happy side, at some point. Perhaps others haven’t been so fortunate. Ah-ha…something to be thankful for. There is always something to be thankful for, even if you don’t immediately see it.

We don’t always know the path not traveled. I always think of what else could have gone wrong – even the ultimate doom of a possible situation – and figure that maybe, just maybe, any setback was only because the other path would have led to much worse. I have never found a moment where there wasn’t a worse possible scenario or outcome I could envision. Yet another reason to be thankful.

Think about it…the elevator could have plummeted to the ground in what felt like an agonizing eternity where your life flashed before you; the doors of the elevator opening just wide enough to reveal (to those that survived the crash) that the rest of the building’s tenants have now been turned, by an alien civilization’s evilly-devised chemical weapon, into flesh-eating zombies – which you only escaped because the molecules of the chemicals were affected so heavily by gravity that they didn’t make it up to the 30^th floor; and, even though you are severely injured, you run, limping in pain, past the attacking zombies onto the street and into the worst blizzard history has ever seen; of course, you don’t have a coat. Narrowly making it to your car, you realize that your keys are back up on the 30^th floor, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, you are out of gas and a rabid wolf attacked you earlier in the day, running away with your wallet, so you have no money to buy any gas, even if you could make it to the gas station. Really? Instead you got onto an elevator and immediately noticed that the pesky kid inside just pushed the button to every single floor and now you are going to be a few minutes late to the meeting where your boss ended up firing you.  Okay, you got fired, but maybe that means you are meant to find a job in the next few months that is going to bring you so much more happiness.  And, in the meantime, whew, at least it wasn’t a blizzardy, zombie invested, elevator crash.  See? Those thankful moments are all around!

So, make no excuses for a sunny disposition. Believe in karma and that what you put out into the world comes back. That maybe positivity begets positivity. Just because others can’t find the sliver of an optimistic outlook among the gloomy vision ahead, doesn’t mean it’s not there. If there were more positivity in the world, I would hope there would be less worry and more enjoyment. Less discourtesy and more kindness. Less violence and more peace. A world where maybe it would no longer be so difficult to see that silver lining.

Give yourself permission to celebrate a small accomplishment, a mammoth triumph or, if you feel like it, even just celebrate Thursday.  #50WeeksTo50