Cheerfulness
…having or showing good spirits, pleasant, bright, conducive to creating good spirits.
Cheerfulness, like laughter, is good for your health. Approaching everyday stressors with a cheerful attitude has benefits like reducing inflammation and blood pressure and contributing to an overall sense of well-being.
“Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.” ~Joseph Addison
The more often we succeed in managing daily stressors, the more empowered and confident we become in dealing with them. One of my favorite ways to put stress in perspective and get out of the spin cycle, is to remind myself that in a hundred years it will not matter. The inference is obvious; I will have moved on to a new dimension, and life is too short to sweat the small stuff.
There is an additional aspect of cheerfulness and calm. Seeing stress and worry as robbers and thieves, I choose not to entertain them. Hence not allowing them to steal my peace of mind, contentment, joy and gratitude.
“Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us.” ~Charlotte Bronte
“Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance – the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.” ~Thomas Carlyle
Cheerfulness has another splendid gift to offer. A cheerful countenance can lift the spirits of others, bringing relief from their stress. We all have experienced the shift when a cheerful person walks into the room uplifting the energy. And, conversely, when a person of sad and sullen countenance enters, the energy shifts downward. Which would you prefer to be?
Being a cheerful person does not mean avoiding coping with and moving through life’s difficult challenges. There is a phrase in the Herbal Tarot that seems ideal for this moment. Yellow dock is the herb on the two of pentacles and it’s spiritual properties are building…”a stronger inner self who is not afraid of dancing with life, just as the famous Zorba did even during the most harrowing experiences of his existence.”
It is important to express cheerfulness appropriately. This quote by William Feather says it well, “Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.” No one enjoys being around a Pollyanna.
I invite you to continue cultivating your spirit of cheerfulness.
Blessings!
