by Jenna Pope

Created on: August 18, 2009

Some days I wake up happy and refreshed, excited about the new day.

Other days, I feel like I am under a big, black cloud. I'm snippy to my husband when he leaves his socks on the bedroom floor. I have a chip on my shoulder. My car doesn't start, the vacuum cleaner belt breaks, and I feel un-rested and out of sorts.

* Happy People Can Be So Irritating *

Then I come in contact with a blissfully happy, elderly man in the check-out line at the A & P. I ignore his positivity because it is ruining my bad mood! What's wrong with him? Can't he just leave me to my misery? But he can't. His enthusiasm begins to rub off, and my black mood begins to lift. Happiness is contagious.

* A Lesson Learned *

Last week-end I attended my daughter-in-law's wedding shower. I met the other women in her extended family and one of them, a lady named Lilly, inadvertently taught me an important lesson about happiness.

Lilly is the aunt of my daughter-in-law. She has cancer, lupus, and a host of other serious physical problems. Her hands shake, and chemo has robbed Lilly of all her hair.

The day was a scorcher, and the wedding shower was held outside on the patio. Yet, Lilly was wearing a small, knitted skull cap to conceal her bald head. She laughed and kidded around with my daughter-in-law, and when I was introduced to her, shook my hand vigorously. For the rest of the shower, and for some time afterwards, Lilly and I conversed.

I learned that Lilly had been married for over 50 years to the same man and had a child and two grandchildren whom she dearly loved. She talked about her illness in an offhand way, as if it were the common cold. During much of her illness she had worked, but now she accepted that her aggressive cancer treatment no longer allowed time for work.

The more I listened to Lilly, the happier I felt. She inspired me. Her joy was contagious.

When I commented on her optimism, Lilly said, "Well, I figure that I have a choice, and I choose to be happy!"

And here I was worrying about the outfit I had worn to the shower and how my feet ached in my ridiculously ill-fitting high heels. All vanity.

That night in my hotel room I meditated on Lilly and her contagious happiness. It had left me in a peaceful bubble of gratitude. Lilly had been an oasis in the desert.

Everyone should link up with a Lilly because happiness like hers is the best medicine for an anxious, ungrateful heart.

Because just like anger, self-centeredness, and fear - happiness cannot be contained.

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