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I work with one of "those" ladies. You know the type - always pessimistic and skeptical, and from her perspective, there's nothing good happening. When Monday morning rolls around, her attitude isn't any better than it was Friday, and I get the feeling it's going to be another really long week with her. What is the purpose in starting the week off like this? Most of us aren't ready to be relegated back to our cells for another 40+ hours, and now I've got Ms. "My Weekend Sucked Eggs" stuck in my cubicle. Can't we be thankful we've made it to another Monday? How about being grateful because we have a family, a job, a car, a roof over our head, food on our table?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:off ice:office" /

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It's disconcerting to think that we hold other people responsible for our feelings. Hypothetically speaking, your emotions are like car keys, and giving someone else that much power over our emotions is like giving your keys to a long lost cousin visiting from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:off ice:smarttags" />Albania and asking him to drive you around Los Angeles. You've given up your control to a person that's got no business having it.

Of course we'll have moments of genuine sadness, sorrow, and anger. Some of the most profound experiences and life-altering decisions occur when these emotions are felt. Without living through the circumstances that trigger those emotions, we cannot truly begin to understand that the more trivial events don't require such dramatic reactions. You CAN choose your feelings.

Arguably the last two years have been full of crises. For many of our friends, it was fraught with financial troubles, bankruptcies and foreclosures, marital woes, work pressures, deaths in the family, and ill children. We're entitled to feel happy, sad, angry, elated, deflated, dejected, rejected, relaxed, taxed, and more. In the end, the overall attitude with which we approach life is our choice. Sure, we all have our moments of great discontent, and we deserve to have them. So, go ahead and experience them, then take control of your mood and be grateful for what's good in your life. Make a list if it helps. What makes you happy? Who makes you happy? Can you surround yourself with more of it? More of them?

Whomever or whatever you worship or give thanks to, choose to start off your day with a "Thank you", and remember that YOU make the choice to be happy.

Learn more about this author, Julie Sewell-Schmidt.
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