Keep Karma in Mind

          There is a song lyric that reminds me that happiness comes from a walk in the park and a kiss in the dark. This song’s theory is reinforced by the research in the journal Environmental Health and Technology. Even if you spend five minutes enjoying Mother Nature it can improve your mood and sense of well-being. www.scientificamerican.com. (May 5, 2010)   Adding a kiss is just a bonus, if you are with the right person. Now add fifteen or twenty minutes of brisk walking and physical health is improved too.
    
           These are just two of many things that can help promote happiness.  However, as fun as it may be, you cannot kiss and walk all the time. So, I needed to add some ideas. When I discovered that several famous writers were saying that we tend to become like the people we spend the most time with, I became a little more selective about my friends. That was a huge help. However the “big” idea that I thought was so brilliant was not original. Like many good ideas in the universe they are there for all of us to grasp.

Before I tell you this great life changing idea, I will preface it by saying that it would be easy to list a dozen reasons why I should be depressed and angry with specific individuals, including myself.  In fact, I could get doctors and friends to agree with me and at different times have been encouraged by well-meaning people to be mean spirited. But returning evil for evil benefits nobody neither in the short term nor the long term. Karma, “action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad … in this life …” (dictionary.com) comes into play.
  
So, what was the life changing idea? Abraham Lincoln is given credit for saying, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”   That is what I decided to do several months ago. I made up my mind to enjoy today and anticipate tomorrow. After all, most of the things that seemed to be making other people unhappy were things for which they had no control.
One of the major things I began to notice was that I had so much for which to be thankful. My illnesses and troubles are often easier to manage than those of people with whom I came in to contact. Apostle Paul reminded us in about 54 AD (1 Corinthians 10:13), that we will not be given more than we can manage. Therefore, I can still enjoy today and look forward to tomorrow.