If you want to be happy... SMILE!

SMILE BIG!!! Enjoy this adorable and very happy song!!!

If you can't listen to this song and come out with a big smile on your face, and feeling happy, I don't know what else will do if for you. Sit back and enjoy this upbeat and happy song. Love it, Love it, Love it!!!

Put on a Happy Face!

Oh how the lyrics of this song can change a sad face to a happy one.  Here is the video clip for you to enjoy and you can follow along the lyrics below.  No... go put on a Happy Face!


,
Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face;
Brush off the clouds and cheer up,
Put on a happy face.

Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy,
It's not your style;
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
Ya' decide to smile!

Pick out a pleasant outlook,
Stick out that noble chin;
Wipe off that "full of doubt" look,
Slap on a happy grin!

And spread sunshine all over the place,
Just put on a happy face!
Put on a happy face
Put on a happy face

And if you're feeling cross and bitterish
Don't sit and whine
Think of banana split and licorice
And you'll feel fine

I knew a girl so gloomy
She'd never laugh or sing
She wouldn't listen to me
Now she's a mean old thing

So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
So, put on a happy face

IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY, THEN FORGIVE!

A young woman sat down with me for lunch and we had a very long chat.  I didn’t know her as well as I should have, but after our chat, I knew everything that I needed to know.  She always smiled, laughed and I couldn’t figure out how she could be so happy in life when she had every reason to be miserable.  Her life was filled with one horrible experience after the other.  On all accounts, most people would think her life tragic.  I wanted to cry for her, and did as she told me the true stories that I don’t think I could have lived through myself.  When I asked her how she could be so happy and optimistic after living through one tragedy after the other, she told me that it simply wasn’t worth the hurt  and the energy to hold on to bad memories. 

 At a very young age, this young woman learned to forgive.  She told me that she doesn’t wait, stew, brood, and be miserable about the constant barrage and continuous flow of bad events that never seem find her at every turn, because she is determined to be happy in spite of them.  She believes that these events won’t ever cease, explaining about the little grey cloud that follows her wherever she goes.  She laughs and says she was born with it and like her shadow, will never stop following her.   She found that by forgiving others of their offenses, is the umbrella (metaphorically speaking) that prevents the rain from keeping her soggy wet. She knows it’s just a matter of time before she’ll get dumped on again, but understands that nobody is immune and it is just a matter of how we determine we will meet the challenges of life.  Forgiving others is what keeps her happy.

After this conversation, I took a very long look at myself and realized that I had been holding on to things way too long.  I realized that holding on to the bad memories and experiences in my own life, and never letting go was like a second nature to me, you know, kind of like a mole on your neck that you didn’t ever dare to have removed.  That evening, I took a long look into my 3 x zoom mirror and noticed how that mole had grown over the years.  It used to be so small that I just ignored it, but over the years it had grown into what looked more like a melanoma, a humongous protuberance that had to be removed.  I knew I needed to set an appointment with the Dermatologist to take care of it once and for all.

What a refreshing feeling it is to get rid of old baggage, and to be able to smile without regrets; and I had to learn it from someone half my age.  I wonder for you who are reading this story,  just how long you have held on to your excess baggage and how much longer will it take for you to be able to forgive, move on and be happy?  Lighten your load, forgive others, and be happy once more.

 

Please enjoy this little clipable printable to clip and post wherever you need to see it to remind yourself of your new attitude of forgiveness.

12 REASONS TO SMILE

WHEN YOU'RE SMILING... THE WHOLE WORLD SMILES WITH YOU!

TO BE HAPPY, YOU NEED TO LIKE YOURSELF!

How many times have you thought about things that you like and don't like about yourself?  Just how critical are you about the way you look, your hair, the shape of your body, your personality or so many other things?  When we constantly criticize and scrutinize ourselves, how can we ever really like who we are or expect others to feel the same?  I love, love, love the story about Thomas Moore, who was a famous 19th century Irish poet.  I want to share this wonderful story with you.  The story goes like this:

Thomas was called away on a business trip.  Upon his return he was met at the door not by his beautiful bride, but by the family doctor.

"Your wife is upstairs," said that doctor.  "But she has asked that you do not come up."
And then Moor learned the terrible truth:  his wife had contracted smallpox.  The disease had left her once flawless, lovely skin, pocked and terribly scarred.  She had taken one look at her disfigured reflection in the mirror and commanded that the shutters be drawn and that her husband never see her again.  Moore would not listen.  He ran upstairs and threw open the door of his wife's room.  It was black as night inside.  Not a sound came from the darkness.  Groping along the wall, Moore felt for the gas jet to turn on the lamps. 

A startled cry came from a black corner of the room.  "No! don't light the lamps!"

Moore hesitated, swayed by the pleading voice of his wife.  "Go!" she begged.  "Please go! This is the greatest gift I can give you now."

Moore did not go.  He went down to his study, where he sat up most of the night, prayerfully writing.  Not a poem this time, but a song.  He had never written a song before, but now he found it more natural to his mood than poetry.  He not only wrote the words, he wrote the music too.  And the next morning, as soon as the sun was up, he returned to his grieving wife's room.

The room had the shutters drawn and it was dark as night.  He felt his way to a chair and sat down.

"Are you awake?" he asked.

"I am," came a voice from the far side of the room.  "But you must not ask to see me.  You must not press me , Thomas."

I will sing to you, then," he answered.  And so for the first time, Thomas Moore sang to his wife the song that still lives today. Press the play button and enjoy the words so beautifully sung on the video as you read them below the video box:

 

"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly today,

Were to change by tomorrow and flee in my arms,

Like fairy gifts fading away,

Though wouldst still be adored, as this moment though art--

Let thy loveliness fade as it will,

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still."

 

The song ended.  As his voice trailed off on the last note, Moore heard his bride rise.  She crossed the room to the window, reached up and slowly drew open the shutters.

Learning to love ourselves, even with our all of our faults and flaws, is essential to our own happiness.  We tend to express our displeasure about ourselves on others, like Thomas Moore's wife, believing that her husband could only love the lovely bride she once was, and could never love the pock marked and scarred woman she had become.  True love looks past that.

 

 

There is loveliness and goodness in all of us, that is lovable in spite of the flaws we all possess.  We need to get past those, and go on living our lives, which in turn causes others to see past our flaws and pock marks to the true beauty we hold inside.  I hope that this story will help those of you who do not love yourself, or even like yourself to look at yourself in a different way.  You are the only one who can truly control what you think of yourself.  Look past your differences and love yourself and be happy!