Abe Lincoln said it best: “Most folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
Plain and simple, happiness is a choice. We each have control over is what we think. What we think influences how we feel. Happiness is a feeling, and perhaps a state of mind as well.
I have re-read that Abe Lincoln quote over and over since I was 10 years old; it hung in our kitchen. Decades later, it is still one of my top 10 favorite quotes. The quote addresses the core elements of happiness: your choice, your thoughts.
No one can make you feel happy, anymore than someone can make you feel unhappy. Our interpretation of events, happenings, and moments relate to our feelings, our thoughts, but we always have a choice about how we feel and think.
But sunshine…well…
C.E. Jerningham said that “to be happy, you must be your own sunshine.”
Sunshine is beyond our control. And sunshine, according to the Vitamin D Council, just might impact on our moods and emotions. Research, while still inconclusive, shows that if there is a lack of Vitamin D in the blood, there is a link to being depressed- which is the opposite of being happy.
Going outside in nature and in the sunshine is good for people. Some research has shown that people who have depression tend to go outdoors less, and are less likely to have adequate vitamin D in their blood.
So go ahead, get outdoors in the sunshine for 20 minutes and give yourself a positive boost.