Abraham Lincoln is credited with the saying that ‘most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.’ Now, that may be an oversimplification, especially when we think of refugees fleeing from unimaginable horrors, or people subject to chemical imbalances that provoke black depression; but for most of us it is true that our happiness is largely determined by our attitude. For Barbara Johnson, author of the bestseller Stick a geranium in our hat and be happy, the transformation came when, having lost both of her sons, she was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes. It was just one storm too many and she nearly broke. But it was then she learned one of life’s great truths – trouble is inevitable, but misery is optional.
And so it is for us. We can’t avoid the storms, but we chose whether they break us or make us.