Article August 27, 2001 Issue

CHOOSE JOY

Don Adams

There are no laws against thinking what we want to think. We're free to think and believe as we choose.

Why, then, do people sometimes choose to be angry? Or depressed? Or discouraged? If it really is up to us, why not decide to be always happy and confident? Because we believe that it's life's events—either good or bad—that steer our thoughts and feelings. Things go well, and we say, "That makes me happy." Things turn sour or someone offends us, and our first impulse may be, "That makes me so mad!" Or sad. Or discouraged.

But we do have an option. We can learn how to gain, and retain, control of our thoughts and lives, rather than simply react to things that happen around us.

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