Composed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana-

Ruth & Mickey Caruso, circa 1957
You’d never know it from this photo of my mom and dad, but my mom was a negative person.
Mom’s been deceased for 20 years and sometimes I reflect on her life to extract useful lessons for myself and others.
Our family talked openly about her negativity when she got into one of her frequent funks and when she had a nervous breakdown.
The truth is that mom had trouble looking at the bright side of things. She wasn’t able to feel happy even when her life was going well.
The glass really is half full
When mom contracted terminal lung cancer in 1992, she was forced to realize that those “negative” years would be the happiest days of her life. Such a shame.
The recession of 2007-2009 was an especially tough blow to baby boomers who were never able to recoup their losses.
Most had to work many more years than they had planned and were forced to realized that they would never have more personal wealth than they did before the economy faltered.
For some, their biggest earning years were not fulfilling because they were not making “enough” money.
The best measure of success is happiness
Money is not a predictor of happiness.
Happiness, oddly enough, is a personal emotion that operates like a binary switch in the brain. Simply decide to be happy and … voila!
A woman who hated her job once asked motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, for advice.
Zig told the woman to make a list of all the things she loved about her job. She said, “I don’t like anything about my job!”
Zig said, “Do you like getting paid?” The list grew quickly after that.
Maybe it’s time to resolve yourself to happiness.
Hear that? That’s the sound of opportunity knocking and be grateful for all the good stuff in your life.
Charles Dickens was right then and he’s right now. These are the best of times.
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