Ever the Optimist?

If you were to list 10 things that you would wish to be reminded of in 10 years, what would you answer? One of the things that I had listed, in fact the first two was to smile and to be more optimistic. As my dance teacher looked over my shoulder to read it, she told me, "You're as optimistic as possible already,Maryanne. You can't get any better than you already are." It was wonderful to hear that someone thought that I was already a cheerful person,since that was my main goal of each and every day, but I didn't think that I had been fulfilling it.

As I asked two other people,they told me the same thing as well. I just couldn't believe it! Was I really already that happy of a person? All that I wanted to do each and everyday was to make sure that I made someone else's day better. It didn't matter how I had done it: lending them money, tutoring them, answering a question, joking around, etc. As long as I made someone else happy, it was enough for me. That's the reason why I always try to have a smile on my face, since it's so important to me to brighten up someone else's day.

Even when things at home are very bad, whenever I get to school, I try to make the most of my day there, since time is not something that should be wasted. The main goal in the lives of most people is to make themselves happy. But that can be considered impossible or selfish in the eyes of others. It is my belief, however, that it is something that is attainable, but not by direct means. In order to acheive happiness for one's self, we strive to attain the happiness of others. When we do not focus on ourselves but rather focus on the well-being of others, and then succeed, true self-happiness is acheived simply by helping others to be happy. As we do this, we no longer worry about our problems, but just worry about helping another person. And because we are helping another person, we are not carrying their problems, simply doing what we can to alleviate them. That way, we do not feel the stress that often comes as we try to help others or even ourselves.

But we don't live in a perfect world, for nothing, aside from God & Mary & Jesus, are made to be perfect. But it is the best that we can do with the situation, and when we choose to better the lives of others before our own, we attain true happiness for ourselves as well, in the bargain.