This past week of struggling with internal and external conflicts in my relationships and within my own emotions had me feeling like someone totally other than myself. I realized yesterday that the week would have turned out significantly different had my mindset not remained in the negativity that I failed to even realize I had adapted over the past week. Here is how I know this: last night before I went to bed, I happened to come across the, “Don’t Worry, Have Faith” sermon by Joel Osteen. I loved it so much that I proceeded to listen to another sermon titled, “Living Life Happy”, which again, had a profound effect on me. In the morning, during my half-hour commute to work, I listened to, “The Healing Power of Laughter”…and that was all I needed to remind me of everything I already had and knew. Determined to apply these principles back into my life, I made a conscious effort to create a jovial atmosphere around anyone I came across for a couple of hours in the morning- my patients, my co-workers, random strangers. By 11pm, after getting desert with my best friends, I realized I had laughed more that entire day than I had in weeks, maybe months, and spread that onto every person I spoke with that day. 

I had always known that happiness is a conscious decision one must choose to make every day, and I know that as humans, we can’t be too hard on ourselves because nothing in nature blooms year round. And yet still, I was overwhelmingly surprised at how my entire mindset on life had taken such a drastic turn for the better in such a short amount of time, just simply because I wanted to, and so I did. With as often as I define myself by my faith, get told I should be an inspirational speaker for finding the positive in every situation (not always in the form of a compliment), and love to laugh and connect with others by making them laugh, you’d think I would’ve preached about Joel Osteen on here a little earlier. His famous sermons speak of the power of faith over fear, the law of attraction and thoughts creating your reality, and always begins with something (that he thinks is) funny. In fact, I am linking his channel, Joel Osteen Ministries, on YouTube so that you can all see exactly what I mean. The troubles I had last week which made me feel so low did not disappear that day. But feeling back to my true self in faith, a positive outlook and gratitude for every aspect of my life, and spreading light in each moment through the blessing of laughter changed my perspective…and that’s all that really matters.