Radiate joy

“If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.” — Helen Keller

Yesterday I took my kids to the Chabot Planetarium in Oakland. We had such a nice time. For lunch we went to the cafe to buy a $5 hot dog! The guy working in the cafe was a young man and he was very mean. He did not like anyone. He snapped at all the customers, he barked at the cashier, he complained to himself. He was not a happy person.

The boys asked me why the man was so mean. What made him feel as though all the customers were bothering him and that his job was beneath him?

There are people in the world who think that happiness lies somewhere besides where they are. They think it is their job that makes them unhappy or their circumstances make them unhappy and if only these things would change they would finally find happiness. But, that is a myth. There are also people who live on the streets who are happy, who have really miserable jobs who are happy, who live in pain, or squalor, or amidst abject misery and yet still find joy.

If that young man took a new attitude today and greeted each customer with a smile and used his job to further joy in the world, he would find happiness. It lies within you. Radiate joy out to the world and you will find it blossom and take hold inside you. No job is beneath you if you have a happy heart. Every job gives you the opportunity to reach out with joy.