I think Dolly just wrote my New Year's Resolution:
I've thought about this a lot, and I think that having lots of energy is mostly about having happiness in your life. And to me, happiness is your commitment to appreciating all that is good in life, big and small. It's pretty easy to be happy when everything's going great. But life's not like that. It's like one of my favorite old sayings goes, 'If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.'
To Me, If You're a Happy Person, You:
- Love what you do.
- Like yourself.
- Enjoy other people: their company, their ideas, their personalities.
- Keep a good spiritual grip on things.
- Always pray for understanding and acceptance.
Of course, I don't know if these account for your happiness, but they certainly account for mine. And it's been my experience that happiness begets happiness. You have to work hard at being happy, just like you have to work hard at being miserable. I wake up every day expecting all to be good and right. And if it's not, I set my mind to making it so by the end of the day.Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by the one and only Dolly Parton
She aptly begins quoting one of her recent songs after this passage, one that I have a quotation from painted on a canvas in my classroom, one that I need to live each day. Once just someone I loved because my Mamaw did, once just someone I thought of when I thought of a popular East Tennessee theme park, Dolly has become and will always be one of the smartest philosophers I ever care to follow.
Just watch and listen and see why:
No comments:
Post a Comment