Non Sequitur #3: Norman Vincent Peale and Happiness

"When I get up in the morning, I have two choices—either to be happy or unhappy, and what do you think I do? I just choose to be happy, and that's all there is to it." -Norman Vincent Peale, "The Power of Positive Thinking"

Positive thinking and I are very rarely seen with one another. I'm one of life's great pessimists when it comes to my own life; it's only in my ardent support of friends that my optimism manifests itself.

If I am pessimistic, expecting the bad to happen, I will not react when the bad things come. After all, I expected them.

It is only when you have positive expectations that you can be let down.

However, in certain cases, Peale may be right. I don't believe simply saying "I'm going to be happy" every morning will get the job done. Peale isn't on the level there.

In life, sometimes we are forced to choose between what will make us happy and what will make us unhappy. It's usually more weighty than that, with morality and ethics coming into play, but at the base level the choice really is happy or unhappy. That's where Peale's simplicity is right.

On occasion, we all deserve to choose to be happy, consequences be damned.

Note that I said "on occasion." Dabbling too much in the "Choose to be happy" pool flirts with becoming Hedonistic or suppliants of Dionysus.

The odd indulgence isn't always a bad thing; some vices are meant to be enjoyed. As Churchill said of Clement Attlee, "He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." All virtue and no vice ... fill in the rest of the cliche here.

If you don't already, make a choice and carve out a little happy for yourselves.

I promise, you'll be glad you did.

Non Sequitur #1

Rather than bog this thing down entirely with "Cliff Rules," we'll split things up a bit with a few non sequiturs.

From "Stranger than Fiction":

"As Harold took a bite of Bavarian sugar cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be OK.

Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies.

And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.

And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives.

I know the idea seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true."

Think on that one, dear readers.