I read this quote by Martha Washington the other day:
I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
Motaigne would applaud her.
The most certain sign of wisdom is cheerfulness.
—Michel de Montaigne
But not everyone values cheerfulness:
Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.
—William Feather
And one of my favorite New Yorker cartoons is of two sad looking basset hounds with a cheerful poodle bouncing towards them. One of the hounds says to the other:
Oh, God, here comes Miss Perky.
As usual, DPLDT. 🙂
August 28, 2017
It’s hard to know which comes first, the bad situation, or the lack of cheerfulness. Or, conversely, the good situation or the cheerfulness. One is usually the response to the other. It’s a rare person who can be cheerful in the face of adversity—but it’s important to try!
It takes commitment and practice. A skill worth developing.
On the whole I agree. On the other hand thoughtless cheerfulness can border on the tactless. One of the few times in my life I felt like punching someone was when a complete stranger coming towards me on the street said to me “Cheer up, Darling, it may never happen.” Unfortunately it just had. What did he know?
As to Montaigne. I don’t think “cheerful” featured much when his cherished friend Etienne de la Boetie died four years into their friendship. One of my favourite quotes of Montaigne?
“If you press me to say why I loved him [la Boetie] I feel it cannot be expressed except by replying: ‘Because it was him; because it was me’.”.
As to your William Feather’s quote. I’ll stand witness, being that most irritating of all creatures, namely the cheerful in the morning, how many people have said to me, in that exasperated tone of voice: “I have just woken up …”. Good, Excellent. Before your mood worsens I’ll shut up and leave you to it.
U
There’s a difference between being cheerful yourself and telling someone else to cheer up. And being mostly cheerful doesn’t mean we can’t mourn the inevitable losses in life. The ability to do that is part of wisdom too.
It’s kind of like a smile or a frown, give either to the next one you meet and it will most likely be returned in kind.
Even more important is to keep calm and cheerful in situations that could push our buttons. It helps a lot to keep our brains plugged in. 🙂
“Remain cheerful,
For nothing destructive can pierce through
The solid wall of cheerfulness.”
? Sri Chinmoy.
I think that my latest post should throw some light on my cheerfulness or otherwise. http://rummuser.com/nuts-2/
I loved your last post! Yay, Brazen Fox!
I’ve known of people who can’t even utter three coherent words before lunch and at least 5 cups of coffee! thankfully she could close her office door.
what’s up with that? how on earth do you keep a job in marketing of all things! lol
which proves over and over again … to each his or her own!
I don’t know if it was even a matter of cheerfulness. she simply couldn’t do it.
We’re all built differently, luck of the draw. Do the best we can with what we have.
i’m not sure whether it’s happiness or cheerfulness that I have…maybe they are basically the same.
this morning, I had some things to do – I wasn’t particularly happy with the search engine at the online grocery store (oh here he is with my groceries…slight interlude to put frozen/fridge/some other away, the rest is mostly veg/fruit to do)..
– in regards to both “nuts” and a type of “mixed bag of choco bars…”
the delivery man gave me some tips including (err him assuming) I should make a list…btw everything on said list – I’ve obviously hit the correct menu buttons. Maybe I should make a blog post…
I think a blog post is a great idea. 🙂
nope, one thing I had on list, didn’t make it into a bag (my fault) but hey I’m all good with that…
see my blog post
and yep, the gourmet chocolate delight is in my tummy…very nice, gooey and all that 🙂
You’re making me hungry. 🙂