Choose the joy !

"A happy heart is a good remedy, but a dejected spirit dries out the bones." Proverbs 17.22

Did you know that laughter is such a good remedy that it can relieve stress, cure headaches, fight infections and reduce hypertension ? According to doctors, laughter produces the same beneficial effects as intense physical exercise.

"Cheerfulness comes from joy, not happiness, and understanding it is crucial to your well-being."

When we laugh loudly, our muscles contract throughout the body, the heart beats faster and the blood pressure increases. A single burst of laughter can raise your pulse from 60 to 120, as your blood pressure increases significantly. By the time you stop laughing, your heart rate returns to normal, a sign of diminishing stress.

God has created laughter because he knows he is good for your health. However do not confuse happiness and cheerfulness. Cheerfulness comes from joy, not happiness, and understanding it is crucial for your well-being.

There are times when we can not and should not be happy, when people are hurt, go through dramas, lose their jobs or loved ones. In the face of injustice, happiness is incongruous, if not impossible.

Yet the joy of knowing that God loves us and accepts us unconditionally allows us to smile again.

A choice for today

The happiness is outside, joy is inside.

The happiness comes from circumstances, the joy of character.

The happiness depends on what happens to us, the joy depends on the one who lives in us.

The happiness is based on luck, joy is based on choice.

So today, choose joy !

Bob Gass

Source (The Thought of the Day)