A Sure Way to a Happy Day

Happiness is something
   we create in our mind,
It's not something you search for
   and so seldom find--
It's just waking up
   and beginning the day
By counting our blessings
   and kneeling to pray--
It's giving up thoughts
   that breed discontent
And accepting what comes
   as a "gift heaven-sent"--
It's giving up wishing
   for things we have not
And making the best of
   whatever we've got--
It's knowing that life
   is determined for us,
And pursuing our tasks
   without fret, fume or fuss--
For it's by completing
   what God gives us to do
That we find real contentment
   and happiness, too.

           ~ Helen Steiner Rice

Look To This Day

Look to this day, for it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lies all
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power--

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

                           ~ Sanskrit Proverb