Amid a troubled world, good cheer seems misplaced. But for those of us who are lucky enough, our less-embattled lives offer more than we imagine.

Where does joy come from? Later, I will offer a path to happiness you might not have considered. For now, recognize that doors to fortuitous experiences often open if you keep looking. Some delight comes by accident, some by intention, some by the wise use of opportunity.

You might chat with a neighbor, the person beside you searching for bananas at the grocery, or the clerk at the pharmacy. Have you written or called an old friend to say he is in your thoughts? Or that your life is better because you know him?

Have you eaten something delicious and spent time savoring both the food and the marvelous fortune of having it? Might you listen to music with intensity, not as background to house cleaning, and consider the genius without whom it wouldn’t exist?

In Beethoven’s era, a devoted listener during his lifetime might have had fewer chances to hear one of his symphonies than the number of toes on one foot: no streaming, no CDs, no LPs, no year-round orchestras. 

Not even the composer could hear his works as often as you can.

List all the boons of modern times. Antibiotic medications, antiseptic surgery, rapid transit on land.

Airplanes, elevators, and inoculations. 

You can watch almost every movie ever made with a little effort while staying home.

Hard times are inevitable, but life gives us intermissions — sometimes short, sometimes long, sometimes missing, sometimes waiting to be transformed.

Your next challenge is unpredictable, but you will be more confident and less fearful if you prepare yourself by meeting most days with good cheer, ready to take on destiny.

Think of life as a sponge full of surprises waiting to be gripped. Squeeze and replenish it by working for friendship, love, learning, and recognizing what you must change to fulfill yourself and benefit others.

There is joy in the smile you get by giving.

Your existence is like clay to be molded. Be charitable and generous. Grow flowers and trees. Help your neighbor. 

Change as you wish, or you will be changed by fate as it sees fit.

Equally, prepare to make new mistakes, the only road to revising the version of yourself.

Steel yourself by taking on challenging, complex tasks. Make the most of your time, not in accumulating objects or clothing, but in imperishable experiences, friendship, and energy well-placed to enhance humanity’s chance to thrive.

If you can stretch yourself enough, smile at your defeats, and reframe your conception of the hurt or disappointment after you heal the bruise. Some of those injuries teach the attentive sufferer.

Milton Stein used to say to himself, “Every knock is a boost,” when his daily search for a job availed him nothing during the Great Depression. He struggled to find a stable but modest career at the Post Office. With that achieved, he married the woman he loved and obtained a life beyond his imagination when poverty cast a shadow over millions.

My dad learned life is not finished with you unless you are finished with it.

I mentioned a suggestion.

Most make automatic comparisons with those deemed better off. A more excellent residence, a superior job, respect, status, physical attractiveness and skill, an adoring mate, beautiful and talented children, or a fine education. 

Less time is devoted to those not as advantaged as you are. The contrasts can alter your perspective on yourself.

I had the happy opportunity to work in some miserable summer jobs as a college student. Perhaps those words appear inconsistent. 

Let me explain. 

The first favorable employment opportunity I disliked occurred in the warm months of 1966, working in a metal stamping factory. My job consisted of two simple manual tasks that were more boring than watching paint dry.

The endless, artless chores continued for eight hours a day. A heat wave contributed to indoor temperatures, likening the building to a steam bath. There was no air conditioning, and the few fans were insufficient.

I was lucky because I learned what my life could be, what I did not want it to be, from the lives of the year-round employees with whom I worked. The men I came to know.

If you have the grit, finding jobs and living circumstances that are enlightening by their displeasure should not be complicated. At least, witness how common laborers without sufficient education or specialty make a living. Seek out their homes and neighborhoods. They are all around us.

Go to a modest restaurant and think through the lives of those who clear restaurant tables daily. Fix on the faces of the homeless, realizing they are people, not disposable objects, as fMRI measurements of human brains tell us we liken them to.

Remember your auspicious circumstances compared to those I’ve described, even if you never take on a menial, punishing work assignment. Reckoning with the life you escaped might make it easier to consider yourself lucky and grateful for a new day.

And perhaps with this knowledge and reason to meet the day with good cheer, you will discover the importance of kindness to others less fortunate.

“There but for the grace of God go I.”

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The three photos are the work of the superb photographic artist Laura Hedien, with her permission: Laura Hedien Official Website.

The first is a Texas Sunset with Sunflare in June 2023. Next comes an Old Edsel in Canada, 2023. Finally, The Milky Way in Arizona.