Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la. It really is the season to be jolly, but may the truth be known it is always the season to be jolly. Jolly is defined in the original 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary as “merry; gay; lively; full of life and mirth; jovial. It expresses more life and noise than cheerful.”
When we stop and think of what we do have, instead of focusing on what we don’t have it gives us a lot to shout and rejoice about. After all, we do live in America. No matter how many problems we have we are still the greatest place on earth to live.
We have the freedom to express ourselves the way that we desire. Not only can we go to the church of our choice and worship the way we want, we can also stay home and do as we please. We have total liberty to live our life any way that we want. This is a lot to be full of life and merry about. We have total freedom to come and go as we please. To live the lifestyle that we prefer. Our liberty to choose is more than enough to make us joyful.
If we will take the time to be jolly we will find it will help us in many areas of life. Mentally, we will be sharper and have clearer thinking. When we are happy, jolly people thinking on the good that we do have we are able to be more creative. Complaining bogs down and clouds our thinking. We cannot put forth our best effort or achieve our best work with sad thinking. Happy, jolly thoughts bring happy, jolly results.
One of the other results of jolly thinking and acting is a better physical life. A merry, jolly heart does good like a medicine. When we are joyful we talk and respond better.
Readers Digest ran an article in August 1991 called the “Patient Knows Best”. The article stated that a person’s answer to the question, “Is your health excellent, good, fair, or poor?” is a remarkable predictor of who will live or die over the next four years according to new findings.
A study of more than 2,800 men and women age 65 and older found that those who rate their health as “poor” are 4 to 8 times more likely to die in the next 4 years than those who rate their health “excellent”. This was the case even if examinations show the respondent to be in comparable health.
If we are jolly, we definitely want to live longer; and being jolly will help us do that.
Take time out to be jolly. It will improve your life and make it easier on those around you.
Ask yourself if you have ever seen a joyful grouch. You will find the answer to be no. Joyful people are not grouchy or hard to get along with.
Be sure to be joyful this season and always.