Happiness does not just happen. It is a choice. I remember once when my grandmother was baby sitting a neighbor's little boy. She had done everything in the world to try and make him laugh and play. He finally said to her, "I am not in the mood to be happy." That is when grandmother asked him if he could pretend to be happy. He gave her the funniest look. "What do you mean pretend?" Grandmother started a game she called the Happiness Game. The object of the game was to find someway to make your opponent laugh. It did not matter if they were happy or not they just had to make the other person laugh. My sister and I made up one team. Grandmother and the little boy made up the other team. Grandmother started making faces at me and my sister. The little boy started making faces too. Then he started acting like a clown and doing funny dances. The one thing I noticed was that he was so busy trying to make my sister and I laugh he forgot he was not happy. It was not too long before we were all laughing. He pretended to be happy until he was. He was so busy trying to make someone else laugh he forgot he was not happy. He was finally in the mood to be happy. It is a good game for children because it allows them to be children.

Speaking of children.. The last time I volunteered at the senior center I started the small group of residence in playing the game.

One old grumpy guy that no one liked turned out to be the funniest.  The old grump had started out saying he did not like the music that was playing. So, we turned on some rock and roll.  He was so busy trying to tell us how much he disliked the music he forgot to tell his feet.  One of the ladies looked down and his right foot was patty on the floor in time with the music. She pointed to his foot, and said, "You may not like it but your foot does." Everyone laughed and he had to laugh at himself. He looked down and sure enough his foot was dancing all by itself.

 By the time the game was over everyone was laughing. If you are not happy try pretending to be happy. The next time you are not in the mood to be happy try making someone else happy or making them laugh. If you have a funny memory; tell about ... write about it. If you see something funny write it down so you can pull something funny out when ever you need to cheer up someone else. When you share happiness it multiplies.  You will be amazed how often when you choose to make someone else happy you find you have claimed it too.  Before you know it... you are happy too.