The Habit Of Cheerfulness

There are scarcely any moments that won’t benefit from a humorous remark or a cheerful lift. Yet still, some people regularly complain about everything, griping at the taxes and the political opposition and lambasting everyone around them. Frequently the gripers wind up in the doctor’s office. But I know many executives who carry on under tremendous pressure as affably and kindly as a girl skipping down the street. They are the people who get along and stay out of the hospitals. It is particularly important in family life to develop the habit of pleasant conversation. Do not – for either your own, your children’s, or your digestion’s sake – make the family meal a recitation of troubles, anxieties, fears, warnings, and accusations. And what is more important, don’t let the feeling pervade your family that everyone is so taken for granted that a pleasantry or kind word is unnecessary. The crabbed note that clangs daily in so many families is a good foundation for many of the neurotic characteristics of later life.