The Choice of Happiness Personal happiness is like anything else within one’s frantic life. It is not predetermined, it is a choice that each person makes when one wakes up, they have the option to look at the life around tem as either positive or negative. This decision on the view of the world will carry with each individual for the rest of the day. Two years ago a college professor named Randy Pausch was diagnosed with a fatal form of cancer. His doctors told him that he would only have three to four weeks to live. This cause extreme turmoil and distress within his life. At this instance he had a choice to make, he could feel sorry for himself or he h=could cherish the little time he had left. Fortunately for the world, he chose to live his remaining time to the fullest extent. He narrated an autobiography explaining the importance of achieving one’s childhood dreams, and delivered a lecture which inspired billions of people around the world. On the day of his last lecture he felt very ill and in excruciating pain. He decided to go ahead and deliver the speech, despite his suffering. He viewed his illness and pain as a positive, for it would be able to keep him from talking too long, and the students losing interest. He was faced with many obstacles with many obstacles within his life, but he viewed them as beneficial addition to his life. As a result, he lived the last the last years of his life exuberantly and to the fullest extent. In the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit decides to complain and be a pessimist about every inconvenience imposed upon him. Whenever something goes wrong he allows the problem to control his life. He sees o good coming from the bad. Pooh and the others are always trying to cheer up Rabbit but this only causes Rabbit to grow even more unhappy. It is a choice that Rabbit makes each day, to permit the inconveniences to control him. No one else can change Rabbit’s mind or cheer him up, it is a personal decision. Both Rabbit and Mr. Pausch were presented with obstacles that could greatly affect their lives. However, they each made different decision on how to overcome the challenges and as a result they lived different lives. Each day we are all presented with the option of being happy or of being sad. It is up to us to decide how we will live our lives.
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