A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier. ~Tom Stoppard
“I enjoy my life because life is too short! I ain’t gonna let nobody turn me old!” These were the words spoken to me by a 60-something-year-old woman with a smile that reached from the coasts of North Carolina to the volcanic terrain of Hawaii! From the moment I first saw this woman, I felt the power of her personality and the light with which she brightened and warmed the room. I watched her as she embraced her loved ones and then turned to embrace me even though I was a stranger to her. Indeed, whatever this woman carried in her person was electrifying! It was delicious cuisine for a starving soul!
I watched her for the next hour or so, observing her actions, listening to her words, and becoming almost hypnotized by her smile. She laughed fiercely, smiled continuously, and exuded a loving aura even when she sat silently. I wondered, “What exactly am I seeing?” Not only was this woman happy, but she was downright joyful. And what’s more, I watched that happiness bounce from person to person in the room like electricity traveling through circuits. Some would say that someone that excited about life must be a little crazy or on some type of strong medication or drug. But I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t say something to her as my attempt to ascertain her magic potion.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, and I feel quite delighted to have watched your infectious personality today!” I said. She replied lovingly but with that same level of energy and passion as everything else she said. “Honey, I have survived brain cancer twice. I refuse to live without happiness…without smiling and laughing. I enjoy my life because it’s too short not to.”
I walked away from that woman and that experience desiring to remember that life is too short to not be a carrier of happiness. I want to carry infectious joy and contagious happiness because I want to see it spread into a worldwide epidemic. Like this woman, I want to find any reason to laugh, to smile, and to dance as if no one is watching.