When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought of was the dog vomit in the basement I have to clean. I have soaked the green stain in vinegar and baking soda and scrubbed it with a scrubbing-brush. Now I have to wipe up the baking soda and wash the floor.

Thinking about cleaning the dog vomit does not make me feel joyful. I woke up feeling sad.

Life if full of choices. I can choose between canned green beans or brussel sprouts for supper. I can choose to wear my hair long or cut it short. I can wake up early or I can sleep late. I can choose to smile even if I have to clean up dog vomit.

My happiness does not depend on what I am doing, it depends on how I think.

It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.
– Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

I cannot change the past. I cannot go back in time and get Martha, my dog, to not eat the yellow yarn. If I could get her to not eat the yarn, she wouldn’t have vomited  trying to get rid of the yarn she swallowed. (She didn’t have to go the veterinarian, I found the yellow yarn in the backyard after she digested it.)

We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.

— Charles R. Swindoll

I will choose to smile. I will choose how I think.  I am in charge of my attitude.

I woke up with a frown, but, now I am making the choice to clean with a smile on my face. (And rubber gloves on my hands.)

Our life is what our thoughts make it.
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations