While reading Eat, Pray, Love by American writer Elizabeth Gilbert, I smiled to myself when I came across this longish quote (on page 272):
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."
While I happened to be on a holiday at that time, and was blissfully soaking in the sun by the beach, those lines gently reminded me that we always have a choice when negative things come our way. We can either wallow in sadness or take things in our stride. I then silently promised myself that I would always try to look at the brighter side of life, no matter what.
That’s me chilling out at Vagator beach in North Goa, India.