Happy The Man (or Woman) ~ #UpbeatAuthors

This week the Upbeat Authors were asked to share a quote about joy and happiness. There are thousands of them out there, but I always go back to one of my favorites: "Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today." It's this portion of John Dryden's poem that is most often quoted, but the full text is worth reading.

Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own: He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Be fair or foul or rain or shine The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not Heaven itself upon the past has power, But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

(—John Dryden, Horace, Odes, book 3, no. 29)

I believe happiness is most often a state of mind. It's not easy to find joy in every situation, especially when life tosses us about on roads filled with challenges and difficulties, yet I can't help but think that even in those darkest of times there is a place for happiness.

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