happYness

i've finally almost finished reading Eat, Pray, Love.
it's only taken me 2 months.!

i came across the most amazing paragraph two nights ago:

"..people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. 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. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

Uh.May.Zing.

i think i read it three times... not for a lack of understanding but because i swear it spoke to me.
and the last sentence about praying.. wow.
that was me. i was the person who only prayed when times were tough and/or i needed something. how horrible is that to even admit.?! but now i just smile at night and say a 'thank you' prayer rather than a 'can you?' prayer.

a change in attitude makes a huge difference.
positivity is beautiful.
=)