Are you sacrificing happiness?

Some of my favorite quotes are from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I stumbled upon this on the other day and it resonated with me. I spent so many years after my sister, Heidi Allen's, kidnapping angry. My anger primarily was of course that my sister was kidnapped and had to suffer the unimaginable but it was also at God.

I blamed God for her kidnapping and letting it happen. I could continue and list all the things that angered me but rather than focus on the past and all the minutes lost I'd like to focus on the latter. 

I think this is why Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote spoke to me. To think I spent more than a decade angry, it overwhelms me to think of the seconds of happiness I let escape me and those around me. I was curious so I looked up how many seconds I lost. One decade, ten years that is, has 315,532,800 seconds.

This is a lot of lost happiness BUT on the flip side, since restoring my faith, I've experienced 473,040,000 seconds of happiness. this doesn't mean I haven't had angry moments in life, instead, it means I've chose to make the most of life and not let anger get the best of me. If Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote isn't enough to inspire you then maybe the words of Solomon will encourage you.

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"In the day of prosperity be joyful,
and in the day of adversity consider:
God has made the one as well as the other,
so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them." 
- Ecclesiastes 7:14

I don't know about you but when the options are anger or happiness, striving for happiness and letting go of anger is going to be my choice. Earlier in the week I challenged you to live rather than exist, today I'll take you a step further. Choose happiness and joy over anger and negativity.

What are you going to choose?