CHEERFULNESS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2, 14 January 1909, Page 77

CHEERFULNESS

There is scarcely an evil in life which we cannot double by pondering upon it; a scratch will thus become a serious wound, and a slight illness be made to end in death by the brooding apprehensions of the sick. On the other hand, a mind accustomed to look tipon the bright side of all things will banish the mildew, and dampness of care by its genial sunshine. A cheerful heart paints the world as it sees it, like a sunny landscape; the morbid mind depicts it like a sterile wilderness ; and this life, like the chameleon, takes its shade from the soil upon which it rests. Cheerfulness keeps up a daylight in the mind, filling it with a perpetual serenity, and is in itself an offshoot of goodness.