on being cheerful

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Do you ever have one of those days where you just can't seem to pull it off? You know, the cheerful thing? I do. Maybe more frequently than I should, and the last couple of days have definitely been that kind of day. I can tell you why, too. It's called Lack Of Sleep and Life Is Hard. So this week I'm digging down deep and finding that happy heart underneath the foggy haze fatigue and discouragement bring and will make the most of every day. For starters, it's good to recognize that there are all kinds of people in our lives and in the world who have so much more reason to be sad! And they aren't! The Lord has blessed my family, and me personally, so very much. There are all kinds of reasons in the world to be glad and I am going to work hard to recognize them. 
Plus I may take a nap.

Here are some insights on being cheerful from Camille Fronk Olson:
(Be of Good Cheer:  Choosing Happiness)
When we experience personal loss in so many ways and on so many days, what is left to be cheerful about?
Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained: “The unimaginable agony of Gethsemane was about to descend upon Jesus; Judas’ betrayal was imminent. Then would come Jesus’ arrest and arraignment; the scattering of the Twelve like sheep; the awful scourging of the Savior; the unjust trial; the mob’s shrill cry for Barabbas instead of Jesus; and then the awful crucifixion on Calvary. What was there to be cheerful about? Just what Jesus said: He had overcome the world! The atonement was about to be a reality. The resurrection of all mankind was assured. Death was to be done away with—Satan had failed to stop the atonement.”
Christ’s enabling power helps us feel happiness and cheer amid mortal gloom and doom. Misfortune and hardship lose their tragedy when viewed through the lens of the Atonement. The process could be explained this way: The more we know the Savior, the longer our view becomes. The more we see His truths, the more we feel His joy.
Cheerfulness in the scriptural context connotes a divinely assured optimism, “a deep trust in God’s unfolding purposes,” a grounded conviction that God will always keep His promises. When Christ proclaims, “Be of good cheer,” He is not requesting a naïve, Pollyanna-like response to life’s cruel twists and turns. Nor is He promising a pain-free life of constant bliss. Trial is no respecter of persons. Tragedy and hardship do not discriminate. Our world sees opposition among rich and poor, men and women, the righteous as well as the wicked. The Savior specifically prayed that God would not take us “out of the world” (John 17:15). “In this world your joy is not full,” He taught, “but in me your joy is full” (DandC 101:36). True happiness and satisfaction are found only by turning away from the world and coming to Christ.
“Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come” (DandC 68:6).
The text for the entire article can be found here.
If you want to listen to the talk that the article was written from, the audio is found here.

And here's a link to my all time favorite talk on being cheerful by Elder Joseph B Wirthlin, Come What May, and Love It

Keep Smiling!