Cultivating Happiness

I've been rather sad lately, and it's all about change. Some change is exhilarating while some is disconcerting at best.  I've been surrounded by a shroud of the grayness that comes with not wanting to accept change.  So when I heard a gardening expert say that happy plants make productive plants, I took it as a personal wake-up call.  I realized that the expert's statement was true of people, as well as plants.  When people (and plants) are happy, they are often at their most productive.  Such productivity can make change more manageable, positive, even empowering.  The cultivation of one's happiness rests within them, not with external forces.  Realizing that made all of the difference in my outlook and lifted the cloud of sadness.  As with the evolving seasons, change is inevitable.  Sometimes we instigate the change and at other times it is instigated for us.  The ability to cultivate happiness, however, is unchanging because it resides in me.