I was reading a book in my chair in the living room while my son watched an old comedy show on TV. Suddenly, I heard someone yell, “Go to your happy place! Go to your happy place!” I looked up to see the television characters panicking while my son laughed at the silliness of it all. Hearing those words, however, made me put my book down and think of all the happy places I have had over the years.

When I was a little boy my happy place was sitting on my Mom’s lap while we shared a freshly made bowl of popcorn. When I was in elementary school my happy place was a tree in the woods where I could sit and watch the leaves go golden and red in the Fall. When I was a teenager my happy place was my bedroom where I could lay on my bed and listen for hours to my favorite songs on the radio. As a young man my happy place was an old rocking chair where I could hold my newborn babies in my arms and gently rock them to sleep.

As I got older, though, I realized that the very best happy place of all was deep down within my own soul. It was there that I realized just how much God loved me. It was there that I saw that I could love too. It was there that I learned that my happiness was in my own hands and that I could create it one loving choice at a time.

When you have your own soul as your happy place then your happy place is wherever you decide to go. When your happy place lives in your heart then you get to give it to everyone you meet. When your happy place is the very life you live then you make the world around you a happier place as well. Create your own happy place then. Fill your heart with love. Fill your soul with kindness. Fill your days with joy. Take this glorious gift of life God has given you and live it, one loving choice at a time.