Summary: Listen to episode 269 of the Inspirational Living podcast: The Secret of Health, Youth & Courage. Edited and adapted from A Gentle Heart by James Russell Miller. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt:Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get the best of our podcasts in book form by visiting our website InspirationalLifeLessons.com. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from The Blessing of Cheerfulness by James Russell Miller, published in 1895. I have already shared with you the ways in which the lesson of cheerfulness can be learned. It is a lesson that we should learn, whatever the cost. The person who carries about with them a cheerful spirit is a blessing wherever they go. We have no right to go among people with our complaints and our mumblings. It is part of the debt of love we owe to our fellow human beings, to bring them always the best we have — not gloom and shadow and discouragement, but cheer, hope, and joy. We were made to be lights in the world, to let our light so shine before others that they may see our good works, and glorify the sublime. There is no light in discontent, complaining, and gloom; and we are not realizing God's plan for our life when we let shadows hang about us. The blessings of cheerfulness are many. It blesses the individual themselves. It is a fountain of life in your heart. It makes you strong for all duty and struggle. Life is not half so hard for the cheerful person, as it is for the one who is depressed and unhappy. Burdens are light when you can sing under them. Battles are easily won when the heart is glad.
