A couple days ago I had a moment of awakening. I had been sliding into a bit of self-pity about the fact that it's nearly 9:00pm when I get home from work. Poor me! All those other people had been home with their families for hours and I hadn't even had dinner. It was a tiny case of "poor me" - so small I wasn't fully conscious of it. Still, it affected my mood, my energy level. The awakening came when I recognized a "lucky me" at the other end of the same situation. My work schedule differs from most people. I usually don't schedule appointments before 10:00 in the morning and typically work until 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening. On the day in question, I had been for a morning workout. It was one of those rare June mornings in Houston when the temperature sat in the upper 60's with low humidity. The early sunlight gave the puffy clouds a golden glow. I felt great. Then I noticed the traffic backed up and inching along the freeway. I smiled knowing no such snarls would stand in my way as I drove home on back streets. By the time I showered, ate breakfast and left for work, the traffic jam would have passed. Because of my work schedule, I hardly ever have to suffer through rush-hour traffic. And I get to have a leisurely beginning to my day. Lucky me! This little epiphany was the thing that made me realize how I had been dwelling on the "poor me" - and having the feelings that came with it. It often seems that our happiness - or the lack of it - depends on events outside of us. In fact, we have a great deal of power to leverage our happiness by tweaking the way we habitually look at those outside events. For many of our "poor me" thoughts, we can find a "lucky me" on the flip side if we look for it. When we do, we declare emotional independence. I'm not suggesting that we trivialize tragedy or try to pretend that seriously unpleasant truths don't exist. Still, there is wisdom in the idea that when life gives us lemons, we can make lemonade. Larry | 
