Catch the Up Elevator

Let’s go for joy and Catch the Up Elevator.  And let’s do that without the cooperation of anyone else in the world.  If you want it done right, do it yourself.

Where did you start your day today?  Tenth story with a Happy View?  Ground floor with Starbucks?  The Basement of Gloom?

It makes no difference where you started because you can go up from there.  Most of my days begin above ground level and end up higher.  Especially when I get home in the evening to spend time with my wife and family.  But every single day I am influenced either from the outside (by other people), or from the inside (by me).

Both joy and gloom are contagious.  When my wife is cheerful as I wake up, and she usually is, I latch on to her mood, and Catch her Up Elevator. But how do I find joy when my wife just won’t cooperate?  On those rare occasions when she wakes up grumpy I sympathize, but I don’t enter her Down Elevator.  To paraphrase the beggar in Fiddler on the Roof, “Just because you had a bad night why should I suffer?”

I also find that my own mood is infectious – notably to me, and I can infect myself with either a happy or a grumpy face.  This is entirely my choice.  Years ago I was fighting with my girl-friend Jill when our guest John arrived at our front door for dinner.  I greeted him warmly and the three of us enjoyed a lovely evening together.  At 11:00 PM, as John left and the front door closed behind him, I resumed the argument with Jill exactly where we left off.  She was shocked.

“I thought everything was fine.  We had such a nice evening.”

Yes, we did, because I had chosen to substitute happy feelings for my previous angry frame of mind.  Now, with our guest vanished into the night, I resumed the argument.  While John was with us I chose to Catch the Up Elevator.  The instant he left I stepped right on to the Down Elevator – both were my choice.

I learned years ago that when I walk into my office wearing a frown, or even a serious look, my entire staff was likely to spend their entire day talking about “what is going on with Alan?  Is he going to fire someone?”  Wasted time is a pretty expensive frown for me, so now I always think a happy thought or two as I walk past my receptionist in the morning, and I greet her with a smile.  Also, I accomplish a lot more when I begin my day with enthusiasm, and that is what I choose to do.

Catch the Up Elevator.  Ride with Joy today.  It’s entirely up to you.

Next Tuesday – the joy of The Magic Piano.

Alan