After my friend Stacey read my book, she said she got better at seeing her future through a positive lens. Instead of saying, “I don’t think it/love/my dream job will ever happen” she started saying, “I know it’s going to happen at some point, and I can’t wait to find out how.”

You never know what's through the next doorway. (New Orleans courtyard by Amy Spencer)

Well, love happened, and she recently wrote to tell me all about it.

While she was happily working hard and having fun, she met her now-fiancé. This is how she explained it in her email to me:

“We were just living our own lives until we finally bumped into each other. And it was like “Oh! There you are! I’ve been looking for you…”

This is the “bump into” plan for happiness.

Think of life as one great big party. Picture it: It’s full of wonderful people, good music, bad dancing, and fab spreads of food. Everyone’s milling about, crossing the room, popping through doorways and running into each other. And if you keep your eyes and ears and attitude open, you’ll meet some great people whether you’re in line for the bathroom, getting a refill on your cocktail or just strolling from one room to the next.

Like any party, you won’t have a blast by staring down at your feet in the corner. You’ll have it from looking up, walking around, and engaging with the room. You won’t bump into anyone if you’re not crossing through the room in the first place.

Follow the “bump into” plan for happiness. Join the party, introduce yourself, seek out the interesting stories, and have fun. By engaging yourself with the room, you just might meet people you really like who make the evening—and life—better than ever.

“Oh, there you are,” you can say to them, “I knew you’d be here.” Just like Stacey did. Then you can head straight to the raw bar and make the most of it.

Big love,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Optimisms.