Cheerfulness is a state of mind in which we feel content and confident and are free of stress, anxieties and fear. A prolonged state of being cheerful is happiness.

Cheerfulness is wearing a smile and therefore easy to distinguish. It is usually contagious and will often be returned, so that the positive feelings flow both ways.

“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  
They are but trifles, to be sure, but, scattered along life’s pathway,  
The good they do is inconceivable.” – Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

It is said that laughter is the best medicine. It is an excellent medicine. When you are low and perhaps feeling sorry for yourself, find something funny to laugh at. You can’t feel really bad and laugh at the same time. Laughter just feels good. When things are a bit sour between friends, what better way to set things right, than to have a good laugh together. 

“The most completely lost of all days is that on which one has not laughed.” – Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794)  

We may not feel like smiling or laughing because we have too much upsetting us. This is a condition that we can usually do something about. Since we are happy when we have pleasant thoughts, we can change our thoughts to something that is enjoyable. Sometimes it is difficult when we are in a deep rut but it can be done with practice.

“Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if your cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.” – William James (1842-1910)