In the morning
Service with a smile at a bed and breakfast inn, Placerville, CA, December 2002
“Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.” –Elbert Hubbard
When I first read this quote, I thought, “I really need to take that advice to heart, and try to do that.” The next thing I thought was, “Hey, one way to do that would be to sleep until ten a.m.!” Needless to say, I’m NOT a morning person!
It is surprising, though, how much a pleasant attitude can change an entire day. Whether it’s our own or someone else’s cheerfulness, a congenial spirit can enhance happy times and ameliorate bad ones. I’ve noticed when I make the effort to be courteous rather than grouchy, it seems to get much easier as I go along, with each smile or kind word lifting my own mood even if no one else notices.
I hope you have a wonderful day today, but even if you don’t, try Hubbard’s little piece of advice, and feel free to let me know how it goes. You can ask me how I did, too. Nothing like a little accountability to give myself some incentive.
One year ago today
This post was first published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: attitude, cheerful, friendly, helpfulness, morning, pleasant, smile, start the day with a smile
Defeat Despair 
Good morning, Julia! I love your simple solution to reach the goal to “Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning….”
Unfair as it may sound, that target time may actually shift later, for people who get up later! LOL
Thanks for this idea, though. I am going to try it today!
Yes, I think it just means “the first few hours you are up.” Although those who aren’t naturally early risers and HAVE to get up early, would need this advice more…I’m a bit worried that all these naturally late risers are going to have a hard time going back to pre-covid schedules that don’t allow for wearing pajamas until later in the day.