Perception and happiness is governed 10% by facts and 90% selection and presentation of these facts.

I was reminded of this by my godmother Millie in a late night phone call while feeling overworked and alone. Millie, always good for a picker upper, reminded me that you …. and only you … are in control of your happiness. While this is tough to believe for anyone who has been dealt life’s equivalent of a 2-7 off-suit ; I believe this to be true within reason.

Along this line of thought I’ve realized that life, happiness, and perception really is all about the projection of facts.

On one hand I could have written a Christmas card spinning a glamorous tale about my year in 2007 – how I bought a nice home and flipped a profit in under 6 months, was a founder in starting up a software company which achieved funding, moved into a hip and funky apartment in one of Seattle’s trendiest neighborhoods, traveled to Texas for consulting opportunities.

While on the other, I could focus on how I sold too late in the Edmonton housing market, how I miss family friends and loved ones in Edmonton and Canada, and how the kitchen sink in my apartment in Seattle continually gives me electrical shocks, how the bathtub continually backs up leaving me standing in a pool of my own filth when finishing a shower, and how the neighbors … F#$((# you Jennifer!!! …. Are incredibly loud.

Focusing on the positive, while at the same time neither remaining ignorant or improving on weakness … make it my resolution.