Nah, Elliemay, I don't think we can choose to be happy.

The best we can hope for is to choose to do those things that make it less likely that we'll be miserable and more likely that happiness might come along as a by-product of the daily choices we make.

So many really bad things have happened recently in my life -- objectively bad -- cancer, severe injury, deaths of loved ones, loss, loss, loss. Those external things that happen to everyone are not chosen. They happen. All we can choose is how we respond. The best I can manage on some days is choosing to avoid acting like a miserable s-o-b who treats herself and everyone else like crap because she's scared and in pain and the future looks bleak. That sort of thing is a recipe for misery. So ... I try to avoid choosing that.