We've all had those mornings. You know, the ones where you hit snooze one or two (or five or six) times. The ones where the bed won't let you go and the coffee just isn't enough. Mornings where there is no "right side of the bed" and you enter the day with much less than a positive attitude. It's so easy to give into these mornings and let them ruin the rest of your day. In fact, it's so easy to give into any kind of trouble and let it destroy your bright spirit.

Think about it – a spilt cup of coffee, a little more morning traffic than usual, someone calling out sick at work- we let these silly things absolutely consume our positivity. It's like our happiness is a Pop-Tart and these small setbacks are a bunch of hungry middle schoolers. We let five bad minutes turn into a bad day that turns into bad weeks and months and lives. Is life really so miserable? Are we really so caught up in these little things that we can't look past them and regain our joy?

There are so many things worse than spilling a cup of coffee on your new favorite work pants. I won't bother you with listing them because then you would be sad and that sadness could turn into more sadness that will continue to leak out throughout the day allowing you to settle into your misery. Instead, I'm going to talk about why you should be happy and appreciate life.

We humans have this amazing ability to communicate with others. We can ask someone how their day went or tell someone they look nice. We can order exactly what we want for lunch and tell our friends all the daily drama. Even more powerful than these things, though, we can learn to understand others through words. We can sit down with a stranger and know who they are within a matter of seconds because of language and communication. Take advantage of this.

Talk to people. Like really, really talk to them.You might learn a thing or two from the guy on the city bus or the lady in line at the grocery store. Conversation is one of those super cool things that we take for granted because we can see and hear and speak. So, when you're having a bad day, start a conversation and see where it goes. Try to understand people. It might just turn your day around.

Besides the happiness that lies within conversations, we have to start giving more to gain joy. I know this can be intimidating at first, but we have to try. Start small. Pay for the guys sausage biscuit behind you in line at McDonalds or set a vase of flowers on a random doorstep. Invite the guy sitting alone at a restaurant to join you or collect books to give to underprivileged kids.

Giving back doesn't have to be starting an organization that feeds a thousand homeless people or writing a ten thousand dollar check to support a cause. We can all give something to someone else. In fact, that something could be as simple as a smile or a compliment. Sometimes those things mean just as much as the big things. By giving more, you will learn to appreciate more and will start to see the brighter side of life.

Finally, in order to learn to love life a little more, we have to take time for ourselves. This might seem contradictory to my last point, but in actuality, you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else. Take a bubble bath, go on a bike ride, or read a book. Start the day by waking up five minutes earlier just so you can walk outside and breathe in fresh air for a few minutes. Eat healthier and get more exercise. Say thank you to yourself when you've been working hard at something. Enjoy time alone and do things that you like to do. A happy person is really a happy soul and a happy soul is created by doing things that bring you joy.

So, jump out of bed in the morning. Make a promise to yourself to strike up a good conversation with someone, give back to others and take time for yourself. Put some meaning in your life. Learn to appreciate that morning traffic because it gives you time to listen to a few more songs on the way to work. Be excited when you spill coffee on your new pants because, hey, more shopping. Take some soup to that person that called out at work because while you're at Panera you can grab yourself something too.

Next time you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, think about what you can do to have a better day. Make a good breakfast, call up mom for a morning chat and plan a way to help someone else that day. Stop and smell the flowers in life (and while you're there, you might as well pick some for someone else, too).