Speaking of the rule of three:

I have been cheerful, optimistic and upbeat since the day I was born, according to reports. Those of you who have met me know it is true; I sincerely hope it comes through in this column.

The good cheer started at birth, so it’s probably genetic, but in addition, that’s how my mother raised me. After a few rough spots in my 20s, I came to realize that happiness comes from within. I saw too many cases of two people (sometimes one of them was me) in objectively identical situations, one of whom was happy and one who was not. I made a conscious choice to be in the happy group.

I enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s recent discussion of the subject:

I have my off days, for sure, but I believe cheerfulness is something you set your mind on in the morning and hang on to for the rest of the day. It feels like an essential American virtue, found in Emerson, Whitman, even Emily Dickinson, and surely in Mark Twain: Don’t get bogged down in the past, the bonehead mistakes, the tragic losses, the betrayals of trust. Look ahead. If necessary, leave town. Do what you can to improve the day. We are resilient people. Disaster strikes and the next day people get up and go to work. Buoyancy is what you need. Power and influence are illusory. Charisma is a fiction. Brilliance depends on who’s writing the test.

I also found myself visited by a touch of l’esprit d’escalier, when I realized I could have described myself as chubby, cheerful and chatty. Alliteration!

I was mildly disappointed that none of you offered me three adjectives for yourself. Several offered adjectives for me; I was surprised that none alluded to my corpulence. Apparently it looms large in my self image, but doesn’t appear in the image of me held by others. One sweet, kind correspondent offered “whip-smart and interesting” to describe me, but couldn’t come up with a third. I was touched.