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happiness

Happiness is not Determined by What We Have, But by Who We Are

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We Have Control Over Who We Are, so…Who Do You Want to Be?

Happiness is the state of being happy.

So, what does it mean to be happy?

Being happy is the feeling of pleasure and enjoyment.

Each of us is going to find pleasure and enjoyment in different ways and places. Too much of the time we’ve been led to believe that stuff is what’s going to make us happy. Jesus tells us in Luke 6:17-26, that’s not where our happiness comes from.

That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy if you have stuff. Things just aren’t the source of happiness.

Studies have shown that even though the standard of living is better now than it was fifty years ago, people are less happy.

Some of us have our “valuables out of whack”. This happens when we put too much value on valuables.

The question is, is your happiness internal or external?

We all know people who are happy even when going through tough situations. We also know those who, no matter how good things are, they’re still complaining.

I think Anne Frank is a good example of choosing to be happy. While living in a small, cramped space with seven other people, hiding from the Nazis, she found happiness even in her situation.

Here is a summary of her message taken from Andy Andrew’s book the Traveler’s Gift. The Seven Decisions: The Joyful Decision – Today, I Will Choose to be Happy

I am a happy person, for I now truly understand the concept of happiness. Few others before me have been able to grasp the truth of the physical law that enables one to live happily every day. I know now that happiness is not an emotional phantom floating in and out of my life. Happiness is a choice.

Today I will choose to be happy. I will greet each day with laughter. I am enthusiastic about the day. I am alert to its possibilities. I am happy! Laughter is an outward expression of enthusiasm, and I know that enthusiasm is the fuel that moves the world.

Today I will choose to be happy. I will smile at every person I meet. My smile has the strength to forge bonds, break ice, and calm storms. I will use my smile constantly. I will always smile first. My smile is the key to my emotional make up. When I choose to smile, I become the master of my emotions. Discouragement, despair, frustration, and fear will always wither when confronted by my smile.

Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit. In the past, I have found discouragement in particular situations, until I compared the condition of my life to others less fortunate. Just as a fresh breeze cleans smoke from the air, so does a grateful spirit remove the cloud of despair. It is impossible for the seeds of depression to take root in a thankful heart. My God has bestowed upon me many gifts, and for these I will remember to be grateful. Too many times I have offered up the prayers of a beggar, always asking for more and forgetting my thanks. I do not wish to be seen as a greedy child, unappreciative, and disrespectful. I am grateful for sight and sound and breath. If ever in my life there is a pouring out of blessings beyond that, then I will be grateful for the miracle of abundance.

I will greet each day with laughter. I will smile at every person I meet. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.

Today, I will choose to be happy.

It’s up to you, you can decide to be happy or not.

“Things” Will Not Make You Happy…No Matter How Much You Have

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What is True Happiness and How Do You Get it?

In today’s world we are more connected than ever before. We can instantaneously be bombarded with information. This can be good or bad. It depends on what you do with it.

This information “firehose” requires a heightened awareness.

It is easy to be pulled into the worldly aspirations of the rich and famous. The question is…is that what you really should want? Is that what’s best for you?

I’m currently reading Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights. This unconventional memoir is filled with raucous stories of outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction. In this book he shares the struggle of dealing with fame and fortune and how he would periodically take sabbaticals to get away and get re-centered. (Keep in mind parts of this book are R rated.)

What is most important, wealth, beauty or wisdom?

While on a trip in the desert a man stumbles upon an old lamp. To get a better look at it, he wipes it off. While rubbing it, a genie appears. The genie says that he will grant the man one of three wishes…he can either be the richest man in the world, the most popular or the wisest. The man says, “We all know that money does not bring happiness and popularity just makes you a slave to the whims of others, but wisdom is everlasting. I want to be the wisest man in the world.” Poof the wish is granted. Suddenly the man’s face has a serious expression. He sits down, rubbing his chin in thought. He looks at the genie and says, “I should have taken the money”.

Too often, wealth and popularity are what people long for. It’s what the world would have you believe is what you should be after. Choosing wisdom over the others is hard. There is a lot of responsibility that goes with wisdom.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote, “Be careful how you live. Live wisely, not like fools. I mean that you should use every opportunity you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So don’t be foolish with your lives but learn what the Lord wants you to do.”

The foolish person lives as if there is no God.

As Chance the Rapper was gaining popularity and beginning to spike as a hip hop artist, his grandma was not impressed.  She told him, “I don’t like what’s going on. I can see it in your eyes. We’re gonna pray.”

Chance said, “She prayed positive things for me all the time.” But this time, she said, “Lord, I pray that all things that are not like You, You take away from Chance. Make sure that he fails at everything that is not like You. Take it away. Turn it into dust.”

This left Chance thunderstruck. “Is she praying that I fail at everything I’m trying to do?” In reality…

She cared more about his soul than his success.

Chance went on to be a popular wealthy Christian artist with wisdom.

Our soul is more important than our success. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want you to be successful because He does. What it means is that we need to have our priorities in order. God first and everything else will follow.

In 1 Kings 3 Solomon asks God for wisdom rather than wealth or popularity. This made God happy so… “I will give you what you asked for. I will make you wise and intelligent. I will also give you what you did not ask for. You will have riches and honor in your life.”  And he did.

True happiness comes from God. Get your priorities in order and happiness will follow.

Moms Love Us a Lot, But God Loves Us More

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True Happiness Comes from True Love and True Love Requires Sacrifice

A police chief was in the middle of a press conference when his mother called. He knew that she normally watched his press conferences, as any proud mother would. Knowing this he felt there must be an emergency, so he excused himself to take the call. When he answered, his mother asked, “Are you chewing gum?” After a short pause he responded, “Yes”. She came back in a sharp tone, “I taught you better than that. You know you shouldn’t chew gum when speaking in public.”

As funny as this example of a mother’s love is…

Mothers will go to great lengths for their children.

Love can go both ways. Here’s a true story of a son who put his life on the line to save his mother.


35-year-old Jermaine scaled a burning 19-story building in West Philadelphia to the 15th floor after receiving a call from his sister and finding out that his bed ridden mother’s building was on fire and she couldn’t get out.

Rushing to the scene, Jermaine said, he first tried to enter through the front door, but it was blocked by police.

“They said the elevators are not working,” he said. He told officers he could just take the stairs. “They were like, ‘we can’t let you in.’

“I took it upon myself because that’s my mother. There’s no limits. That’s my mother.” said Jermaine.

He’d hurt his hip earlier that day, “but adrenaline took over.” He started climbing the fenced-in balconies of the building.

“When I grabbed a gate, at the top of the gate, there was a ledge. Then I could step on top of the ledge and reach up to the other gate and keep climbing my way up,” Jermaine said.

He said he was worried about his mother’s safety, not his.

“She can’t get out of the bed or walk around, so if there’s a fire, she needs help out,” he said.

Once he made it to his mother, she told him that she was OK and that the fire was contained.

“She was more shocked,” he said. “She’s not surprised by the things that I do for her. She knows I’ll go over and beyond for her.”

He said that he thought he would be arrested as soon as he got down, but the Philadelphia Police Department said, “there was no crime committed.”

“The Police Chief actually did cut me a break,” Jermaine said. “He understood the circumstances. He knew – when your adrenaline is pumping and your mom is up there, you thinking she’s dying – you’d do anything you can.”

This is love going above and beyond.

Jesus went above and beyond by giving His life on the cross for us sinners that don’t deserve it.

True love is willing to make sacrifices for others. True happiness comes from true love.

Be willing to make sacrifices for those you love and experience true happiness.

Happiness Is…A Choice

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"Choose Happiness"

 

 

 

Choose to Be Happy

 

As the new year begins, we start filling up our already busy lives with more things to do. I think reviewing the past and looking to the future is a great plan and the new year is a fitting time for this. What we need to be clear about is what we’re going to spend our time doing and what makes us happiest.


We can choose to be happy or not.


“…happiness is not an emotional phantom floating in and out of my life. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is the end result of certain thoughts and activities, which actually bring about a chemical reaction in my body. This reaction results in euphoria, which, while elusive to some, is totally under my control.” Andy Andrews, The Traveler’s Gift.

 

 

“This is the day that the LORD has made. Let us rejoice and be glad today!” Psalms 118:24. Everyday is a day that we’ve been given, we have the power to choose if we’re going to be happy or not.


Happy is a much better way to spend our time and energy.


Not only is being happy a benefit to us, it also spreads to those around us. It’s contagious. Surrounding ourselves with happy people is much more enjoyable and productive.

 


Make choosing to be happy one of your goals for this new year and spread it around.

 

Happiness Is An Inside Job

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Too much of the time we are looking for happiness from things on the outside. Happiness is not dependent on health, wealth or food. It’s not that there is anything wrong with having any of these things. The problem is when they become our focus, ‘they have us’. What is important is our focus. It should be on God not on things of the world. Our happiness comes from a right relationship with God.

In Luke 6:17-26 we find the Beatitudes, sometimes called the “Sermon on the Plain”. This is a shorter teaching similar to the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew. It has been said that these Beatitudes turned things upside down. This is true from a worldly perspective. When asked about the Beatitudes, E. Stanley Jones replied, “First you think they have turned everything upside down. Then you realize they have turned everything right side up.” The Amplified Version of this Scripture does a great job of turning it right side up and providing a spiritual understanding of this scripture.

Being happy is a choice. We can decide to be happy or not. Deciding to be happy doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen because they will. The difference is how we handle these things. On the surface one would presume that lottery winners would be much happier than paralyzed accident victims, but studies show this to not necessarily be the case.

Living life focused on ourselves is a recipe for disappointment. Our purpose is to serve others, not to a point of neglecting ourselves, but rather by using our gifts. In 1 Peter 4:10 it says, “God has shown you his grace in many different ways. So be good servants and use whatever gift he has given you in a way that will best serve each other.” The recipe for happiness is pleasure, engagement and meaning. All of these things are found in serving others.

Focusing our lives on God is the key to unlocking the door to happiness.