The Secret of Happiness

The search for happiness is as old as mankind.

Hedonism, an ancient Greek philosophy, stated that the chief end of man was happiness. Democritus, who lived in 460 BC, said, "Happiness is the object of our conduct." And Aristipus, a pupil of Socrates, put it this way. "The most intense pleasure is the highest good and is the aim of life."

People today still long for happiness, but in spite of our greatly increased knowledge and achievements so many people still haven't learned its secret.

Some doctors estimate that over 80% of patients are suffering as a result of emotional distress. A world-famous psychiatrist claims that "the central neurosis of our time is emptiness." And according to the United Nations World Health Organization, depression is the world's number one health problem.

Marilyn Monroe had everything that many seem to think brings happiness--beauty, wealth, fame, and popularity--but she ended her life in suicide. I have read that actor Mel Gibson also had everything the world had to offer but he never felt happy or fulfilled. This is one reason he produced and paid to make the film, The Passion of the Christ.

And millionaire Jay Gould said when dying, "I suppose I am the most miserable devil on earth."

Actually, wealth, fame, power, or beauty don't make one happy or unhappy. They are externals. Happiness comes from within. It is a by-product of an inner condition. If one lives only for personal happiness, he will probably never find it. As one person said, "The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness."

In their mind happiness is many things to many people. It depends on one's particular needs, abilities, interests, and maturity. Happiness for one man is to be an accountant, for another a farmer. Happiness for one woman is not to have any more children, for another to have one. The reality is, however, that none of these in and of itself can make anyone happy.

For me, happiness begins with being honest with myself and learning to understand and accept myself for who and what I really am. This way I can utilize my strengths and work towards overcoming my weaknesses.

Life's Little Frustrations

Paul Dickson discovered that the size of the cut he inflicted on himself while shaving was directly proportionate to the importance of the event he was shaving for. That led him to an interest in other "universal laws" evident in daily life. The following are a few of the many he has collected:

"No books you lend are lost except those you particularly want to keep."

"There are three ways to get something done:

do it yourself, hire someone, or tell your kids not to do it."

"You can throw a burnt match out of the window of your car and start a forest fire easier than you can start one under dry logs in your fireplace with a box of matches and the complete edition of the Sunday newspaper."

Let's face it, more often than not it's life's little annoyances that get to trigger our "worry/ frustration button" and cause us to overreact in one way or another.

As one of my favorite ditties goes: "It's the little things that bother us / and put us on the rack / you can sit upon a mountain / but you can't sit on a tack."

Most of us have at least one worry frustration button--and as long as this button is active, it's a good reminder that I still have some growing to do--and will until I get to the place where I quit worrying and overreacting and learn to trust God for everything!

Hmm. I see I still have a ways to go!

Dear God,
please help me
to keep growing in 'faith and love
so I can get to the point
where I can accept life's frustrations
without getting my buttons pushed,
and trust you in every situation.

Thank you for hearing and answering my
prayers.

The Power of Vision

Author Marabel Morgan told how for three long months prior to the birth of her second daughter she was flat on her back in the hospital with no visitors allowed.

She was bored out of her mind and longed to have something constructive to do but was too drugged to even read, let alone write. Eventually her baby was born and she returned home. Her life now was filled with things to do, taking care, not only of the new baby, but another daughter as well, her husband, household chores, and innumerable other responsibilities--not the time to write a book. But she did!

She said, "Once you set your goal, then picture it done. Without this finished picture in your mind, you'll give up halfway. With it, there's no limit to what you might accomplish."

Somebody else said, "Faith is visualizing what God wants you to do." Good point. Once we see what that is, it is so much easier to start doing it!

Dear God,
please give me a vision
of what you are doing
in the world today,
the world in which I live,
and help me to see
how I can be
a part of that.
Let your vision for me
be my vision for you.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayers.

Busyness

 

I read about a very successful preacher, or so he and many others believed, but he was always busy, busy, busy.

In fact he was so busy with his work "for God" that he neglected the most important things in his life.

Late one November his wife caught him as he was racing out the door to go to preach to somebody else's kids. She asked, "Do you know, or do you even care that from the middle of September until today, you have not been home one night?"

She had a breakdown soon after. He contemplated suicide. He later confessed, "I was a man who existed in a shell."

Like many of us, his shell of busyness was his external protection--not from the outside world--but from his inner world of unresolved anxiety. His problem was that he was a busy-aholic.

As long as we keep on the run to avoid facing our inner anxieties, our busyness can get us addicted to our own adrenaline, which becomes nothing less than a cheap anesthetic to deaden the feelings of an empty or troubled life. In so doing we end up hiding from our own reality--a self-destructive path to follow.

To overcome, the first step is to admit the truth of what we are doing; that is, admit our addiction no matter how refined it appears to be. The second step is to get into a recovery/ support group to help stop the addictive/ avoidance behavior so we can feel the pain we are seeking to avoid. And third, where necessary we need to seek wise or professional counseling as well as God's help to resolve and overcome the cause or causes behind our avoidance behavior.

Dear God,
Please help me
to let go of the addictive over-control of my life,
find the help I need to overcome,

Thank you for hearing and answering my
prayer.