What Makes Us Happy

What makes us happy? If I surveyed 100 people and asked them that same question, I’m almost positive these things wouldn’t make the top 10, but they do the trick! I’m tellin’ ya!

There was one night where I was laying in bed, bright eyed and bushy tailed, as if I’d just woken up from a full nights sleep. My mind was just rolling and I couldn’t get it to stop! My friend had just told me she was battling severe depression and to say I was shocked would be an understatement. I would have never known and never guessed that this smiling face would be telling me she wasn’t happy and sharing with me her feelings of hopelessness and turmoil. My heart literally ached for her. I started thinking about all the good people in the world, those that I know, and the strangers that I don’t know, are they struggling too? What other smiling faces are hurting on the inside?

So as I laid awake, pondering this, I had a thought…what makes us happy?

It hit me like a ton of bricks….and then, of course, I was laying there even more awake than before!

Now these things don’t cure depression, but I promise that no matter what you battle, doing these things will make you happier.

H. A. P. P. Y.

H – Hope – Without hope, we are lost. Some even take their own lives, in a state of hopelessness. A sense of hopelessness is a horrible place to be. When we have hope, we believe in a brighter tomorrow, or believe we can do hard things. Our will overpowers the negativity around us. We say to ourselves “I CAN!… I CAN DO HARD THINGS!” If you are in a state of hopelessness, please reach out to family, friends, or medical providers! Hope is powerful and everyone needs it!

A – Accepting Ourselves – First we have to love ourselves, and then we can love others. By that I don’t mean spend more time in the mirror or more money on ourselves, I mean love and accept ourselves inside and out right now, weaknesses included! We are not perfect and we will never be in this life. Striving to be better is good, allowing it to pull us down is not good. The absolute fact of the matter is that we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses (we can’t change that). We may not have the strengths we would have ordered, and we may have more weaknesses than we would have chosen, but you are you, and nobody can replace YOU…so instead of wishing our time away wanting to be somebody else, we  need to accept ourselves and be the one, that does something small, to make something grand!

P – Patient with Ourselves and Others – Once we have accepted ourselves, we will be more likely to have patience when we fall short, as well as more patience with others. We will not be afraid to try new things, because we will be able to accept less than perfect. We will not feel the need to compare or measure up, we will be content and happy in our own skin. Being patient with others is a must! Most people are doing their best, despite how it may appear, so just let people be. Forgive. Forgive. And forgive again. Believe me, it’s so freeing and you will feel more happiness than you have before! We live in a world with billions of different perspectives, lives, experiences, and the sooner we can learn to love our full selves and love others entirely, differences included, our lives will be filled with so much more happiness! I also know that the less you judge, the less you feel judged. I’ve experienced it, and it’s pretty amazing!

P – Personal Prayer and Scripture Study (two way communication with Heavenly Father and a real relationship with him) – I feel like the top three are in order, but this one really needs to be bumped to the top!:-) Too bad you don’t spell happy PHAPY:-) Allow God to be a big part of your life. Whatever your belief system is, God needs to be part of it. He worked miracles in Christ’s time, and he can work miracles now! He will be the one that can help us accomplish H.A.P. P. and Y and truly be happy to our core! With Christ’s help, you can do anything…including being happy! As hard as it is, it’s worth the time to pray and ponder each day!

Y – Yearning to Be a Little Better – This is a tricky one….especially for women I think, but it applies to everyone. It’s a hard balance to yearn to be better without being too hard on yourself. Y fits perfectly last because all the other 4 need to come before Y. If we have hope, if we accept and are patience with ourselves and others, if we are staying close to Heavenly Father through prayer and study, He will bless us with an eternal perspective. We will be able to see our progress and we will be strong and happy! If we are only yearning to be better, but don’t have the other 4 in check, we often get down on ourselves, we compare ourselves, we look to be better in areas that are of no significance, we feel discouraged, and downhearted. Yep! I’ve been there. Sometimes it’s for minutes, sometimes it’s for days, but if we are ever feeling that way, we know it’s time to balance back out and prioritize those things in our lives that will make us HAPPY!

I just love our featured quote this week!

Happiness is not about what we have. It’s about what we do with what we have! We have ALL been given something, what are we going to do with it?

Shane Burcaw is a boy who battles Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He has a blog called, “Laughing at My Nightmare.” He can teach us so much! We don’t get to choose what we have to deal with in this life, but we can choose what we do with it. Are we going to be a Shane Burcaw and use it to inspire others? Or not? Are we going to choose to be happy? Or not? The great thing is, it’s up to us! The crappy thing is it’s up to us!:-) No one else can make us happy. If we try to find happiness through things, others, money, etc, it’s not going to happen. Happiness comes from within! I have no doubt that we all have what it takes to be happy! It’s like the old song says, “Don’t worry be happy!”

-Lindsey

This article appeared first on Real Imprints.