I was having quite a difficult time towards the end of last week. I don’t know what it was exactly, but I was very depressed and suddenly feeling quite hopeless. I moped around the house for a couple days complaining about everything in my life that I could think to complain about. It was just not a good scene. I’m sure my family was absolutely tired of me.

Usually, when I cook dinner I watch something online or listen to the radio. On this particular day, I decided to watch some videos on You Tube while I made whore’s pasta for my family. I looked up happiness. I thought that’s what I needed to hear about, because I was so unhappy. I ended up watching two videos. I’ll post them at the end of this but I just wanted to tell you about the impressions they made on me first.

Happiness is a Choice

The first video was about studies on happiness and how we tend to misjudge happiness or what will make us happy. In it the person asked the audience who would be happier after one year, a lottery winner or a quadriplegic. The audience assumed it would be the lottery winner, but in fact, both groups of people averaged the same level of happiness after one year passed.

There’s a scripture in the Book of Mormon that I just spent a ton of time looking for but couldn’t find so I’ll paraphrase it. If anyone out knows which one it is please put it in the comments. The scripture says that the same soul that possesses your body now will be the soul that meets God. Those that are happy will be happy still. Those that are miserable will be miserable still. Then in the margin of that verse I have written “Happiness is a choice.”

Those of you who might have a problem with depression probably disagree or at least don’t appreciate that sentence. I’ve written about depression, and I think there are times when it gets beyond anything you can control on your own.

I saw a television show on happiness once that featured a person with terminal cancer who said that cancer was the best thing that ever happened to him and explained how much happier his life was. It made me think that you have a choice in the way you approach situations. Some people choose to see the negative in everything and others look at the positive. Choosing to look at the positive in a situation you can’t change is in a sense choosing to be happy. I can choose to be upset because things are not going like I planned right at this moment or I can chose to see the positive and move on.

Don’t Worry

The other You Tube video I watched that evening was an interview with a Buddhist monk. It was about how Buddhist monks are the happiest people alive. During the interview the monk talked about being present in the moment. This is something else I have a problem doing. I tend to worry at times. Then I get stuck in a worrying rut that I just can’t seem to get myself out of. If you are in the present you can’t worry about the future.

Worrying doesn’t get you anything in the long run, but a whole lot of wasted time worrying. The time spent worrying could’ve been used to do something productive to make your future seem more positive to you.

Worrying won’t change anything only action will bring about change.

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Trust in Life

My husband always says that you have to trust that life will give you what you need. He’s always accusing me of not doing that–not trusting. As a religious person I would equate that with having faith in God. I have to admit that at times my faith is a bit lacking, but as I look back on my life I can see how events happened in the right order.

There are things that I’m doing now that I’ve thought if I’d done that earlier look at how much further along I would have been, but if I examine the situation honestly I know that I won’t have been ready to do that earlier.

Strip everything away and look at your life honestly. Are you getting everything you need right now to learn the lesson that is most relevant in your life today? Who were you two years ago? Could’ve you have learned that same lesson then? Probably not. You probably weren’t ready yet, but now you have the experience and tools to do so. You just have to find those tools. You just have to recognize the lessons.

Writing and Sharing Experiences

I believe that journaling is a great way to examine your life and look inward. Writing in a journal everyday in a free form stream of consciousness manner will help you take an honest look at you life. Once you’ve found the lessons and tools you need to you can start learning and growing.

I don’t have everything figured out in life. I probably never will, but I hope that by sharing experiences we can learn from each other.

Photo by Pink Sherbert

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