Happiness is a State Happiness is not a vacation spot. It’s a state where everyone has the opportunity to reside permanently. The state of happiness is analogous to the governed geographical territories where most of us live. And, just like you can go to different localities within a state, you can experience various areas of […]
Paul tells us in his letter to Timothy, “Take hold of the eternal life.” (1Timothy 11-19) He’s telling us that to be truly happy we must start at the end. We must focus on our ultimate goal, our end game, or in other words, our final destination. The choice is simple – eternal joy (Heaven) […]
When I was a young girl, and someone (like my brother) did something to hurt me, my mom would tell me to forgive him. I didn’t know what that really meant, and Mom didn’t detail it. So, I developed my own idea of forgiveness based on what I thought and what I heard. As a […]
In the 1954 movie White Christmas, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney sang Irving Berlin’s “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” to help ease each other’s worries. The song’s sweet melody and lyrics are calming and comforting. Moreover, the piece offers excellent advice for achieving happiness. So, even if you aren’t worried and can sleep, you […]
“To be happy, you must value happiness” sounds like one of those Proverbs that we agree with but don’t apply. In truth, we should pay more attention to these words of wisdom and live accordingly. We would be happier. Find out why and how valuing happiness will make you a happier person. What Do You Value? […]
You can still be happy when life isn’t fair. Happy people know this. They don’t always like the fact that life isn’t fair, but they understand and accept it. Happy people uphold their values, practice forgiveness, and rely on their faith to overcome unfairness. However, people who can’t handle the reality that life isn’t fair […]
We all get negative from time to time because we lose, make costly choices, or have things taken from us. But, faith, hope, and love help us replace those absences. When faith, hope, and love are absent, we are left with nothing. That nothingness becomes negativity, which is an expression of pessimism or criticism and […]
To overcome negativity, the best place to start is with yourself. While many people wouldn’t describe themselves as being negative, it’s surprising how others would. You may have more negative characteristics than you care to admit. But, you can replace those characteristics with ones that will make you more positive. Learn how to assess yourself […]
What happens to you when you are with someone who is negative? You know who I mean – the guy or gal who complains more than compliments, finds more wrongs than rights in the world, assumes the worst, and counters any glimmer of hope with a “but….” None of us is immune to negativity, and […]
Throughout the ages, people’s desire to be happy has not changed. However, their approach for making that happen has taken a wrong turn. One simple way to be happy is to talk happy. You must talk happy to be happy. This creates a cycle. You talk happy to be happy and when you’re happy, you […]
When my husband and I got serious about our relationship, he admitted he was first drawn to me because of my smile. David (my husband) is like most people. We are drawn to people who smile because smiling faces communicate happiness, warmth, acceptance, and love. What are masks really preventing? Our Faces Communicate Who We […]
You naturally know what you need to be happy. But, do you know the truth about getting what you need to be happy? If you are like many people, you’ve been deceived! Physical Needs vs. Emotional Needs We know we need food, water, and shelter in order to survive. And, we instinctually figure out how […]
What we need to be happy goes beyond what we need to stay alive. Food and water satisfy our physical needs, but our happiness doesn’t come from our physical nature. It comes from our spirit. Therefore, what we need to be happy are unquantifiable practices that satisfy our spirit. These are known as emotional needs. […]
Everyone wants to be happy. But, how many people say why they want to be happy? How many people really think about the advantages of living in happiness? There’s a lot more to living in happiness than feeling a sense of elation. For instance, hundreds of people can benefit from one person living in happiness. […]
When we live in our nature (aka the natural), we live the way we are born – with our survival instincts and emotions in charge. These life preservers allow us to survive. They also limit our freedom to live life fully. However, we have the freedom to choose where we want to live and how […]
Everyone wants to be happy or happier, but living in the natural is easier. Part 1 of How to Live Longer in Happiness explains our nature and what it’s like to live in the natural. Part 2 describes the elements of happiness and what it is like to live in happiness. How to Live Longer […]
Human beings are wired to constantly want. We want things for ourselves and we want things for other people. A want that is common to all of us is the want to be happy. We want to be happy and we want other people to be happy. However, I’ve learned that many people can’t define […]
Survive in the natural or live in happiness is a decision we make multiple times per day. I’m not talking about using natural or organic products. I am talking about existing the way we are born – when our instincts preside over our intellect allowing us to just survive and not live life to the […]
‘Tis the season to be jolly! If that’s true, why do so many of us get more stressed out during Christmas than joyful, and more agitated than peaceful? We pressure ourselves by overestimating the needs of others and thinking we have too much to do. This can be a habit we keep all year long […]
We can and should pursue happiness despite our circumstances. The pains of life can be devastating leaving us bitter, scared, desperate, anxious, and depressed. But, we aren’t supposed to stay there. When bad things happen, we won’t be as jovial as when all is right with our personal world, but we can get to some […]
We Are Born Unhappy For Our Own Good Thomas Jefferson wrote, in the Declaration of Independence, that we are endowed by our Creator certain unalienable rights. Included in those rights is the pursuit of happiness. Clearly, Mr. Jefferson knew that happiness is not merely bestowed upon us. In fact, we are not born happy, but […]
In my last post, I discussed the nature of Miseralites and how they live like the “natural man.” One of their natural traits that is inherent to all of us is their lack of patience or impatience. While impatience can get us what we need to survive, it does nothing to help us survive well. […]
Happy being miserable… what an oxymoron! It seems impossible, but many people have mastered this contradiction of life. Do you know anyone like this? You know who I’m talking about — people who bemoan life and begrudge others more than they delight in life and bless others. I call them Miseralites (‘miz-er-e-lites) because they are […]
We are not born happy so it’s easy to be unhappy. We are born to survive and raised to live happy. Our survival instincts develop before we are born and include the emotions fear, anger, contempt, followed by shame and guilt. These are our life preservers. Without them, our lifespans would be shorter. We Are […]
Most people I work with agree that they are seeking guidance because they want to be happier. Our work begins with them telling me their stories. Each story is unique, but always includes other characters and emotions. No one can tell a story solely about himself because we cannot exist alone, and emotions are always […]
What’s your story? Your beliefs come from and create what you tell yourself and others. This post explains how core beliefs get created and how they influence how you talk and behave, which ultimately determines your happiness. We Tell Our Stories Based on What We Know and What We Want Our stories start before we […]
Before we move on to understand why we developed certain core beliefs, how our core beliefs affect our lives, and the challenges of changing our core beliefs, we must have a destination in mind. Let’s look at 11 Characteristics of Happy People for you to target as goals. This post describes the behaviors and attitudes […]
Core beliefs are what we think and feel about ourselves. Our core beliefs are seeds that grow our happiness. We form them from the verbal, physical, and emotional information other people gave us. These deep seated beliefs develop before we have conscious recall. They lodge in our subconscious mind where they grow our attitude, behaviors, […]
Our core is made up of the beliefs we have about ourselves and others and these beliefs direct our happiness. Some of our beliefs formed before we had knowledge and understanding. They are the feelings and thoughts we got from how our parents and caregivers talked to us, what they said to us, and how […]
Apples and people develop from their cores. But, unlike apples, our cores are invisible. While the cores of apples have seeds that grow more apples, our core has seeds, known as our internal beliefs, from which we grow in body, mind, and spirit, and from which we help others grow. “Getting to the Core of […]
We are not born happy. If we were, we would lie content and peaceful in our cribs and never draw our mothers’ attention to get fed or comforted. We would rely on the guess work of our mothers for our existence as they would have to guess what we needed and when we needed it […]
God is spirit, meaning He is not a mortal material being. Even though we are mortal material beings, no one can deny that each of us has a spirit within us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 confirms this “… your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you.” Science agrees. Using quantum physics, math, […]
In my “If You’re Happy and You Know It” post, I explained that knowing genuine happiness is to know God. Now comes the question, God is…? Before I give the specifics on God, let’s first take a quick look at the history of God. History of Gods According to historical scholars and researchers, Gods have been worshiped […]
When I was a little girl, I attended Vacation Bible School at the Methodist Church in the village where I lived. It was two weeks of Bible teachings and stories, arts and crafts, playing games outdoors, singing, and snack time featuring cookies with Kool-Aid or Lemon Blennd. Some of my favorite childhood memories are from […]