I have been thinking a lot these days about happiness. I have felt unhappy for a while. I have thought about why. It is really hard in this world to be happy with what you have.
I don't necessarily mean material possessions.
But things like being married, having a baby, having a house.
I see people my age buying houses and having babies. I wish either or both of these would happen to me. But they don't. Or haven't yet.
It's painful to see people have things happen to them I wish happened to me.
But I like this article, "Finding joy in life". It uplifted me. I felt even a little bit happier after reading it.
I like that he said, disappointment, discouragement are events in life not life itself. That can be a hard distinction to make.
Especially when you feel those things for years and years.
I think happiness is a search. It doesn't always come natural for everybody.
Amy, one of the games I play with the girls is when I say, "What beautiful thing can you see today?" I play that game with myself too. For example (and it's a really crazy one), last night Nathalie was up all night beacuse her stitched toe was hurting, Matt couldn't sleep, Emily woke up crying and Charlotte woke up a couple of times. I was totally exhausted this morning and am working on about 4 hours of sleep today. But when I got up, I thought, "What is beautiful today?" Well, the fact that Charlotte didn't have diarrhea in the middle of the night. Or that Nathalie isn't crying anymore. Or that it is almost 80 degrees, windy and sunny. Or that Emily loves school.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to feel happy sometimes when you see other people's lives. Just put it into perspective-- you could have it much worse. And search for the beautiful. The world is SO beautiful, even in the middle of our struggles. Heavenly Father gave us this wonderful life and there is beauty in every day.