While a teenager, high school was the first time I had ever met anyone I knew who was doing drugs. I asked him why he dared do them. He told me that it made him happy.
There was a real estate developer in our community when I was young. He once came to talk to a group of youth. He told us of the marvelous opportunities out there for us. He had a reputation of having a lot of money. Someone asked him about his wealth. He seemed happy to share with us that he was indeed wealthy. He told us that money was what kept the world turning.
Also during that time, I met people who sought political office. I could tell that some of them had little regard for any of us, their only thought was to get our vote. They wanted the power that our votes would give them.
When video games first came out, I met a young fellow who did nothing outside of school, except games. He seriously never stopped while he was awake. There were precious few of them back then.
Whenever I would ask these people why they were doing those things, they would tell me that it made them happy. I admit that I too found myself thinking that things like money, fame and power might make me happy too. I thought about many things that I could do with them. I wanted toys like a new car. Yes, I thought all of that could make me happy.
I spent two years in Europe as a missionary. One day while we were out on the street. Two young men about our same age threatened us with knives. They wanted the money we carried. We didn’t have any. We talked them out of pursuing it any further. It came to light, that they were desperate for the money, so they could feed their drug habit.
While in the same city, I met an extremely wealthy man, who had been a very powerful business man. He languished in a rest home with a heart condition. The only visits he got from his family were to see if he was still alive, or whether they would at last be able to get to his money.
A few years later, I was shaken as a friend left his married family to pursue another woman. He lost his family and a few months later he lost the woman he had pursued also. Then he was horrified over the loss of the family he had left, especially his little ones.
I don’t mean to make everything sound as though they are bad things. For instance, money is a necessary tool. Many of the things we do in life are good things. My point wasn’t to show anyone’s foolishness. The point was that we all seek happiness. Sometimes we make big mistakes, even when our motive is something as lofty as happiness.
The question is, what is happiness? Is happiness found in money? Fame? Power? Or a number of the other pursuits we persist in? After 50 years of pursuing it myself, I can definitely say that happiness is not a thing. It is a state of mind. No matter how much money we have, no matter how many cars, houses, toys, drugs, sex, power, or fame, they cannot make you happy. They can give you momentary fun, but not happiness.
In fact, without restraint, any and all of those things will bring nothing but misery. Happiness is a sense of contentment. Happiness comes from self improvement and using that improvement to help others. It is finding contentment in whatever condition life has to offer us. One can be in pain, set about with all kinds of challenges and still be happy.
Happiness and joy are not something that we can seek out necessarily, but it is something that we can cause to happen. Part of it is making a decision to do something about ourselves. There is a law to follow if we are to be happy. The better we follow this law, the happier we can become. Part of that law reads that no one can give you happiness. Happiness doesn’t just happen. Happiness has to be worked for. It is a state that we have to earn. If we wait for happiness to fall upon us, it will never happen. Fame, fortune and power can be tools to use for the ingredients that will earn our happiness, if we use those things to serve the needs of others, but they can never bring lasting happiness.
So, how can one be happy? That is the subject of this blog. I will share what I have learned, my thoughts and some of the things that have worked for me. Again, I’m not an expert, I’m just a guy who has gone around the block a few times and I’m still doing it. I have my ups and downs and look forward to your insights as well.
Until next time, may your days be sunny.
Jene
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