The Magic Formula for Happiness, Pt 1

Growing up, I viewed happiness as a top corporate position, a wife and 2 kids, a nice car, and a posh house in the suburbs. This was epitome of success in my small world. Once I hit this point in my life, I would be “there” and would never be unhappy again.

Your perfect scenario may look a little different, but I believe our human nature tends to make us think that once we hit a certain point in our life, sadness will forever cease. First of all, we may never achieve our “dream” scenario. Even if we did, would this really solve everything? Would we really never be sad again if we achieve all of our dreams?

We'll be taking a look at what truly defines happiness throughout the next week, but let us take the opportunity to start with material possessions. We live in a world that is constantly releasing something new: new iphone, new 3D TV, etc, and we tend to think, "If only I could have (insert cool thing), my life would be complete."

Donald Miller challenges us in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, with the following, “And when you stop expecting material possessions to complete you, you’d be surprised at how much pleasure you get in material possessions.”

In a world where bigger is better and we are all rushing to MacAuthority to get the latest Ipad, may we take a minute to truly appreciate the possessions we do own. I’m not saying the Ipad 2 is inherently evil, but when we tend to seek happiness through an object, a problem does arise.

To be continued in Pt 2....

The Blood Drive

The blood drive. The needle in my flesh. The pain in the inside of my elbow. Life is taken for life to be given back away. Fears are faced; fears are conquered.

7 years ago, I did the cool thing; I gave blood and got out of Spanish class to boot…what a sweet hook-up. While a freshman in college 2 years later, I decided to give blood to impress a couple upperclassmen ladies. Within 1 minute of the needle piercing my skin, I was lying on my back with my feet in the air. Another minute later, and the needle had to be pulled as I was fading too quickly. Needless to say, I hadn’t been back since.

But then Tuesday arrived and my arch-nemesis reared its ugly cross-like head at me once again. I’d run out of excuses (aka traveling to foreign countries) and had to embrace my fear. I was scared. I was nervous. My palms soaked in sweat. I was “that guy” once again with his feet in the air.

But I filled that bag of blood. I conquered the blood drive and will be back the next time. Will I always be fearful? Maybe, but I have a pretty good feeling next time is going to be that much easier.

Donald Miller tells us in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, that conflict creates a good storyline. No one wants to read or watch a story where there is no conflict, no force to be overcome. For me, fear of the blood drive was just one of the many conflicts I’ve faced on a daily basis. However, I was sick and tired of being held back.

Will we always have fears holding us back? Yes, but the truth is God didn’t give us a spirit of timidity, but one of strength, ready to conquer the battles that arise in our everyday lives. God is by our side, helping us fight the battle…one blood drive at a time.

What fears are holding you back?

Blessings to the Max

“‘Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops,
What if Your healing comes through tears,
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near,
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise.”

Take a few moments to read over the lines above Laura Story challenges us through her song, “Blessings.” When we think about blessings, we tend to think of getting a new promotion, acing a test, or the sight of a newborn child. These are wonderful blessings that no one could every say otherwise, but let us take a broader look at what defines our blessings.

To take it a step further, we could also define blessings as wisdom and strength (emotional, spiritual, physical) among other attributes. For me, I’m working on my emotional strength. I’m working on accepting my fears in this life that surround me, and fighting through them with confidence.

The thing is, we have to sometimes go through pain to achieve wisdom. For my own situation, I’ve had to deal with wounds in my life that were cut 10 to 15 years ago that I’ve only bandaged. I’ve bandaged these wounds with popularity, girls, and money. However, I’m sick and tired of bandages. I’m ready to expose my wounds, but that comes with a price…pain.

The pain in this life will continue to try to bring us down, but we will be healed. We will be healed through the tears and the pouring rains of our current situations.

What are wounds in your life that may need to be exposed to pain in order to heal?

The Suckiness of Life

Life sucks. Get a helmet.

One of the best phrases EVER from my personal favorite, “Boy Meets World.” The comedy is strong, but the words are even stronger. How true is that statement in our own personal lives? Personally, it can hit to the core at times. Life sucks and we’re inevitably going to have deal with loneliness, sadness, pain, and fear among a load of other emotions. These emotions are unavoidable, but our response is up to us.

So what do we do? I propose that we accept the fear, loneliness, sadness, and pain. What?? We actually allow ourselves to experience these emotions? Now I’m not proposing we sulk in negativity to the point of depression, but I am proposing we accept these emotions rather than avoid them. If we can accept our loneliness in its current state, how much sweeter will companionship be once we have that blessing? Or if we can accept and embrace our fear, how much stronger will we be once we defeat that fear?

For those of us who strive to “live life to the fullest”, help us to accept the pain in life as much as the joy. May we then truly find the fullness we are striving towards.

Decision Time

Decisions. Our lives revolve around the choices we make in our everyday lives. Say we want to call our family more to keep in touch. That’s a start, but did we actually choose to call our family this week, or did it happen to be passed over? Even better. Tests. We can say we’re going to do better on that next text, but did we actually choose to study or did we choose to hang out with friends past 11?

I have a problem with not taking responsibility for my choices. I’m the king of excuses and my favorite one…God. Well, God didn’t plan for me to pass that test. Well, God obviously didn’t want me to have that job. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there isn’t such a thing as divine intervention. If we choose to disobey God, we're going to know it. But for the job interview we didn't get, if we didn’t choose to prepare ourselves, was it really divine intervention? Or was it our own choice?

A mentor of mine quoted Tim Elmore when he said that we are co-creating our lives with God. WE are making decisions and choices of where we want to lead our lives. Do you believe that God is towering over us, making sure we don't mess-up the chess match? Or do you believe in a loving God that’s going to love us just as much if we choose Wheaties over Cheerios for breakfast?

It’s time to take responsibility. And it starts now.