Happiness Secrets

Most people appear to be looking for the secret to happiness, but they look in the wrong place. First of all, there is no secret to happiness but there are some “secrets” (actually they are not secrets, only forgotten or little publicized factors) about happiness. God gives us some guidelines for achieving happiness in His word and, guess what, science has found out that God was correct.

Science has discovered through hundreds of studies that happy people tend to have longer, more loving marriages.  They also are more healthy and live some seven to nine years longer than unhappy people.  And if that is not enough, they tend to have more successful careers and make higher salaries.

So, how does one achieve happiness?  First of all, happiness and unhappiness are choices that we make.  We choose to be happy or not.  We can do this directly or indirectly.

A little publicized factor, and it is probably the most important, is that of being “thankful.”  No wonder that God tells us to be “giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the God and Father;” (Eph. 5:20).  He tells us to be thankful in all things ( I Thes. 5:18)  and that includes being thankful for all men ( I Tim. 2:1).  King David in Psalms 100:4 even tells us to “enter His gates with thanksgiving.”

A  merry heart doeth good like a medicine ( Prov. 17:22).  No wonder happy people tend to live longer and be healthier, they are taking God’s medicine.

So, how can you train yourself to be more thankful?  Start by thanking God for the little things like the different food flavors that God has given us, that you are able to sleep at night, that you have a bed, that you can breathe, that you live in America and so forth.  Studies have also found that people who keep a journal (write it down) of what they are thankful for are about 25% happier than those who do not write it down (Robert A. Emmons, PhD, University of California).

Another way is to express thankfulness to your spouse for the little things they do for you and to help you --- like doing the laundry or filling the car with gas or cooking a meal or keeping a job.  These things are really gifts from God to you.  The more thankfulness you express to God and other people, the easier it becomes and the more obedient you are.