The Fountain of Happiness

 

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and all you had was what you thanked God for yesterday?????  I saw this thought on my Facebook news feed and seriously internalized it.  I started thinking..."What do I thank God for everyday?"  The answer was a bit of a relief......I guess I would have my family, my faith, my house, my car, my job, my health, etc.  Phew!  I'm doing okay, I guess!  Then I started to panic a little at my realization that there are days that I don't pray before I fall asleep for various reasons.....I'm too tired, too busy, not feeling well, angry, not feeling worthy, or just forget!  Then I thought....."aren't those the times we should pray the most....or express gratitude the most?"  This is always what my husband tells me.  The times that it's the hardest to express this are the times we need to do it the most!  Why is that?  Well...I Googled it!  I found countless studies from Universities, even Ivy League Universities about how gratitude is an antidote to anger, sadness, unhappiness, etc.  Some may even call It a cure, or the secret to happiness.  

The Oxford dictionary defines gratitude as:

The quality of being thankful; a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

So, the two words that really jump out at me is quality and readiness!  As a quality, it's something we can strive for, work at, and incorporate until it is a piece of us.  Readiness describes a precursor to action and an anticipation of an action, like something we plan on doing.  The word readiness leads us into obtaining the quality of gratitude.  Gratitude is all about action, we not only feel it, but we must show it......even according to the very definition.  

I liked how Psychology Today explained gratitude:

"Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what one has. It is a recognition of value independent of monetary worth. Spontaneously generated from within, it is an affirmation of goodness and warmth. This social emotion strengthens relationships, and its roots run deep in evolutionary history—emanating from the survival value of helping others and being helped in return."

Interesting words and phrases: recognition of value independent of monetary worth, generated from within, affirmation of goodness and warmth, strengthens relationships, survival value of helping others and being helped.  That is pretty powerful!  Let's dissect this a little bit further.  The word value comes up a lot.  It's independent of material things, it's value is not monetary.  It only comes from within you. Brings goodness.  It's an emotion that strengthens relationships.  Roots run deep in evolutionary history.......hmmm.....so something that makes us human, an attribute that sets us apart, perhaps?  Could be a way for us to further evolve.....spiritually?  Finally this suggests that it is vital to our survival by describing helping others and receiving help as "survival value".  

Okay, so how has the gratitude journal helped me?  I can't claim that I've been perfect at writing it all down.  If you have trouble, like me, writing in it everyday there is an app for that......yes indeed!  I found it in my Google search, so maybe there is less excuse for me now.  I can easily attest to the above definitions and statements and say that it has increased my happiness....the end!  Just kidding! I can go on! 

I haven't always written in a daily journal, but for the past 2 years I've been writing about my life and struggles.  Through writing it all down, the good and the bad, I've never seen more clearly how I've been blessed.  God's hand in my life has never been as visible as it has been since I started writing.  As I have written, I have begun to believe less in coincidence and more in divine intervention.  One common theme through much of my life experiences is the thought "things could always be worse!"  No matter how bad times seem, the truth is, that 98% of the time things could be worse!  When you look at it that way it becomes a little easier to see the good.  I'm not sure why, but this thought has always been present during the pity parties or down times.  Now that might sound negative and I'm not trying to give you negative advice, I promise.  When I have focused on the bad in my life a still small voice prompts me to imagine the worst, or what could have happened, then it becomes clear......I need to be grateful.  This is one way I have realized my blessings.  The other thought that often comes is how have I learned from my trials and how can I be grateful for them.  A seminary teacher once advised me "instead of asking why, ask what can I learn".  I could go on for days about how my trials have provided me a very reliable education.  They have been my most valuable education.  

Several years ago when I was pulling out of the parking garage at the Gateway mall.  I pulled out to the curb and am 100% sure I was at a complete stop.....not moving.  I was going to turn right so I was looking left for oncoming traffic when it felt like my car hit a rock or curb on the passenger side!  I thought for a minute and looked, I saw nothing and knew I was not moving!  These thoughts were interrupted by a massive muscular arm hitting the top of my hood.  My lunch was in my throat and the wind was knocked out of me as I watched this massive tattooed man stumble up out from underneath my car.  As he was pulling his bike from underneath my car I swallowed my lunch for the 2nd time and caught my breath, I got the courage to get out of my car and profusely apologize for whatever happened.  He said he was okay and my car looked fine so he hurried on his way very awkwardly.......soon after I figured out what really happened............yes I was hit by a biker!  That explains his patients, awkwardness, embarrassment and his quick exit from the scene.  At the moment I was just grateful he didn't yell at me or worse.  I was pretty shaken for several days, the kind of shaken where you don't dare drive again for awhile.  Realizing that one of my biggest fears is hitting a biker or pedestrian, I was grateful that did not go a different way.

Whether you write about gratitude, voice it, show it, or just think about it.......there is so much to be grateful for.  Just a few weeks ago a post on Facebook about public school curriculuum triggered a very long thought process about the many inventions we have to be grateful for.  The comment was something about how we need to push kids of today harder because they are smarter and can learn faster.  A response to that was that kids have developed similarly over generations and that there have always been smart people.  Now I don't know any of the scientific facts behind any of that, but I thought maybe it seems to many of us that we are smarter than past generations because of the advancements we have seen in our lifetime, but as I thought about it more I thought how we would not have much of what we have if it wasn't for great minds of the past.  We would not have cell phones if it wasn't for the phone and the internet.  We wouldn't have self driving cars without cars.  We wouldn't have modern medicine if it weren't for the many years, inventions, and great minds that advanced it, we wouldn't have some of the arts of today if it wasn't for artists of various kinds from the past inspiring new works.  Again we could go on all day with this wave length of thinking.  

The fact is we are not smarter than previous generations, we are all God's children whom have been blessed with minds, talents and abilities.  The principle of line upon line and precept upon precept applies here.  Most of our modern life would not exist without the previous generations, even dating back to the beginning.  Our life is indeed built upon a rock, a solid foundation of blessings from God.  Our life is built upon layers of technology that came through a basic principle of order.  Just as Christ teaches, line upon line applies to all aspects of our life. This long and drawn out thought opened this new perspective of gratitude for me.  The perspective suddenly seemed broader.  If you ever feel like you are running out of things to be grateful for, then don't hesitate to look to the past, your past, the world's past or any past!  This is proof that even Facebook is good for something.  Many of my thoughts and even gratitude come from what others write. So yes I am grateful for Facebook despite its cons.  

Recently I had the privilege of going to a Van Gogh exhibit.  He is thought to be one of the artistic geniuses of his time, but in reality he thought of himself as a failure.  He never imagined he would contribute genius to the art world for generations to appreciate!  Living in poverty throughout his life, struggling with all sorts of things, painting was just his way of expressing himself.  He recognized beauty all around him and then painted it, you could say it was his way of showing gratitude and appreciation.  Sadly this was not acknowledged in his lifetime.  Now his paintings are worth millions and art exhibitions all over the world show their appreciation to his work and honor his life!  I was willing to pay a price to experience and appreciate his work.  In showing gratitude for his work I had to buy a ticket and drive there.  What did I get out of it?  Well I got an amazing experience, spent time with my family and we all gained an education.  Isn't that how gratitude works?  We make some effort, and we always end up gaining something in the end.

The biggest room in the world is the one for gratitude, there is always room for gratitude!  It truly is endless!   

So the title of this post is Fountain of Happiness.  Is gratitude the fountain out of which happiness can flow?  I say yes!  The more we pay attention to giving thanks, the happier we can be!  That's even according to Harvard!  I would challenge you to not only write in a daily journal, or a gratitude journal, but write about your life, your story and how you got to where you are and I promise that you will find God's hand, new things to be grateful for, and even a new perspective.