Hidden Happiness

Have you ever forgotten that you were happy?  I have and what a wonderful feeling it is to be down in the dumps and suddenly remember “wow my life is actually pretty good”!  It’s like waking from a bad dream.  My peace returns along with my much needed HOPE, oh how I miss that when it’s gone.   Just for fun check whether you are really happy and just forget.  Here is a test:  If you are currently unhappy stop and ask yourself why.    If your reason is stupid and could be fixed with just not caring about that "thing" anymore, then you are really happy!   Okay I know it’s not always that simple but it’s worth a try.

I know a lot of people will reduce this all to “positive thinking” but I don’t agree.  I mean, if that is all you got, go ahead be as positive as possible.  But I need God.  I know at this point people say, “Ok here is where she says she prayed and God made it all better”.  Not even close.  This is what really happened…I prayed, and prayed, and begged, and pouted, got mad, renounced my faith (only for about 3 seconds), then finally realized what a complete idiot I was.  Of course when I stopped begging God to “do something” I realized He already had.  I always had the peace, it wasn’t lost it was just ignored.   It was so much easier to just ask God to zap away my problems than realize He wanted me to have joy in spite of them.  

         I think of this process as a shift in perception which runs a lot deeper than just positive thinking.  Haven’t we have all given ourselves a positive pep talk that changed nothing?  But remember those times when you just KNEW something was going to be successful and it was.  That is a altering of our perception that shifts our reality.  The bible talks about “transforming your mind” through reading scripture, and no doubt that is a big part of keeping things in the right perspective.   How can you have a bad day when you read over and over that you are known and loved by the creator of the world?

         Every single up and down and lesson I learn I try to pass along to Bella.   How wonderful to think that she could avoid at least a few of my mistakes!    I have witnessed this principle of perception play out many times in her life.  Some mornings I can tell within 2 minutes if she is going to have a good day or a bad day.   Is she happy go lucky or looking for a fight?  So many times I see her on track to have a horrible day but how do you teach a child how to turn that around?    I am sure many times I just make it worse by getting frustrated and angry.   After my recent experience when I see her going down the bad mood road I will try finding that little something that jogs her memory and remind her she is really happy.