The Search For Happiness

I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness lately, and where it comes from. Someone told me that all joy comes from knowing God. I recoiled at that statement, thinking, “No, happiness comes from ME.” I believe that the source of all good things is God, including joy. But joy is not something handed to us on a silver platter simply because we admit that God exists. My joy depends on me—my thoughts, my actions, and my attitude.
In the gospel, we are told that if we do certain things, we will have joy. Last month, I knew I’d been keeping all the commandments, but I was also miserable. I talked to a lot of people, trying to figure out what to do. When I talked with my neighbor, he asked me to list all the things I had to do every week. It was a lot, but he pointed out to me, “You never once mentioned your family responsibilities.” I was shocked and humbled. This started a period of serious reflection on my priorities in life. I realized that I was basing my self worth on how many tasks I was accomplishing every day—school, writing, grading papers, cleaning house, exercising…etc. As a result, I saw myself as flawed because I could never finish everything. Or at least, no matter how many tasks I piled on myself, I still wasn’t happy. When my neighbor said that comment about family, I remembered the thought I’d had the week before: “No matter how many tasks I accomplish, they’re all worthless if I’m not happy.” It changed to, “No matter what I accomplish in this life, it’s all worthless if I’m neglecting my family.”
I decided from then on that the thing I wanted most in the world was to be happy. To be happy for the right reasons. The ability to be happy no matter how dark the storm clouds overhead and no matter how many responsibilities piled on top of me.
As I reflected and studied, I learned that one of the key components to happiness was to have my priorities in the right order. Family is very important to me, but I wasn’t acting like it. After that talk with my neighbor, I decided to make sure that I called my family at least once a week. I also decided to not worry so much about how many tasks I was doing every day—to base my sense of worth on something else.
Those two changes made a HUGE difference. My life was still hectic, but I wasn’t stressed. I didn’t worry all the time, I didn’t give myself expectations that I couldn’t fulfill, and the pressure lifted. I was free from my misery.

For more information on happiness and priorities, please refer to Stephen Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

Everyone Starts at Zero

Yesterday I went to SLC with a friend and ended up watching the LDS Church’s movie called “Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration.” Joseph Smith is one of their most famous prophets and is credited with starting the Church and translating The Book of Mormon in the 1800’s. The movie not only showed his efforts to establish the LDS church, but it also showed his childhood and teenage years. I wondered why they put so much emphasis on his childhood. Why was that important? As I watched, I realized that even Jesus Christ, the savior of mankind, entered this world as a baby and had to learn about the world as he grew, just like everybody else.
It seemed so poignant to me, to know that all famous people in history, from Einstein to Genghis Khan, from Alexander the Great to Abraham Lincoln, had to experience childhood before they became what they were. All had to be the little kid who wondered when he’d be old enough to reach the high shelves and old enough to do adult activities and old enough to own a horse and go where they wanted to go, just like me. Perhaps there is a universal law, that in order for someone to become anything, they must experience life as a child first. All must face growing up, the turbulent times of uncertainty as a teenager, and all must figure out what the world is and who they are before they can become a man and change the world. They have to learn about the world on their own, and decide their place in it. Everyone starts at “zero,” just like me.

The Miracle of Work

I’ve been caught up a bit in the monotony of my job. I work extremely hard, but I don’t always enjoy it. Not to mention when work is overwhelming. While thinking about happiness, stress, and my job, I realized that I wasn’t working for money. Or at least, money wasn’t what I received as payment. I thought, “I’m not earning money, I’m earning food for my table. I’m earning rent. The gas in my car, Mom’s utility bill, my internet service, all the DVDs on my shelf, the books I buy every month. My hard, monotonous work earns Jack’s (pet bird) food, my toilet paper and toothpaste, my tithing, my clothing, my electricity and heat, my nice coat, Christmas presents for my family, my wonderful netbook and my jumpdrives, my music, my pens, my computer speakers. My job earns my livelihood. It means that I can visit my family on the weekends because I can pay for the gas. It means that I can take karate lessons and advance in rank. It means that I can go to activities and bring potluck. It means that I can read the Ensign and the Writer’s Digest.
Work has done so much for me. Yes, it can be frustrating and boring and hard, but that’s okay because all the effort I put into my work is payment for all the other things in my life. By the sweat of my brow, I’m earning a place to live, a savings account (graduate school), friends and parties and karate lessons and books and food and shelter and clothing and my emergency kit and my technology and my cell phone service which enables me to communicate with everyone I know.
My job is so much more than I ever thought it was. It pays for everything! It pays for my lifestyle and enables me to do thousands of things in my life. Wow. I forget that all that stress, frustration, and boredom actually means something. It actually earns something valuable. David O. Mckay said that work is a blessing. I finally understand what he means.

My first blog!

Welcome to my first blog! So here goes--I just had a wonderful time at a sci-fi/fantasy writer's symposium at BYU. In fact, because of that symposium, this blog exists. The panel on blogging convinced me that I didn't have to wait until I had "time" before I started writing my own blog. Why do people think that more "time" will fix their problems? You make time for what is important to you. Thus, my decision to make time for writing a blog. Here I'll be talking about writing, teaching school, and musing about life in general. I love to get philosophical about the little things in life (blame my college class on personal essays). Enjoy!