Goodness Flows From You Like A Fountain

Today my friends I wish to celebrate the goodness of life.

Sometimes, you just have so much to be thankful for you can't help but walk around with an aura of sickening glee. But it's not an unusual frequency of those rare times that make a happy person. After all, you can't really count on things working out in your favor. The goodness of your life isn't measured in the blessings you receive, but rather in the happiness you find in yourself and the life you have.

So make a resolution today, and tomorrow, and the next day to just be happy. Smiling often helps. Your body doesn't know the difference between fake stimulants and real ones. That's how Mormonism works I think...they smile so much and watch so many joyous, Disneyfied-version-of-reality movies that they can't help but be happy! More seriously, most of them have a daily practice of grateful revelling, whether it be at seminary, church, youth group, or family night. This simple daily reminder of what's important to them as people, I think, makes all the difference in the world.

If it helps you, make a "daily bible". It doesn't have to be fancy- just a list of things that make you warm inside and thankful you have a life at all. Most people don't achieve their life's ambitions or amass great wealth or have an unnaturally cheery disposition. And even if someone does get granted all the things that are supposed to make them happy, the happiness is then contingent on the continued prescence of those things.

As they say, "do something for yourself", but don't go out and indulge in that chocolate cake you've been craving all week. Instead, let your brain give your body a chemical uplift. Meditate on why you like living. Bring purpose to your life. Give YOURSELF happiness. The most beautiful thing is you get to decide for yourself. All the pain and ambiguity in the world is there so you can make something personally meaningful out of it...which may just be a chocolate cake at the end of the week.

Happily Yours,
Jamin