Consistent With Your Values
happiness
When I Grow Up
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
~John Lennon
Thankful Happiness
True! But, as I always try to emphasize…to WHOM are you giving thanks?
Life as a Service
Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.
— Leo Tolstoy (b: 1828 – d: 1910), famous Russian author
How to Have a More Joyous Life
Joy differs from happiness in fundamental ways. Did you realize that? Joy is not based on circumstance. Joy is not based on getting what we want. Joy does not disappear when tragedy occurs. Stop and let those words sink in.
While the tips mentioned here will undoubtedly improve daily life for anyone who follows them, they will not create joy in a person. No, the most crucial element of authentic joy is that it is a gift of God. Those out of fellowship with the One True God, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can never have true sustained joy.
Within a genuine relationship with Adonai, there are keys to maintaining the joy He provides. They are basic, practical steps with profound outcomes for those who implement them.
Guard and carefully choose each thought and word. This is the most important element in living a more joyous life. It is non-negotiable. Joy, if we have it at all, will evaporate if we don’t guard our thoughts and words. Based on the thoughts we allow ourselves to think and the words we allow to come out of our mouths, our attitude is formed. We must guard them like we are on perpetual sentry duty with a relentless enemy at the gate; which is an accurate visual of our ongoing fight against powers and principalities. A careless word or loose thought is like allowing the Trojan horse within the camp! It only appears harmless at the beginning…
Choose to appreciate and be grateful. Decide to find things in everyone to appreciate. Notice and acknowledge the good things, however small. Don’t flatter, that is a sin…but give encouragement and express sincere appreciation. Decide to find things in daily life, outside of people, to appreciate (electricity, heat, air conditioning, left turn signals at that busy intersection, etc.). Be grateful. Have a constant gratitude toward YHWH.
Choose silence over empty or hurtful words. Think carefully before speaking. Our words can deliver death via gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude. Or we can speak truth in love. The key to infusing our verbal utterances with LIFE is to control the thoughts that precede the words. When in doubt, stay silent. Our world would certainly benefit from less mindless chatter.
Stop comparisons and negativity. Let go of comparisons, perfectionism, past mistakes, trying to “do it all”, busyness, cultural and societal pressures, external measures of success, critical thinking and negativity. Choose gratitude over comparison and discontentment. Stop comparing your looks, possessions, house, job, number of friends, circumstances to others. Elohim knows every hair on your head. He made you unique to handle your own unique situation as no one else could, and to bring Him glory while doing it.
Stop focusing on possessions. When our thoughts are focused on YHWH we naturally lessen the value and pull of temporal things on our hearts and minds. Often times it is said that we don’t really own our possessions but they own us. That is poisonous to joy. Loosen the grip on “things” and let them go. Our treasure is not in this world or its trinkets.
Smile. Laugh. Be active. Our Sovereign Creator made our bodies with all their intricacies. He made it so that stress and the toxins it may create inside us can be lessened with physical actions such as exercise, laughter and smiling. Why should we get uptight and worried? We know Who is in charge of all things. He made all things for His purposes. Smile, laugh and dance to rejoice in our Creator! Show Him you delight in Him!
Pray continually. An authentic relationship with anyone is based on two-way communication. In order to have a meaningful relationship with YHWH we must spend time in prayer, both speaking and listening. Having set times to pray each day can be helpful. But don’t put Adonai on the shelf for the rest of your day, pulling Him out like a genie when it is convenient. We need Him at the forefront of our minds and hearts every moment. Nothing we need to bring Him has to wait until later.
Read, study and meditate on God’s Word. The Bible (the Whole Word, from Genesis to Revelation) is the basis for all wisdom and when understood in its true Hebraic context will draw us closer to our Creator. No day of our lives should pass without reading some part of His blessed instruction book.
Do good, be generous, and help others. A heart after God’s own is a loving, generous, helpful one. Regardless of any return for our efforts or even if the good deed with be noticed, we demonstrate Elohim in our positive actions toward others. He needs to be the motivation and inspiration, and the only One receiving glory for any good we do.
Live in loving obedience. Read Psalms 119 and note how blessed it is to follow our Creator’s instructions. Living in obedience is an act of love toward Him. Yeshua our Messiah stated that we would demonstrate our love by obeying Him. He also said He did nothing apart from the Father. Obedience isn’t a burden or a prerequisite for salvation. It is a loving response to the grace given us. Without love toward Elohim, joy is impossible. They function in unison.
Seek God’s peace. Shalom. That incredibly beautiful word means much more than just “peace” as most define it. Shalom is something we should pray for, but often we don’t even think about doing that. What a simple concept. Ask and it will be given? Why don’t we ask for the shalom only Adonai can give?
Everyone wants to live a more joyous life. Throughout the ups and downs of this earthly existence, we all have moments of profound happiness, enthusiasm and excitement. We may even have a type of elation that resembles joy. But to live in a state of joyous calm and peaceful strength, unscathed by the whirlwind around us, is truly to be blessed by YHWH through a deeper connection with Him.
Happiness is Not Joy
Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition.
~~ Dwight L. Moody (b: 1837-d: 1899), American evangelist
Circumstance is Irrelevant
Joy is not the same as happiness. Joy transcends situation and circumstance. Genuine joy can only be given by YHWH. So, let Him fill you this day with His blessed provision!
Joy is untouched by circumstance.
~ unknown
What’s Your Disposition?
DISPOSITION, noun [Latin]
- Temper or natural constitution of the mind; as an amiable or an irritable disposition
- Inclination; propensity; the temper or frame of mind, as directed to particular objects. We speak of the disposition of a person to undertake a particular work; the dispositions of men towards each other; a disposition friendly to any design.
If your natural way of looking at things and responding to things isn’t working for you, change it. Whatever time and effort is required is worth the result. Often we talk about making changes but never take the first step. You can’t get to step two if you don’t do step one.
The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances.
~ Martha Washington, first First Lady of the United States
Worst Day Ever?
Last year, a high school teacher instructed her class to write a poem describing the worst day ever. One Jewish teen turned the assignment on its head with the creative work below. See the full story at this link (click here). Praise Elohim for this teen’s parents for providing a home environment where such thoughts would occur!
Worst Day Ever?
by Chanie Gorkin
Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don’t try to convince me that
There’s something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
The world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.
And it’s not true that
It’s all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one’s surroundings are good
It’s not true that good exists
I’m sure that you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It’s all beyond my control
And you’ll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day
Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,
And see what I really feel about my day.
“Snarky” World
Some days it seems like (almost) everyone we come in contact with is snarky, grumpy and mean. Do you recognize this face? 
Here’s another chance to be holy, set apart, in the midst of the “uglies” of the world. Hold tight to Elohim and live in His joy!
How happy are those whose way of life is blameless, who live by the Torah of Adonai! How happy are those who observe his instruction, who seek him wholeheartedly! ~~ Psalms 119: 1-2
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