Five Rules to find Happiness

It's inevitable. We all have lousy days. And sometimes, those lousy days seem to be consistent.

While we don't have control over our circumstances,
we DO have control over how we react to them.
We have two choices in life:
To find joy in our every day life, or become weighed down because we view situations negatively.
Here are my 5 simple rules to being HAPPY.

1. Don't live your life looking ahead.

If you're like me, you've done this at different points in your life.

It's the mentality of "I'll be happy when __(fill in the blank)__."

I'd be more happy if I was married,

I'll be happy when we have kids,

I'll be happier when I find my career, lose weight, publish a book, etc, etc, etc!

STOP! Your life is happening NOW, and you need to acknowledge the things

that you have NOW. Otherwise, you will be looking for the next best thing for the rest of your life.

2. Don't use pure emotion to weigh out situations.

I'm a prime example of this.

You know when you get bad news, and you jump to the worst conclusion possible?

You stress about it, let it eat at you, and you feel helpless.

Guess what, chances are that the worst case scenerio is NOT going to happen!

So don't jump to conclusions, and logically put the situation into perspective.

3. Find a learning opportunity admist trial.

Part of life is learning how to become stronger, better, and more faithful.

I know that there's something to be learned from every trial,

and that as we focus on how it can help us, and what it can teach us,

we begin to reach our intended potential.

There is a power that comes from overcoming trials.

4. Smile.

If you want to be happy, BE!

5. Serve Others.

This is my most favorite one.

When you make others happy,

you are bound to feel that joy yourself.

There is nothing better than helping someone who needs love

a lot more than you do. When we give, we unexpectedly gain more happiness.