What is happiness for you? In a recent post to his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, Jack used this quote from Rousseau – “Happiness is a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.” Jack went on to explain that Rousseau was not happy with many things of his day and died at age 66 of what might have been a stress induced stroke. Too many of us are on the same path as Rousseau.
There has been tons of stuff written about happiness – what it is and how to achieve it. There are T-shirts with happiness designs on them, many featuring Snoopy from the 
Charlie Brown comics. Snoopy is often used as the epitome of carefree happiness and a large emoji industry has grown up built upon creating variations of the well-known happy face emoji.
Happiness is a very personal thing. It is different for each of us and largely self-defined. It might be defined as being the absence of fears or concerns or other distractions in our minds. One has only to watch a young child playing contentedly by themselves to “see” happiness. Contentment is a synonym for happiness and a part of the definition of the root word happy.
Many of us seem to know more about being unhappy than we do about being happy. We don’t allow ourselves to feel happy because we focus too much on the things that we don’t have, which we imagine would make us happy. The entire advertising industry was built to play upon those feelings and to encourage us to continue to strive for that happiness by buying the products that they are selling. We tell ourselves, “I’d really be 
happy if only I had this new car or that bigger house or whatever shiny thing we see on TV”. Maybe we think that happiness awaits us at that next promotion level at work. Whatever it is; it nags at us and keeps us unhappy. For some there is unhappiness in their personal relationships because they have a nagging feeling that they would be happier with someone else.
So, how do we achieve contentment and happiness? First, we must strip away the concerns of the world for a moment and re-establish the foundation upon which we stand. We may find that we have wandered away from the solid foundation of our faith in Jesus and God out onto the shifting sands of human desires and concerns. Once we stop believing that God is always with us, knows what we need and will provide for our needs; we begin to let human thoughts about what we need and how to get those things drive our lives. We become unhappy with our lot in life and that unhappiness drives 
us further and further away from God. We must stop and re-center ourselves back on our faith in God.
If you re-center yourself on your faith, you will immediately find that you also have time to enjoy the relationships that you have with your family and friends. You will not be driven away from them by the unhappy pursuit of more stuff, but rather will re-discover the pleasures that you find in the love of others. You will find contentment with your life, rather than being driven to constantly strive for the next thing that seems to always just out of reach. Your faith will allow you to let go of the unhappy thoughts about what you don’t have and find joy and happiness in what you already have.
So, perhaps happiness is a good relationship with God; rather than a good bank account, a good cook and good digestion. At least that definition of happiness makes more sense and it is so easy to achieve, if you will just let God back into your life. You will find peace, rediscover that child-like feeling of contentment, and be happy again. What’s not to like about that?
So, take that pause. Stick your head up for a minute and think about what is driving you. Re-asses your current relationship with God. Is He off somewhere in the distance, somewhere in a church that you visit every so often; or, is he right here with you each and every day. Do you start each day with that little prayer that I like to use, “Not my will 
but thy will be done” or do you set your jaw and head out determined to face the world and its problems on your own? No matter what level of unhappiness you have sunken to, God is that beacon of light that you can still see off in the distance. Head towards His light. Happiness lives there.
Have a great and happy rest of the week.
Posted by Norm Werner 
new skills helps us strengthen our life Kung Fu. Certainly, becoming sedentary and stopping our learning makes us duller people and is just not healthy. Becoming stuck in the past is really not good, because it is also frustrating. You can’t change the past, no matter how long you think about the coulda, woulda, shoulda’s that come to mind. “It’s time to move on to a new adventure.”
is categorizing the things from the event that were good and bad and letting go of the bad, or at least filing them away as things not to do again. Most human interaction experiences have both components and we learn to master certain aspects of life by learning from those experiences. We learn from failures, disappointments and heartbreaks that those things didn’t kill us. They didn’t make us happy either; so we resolve to do things differently and better the next time. We strengthen our life Kung Fu because of those hardships. “It’s time to move on to a new adventure.”
that is to replace fear with hope. That hope should be based upon the promise that God has made to us – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” —Jeremiah 29:11
my business again.” (Unknown)
then? I think it best to ask before you advise. Ask if you can help. Ask if they think that there is some value in you sharing your opinion or experiences in similar situations. Basically, you should ask permission to stick your nose into their business. Based upon the response that you get to asking, your nose should be able to tell you whether to go ahead or back off.
You don’t want to lose a friend, but you can’t just stand by and do nothing as they spin out of control. In those cases, your nose will tell you that you are doing the right thing, even if your friend doesn’t appreciate it at the time.
that are wrong that you see going on around you, perhaps it is time for a self-intervention. Perhaps you are seeking permission for yourself, before you stick your nose in. Open your bible and find it there. There are tons of references in the bible about doing things for others, but the most direct is this one – “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” – Philippians 2:4
direction that can lead to anxiety, loneliness and depression. That, too, is a direction and not a destination. You really don’t want to get to the way stations in that direction. There may also be stops at frustration, anger, remorse and other nasty places in that direction.
people’s lives.” She doesn’t call herself a “coach”, but that is what she is doing through her writings and personal sessions with people.
medicines or trying to play the role of a psychologist or psychiatrist. Using a coach is like having a good talk with your mom or dad when you were a kid; only now you’re grown up and maybe you don’t really want to share your problems with mom or dad. Your coach takes on the role of parent or good buddy, but without the embarrassment factor. That allows them to talk straight to you about things that you may need to change, things that you are doing wrong that are screwing up your life and have you headed in the wrong direction.
towards a much better place.
world around us). It is easy to become complacent, one might use the advertising phrase “nose dead”, to the needs that are right in our own back yards. There is not a city, town, or village in America that does not have people living out on the edge. Some are homeless, many are hungry, some are trapped in the world of substance abuse, some have mental problems, but all need help just to survive. Most of the time we do not “see” these people because we choose not to look. We are too busy with our own lives to worry about them. We think, someone else will take care of them. Sometimes that is ground that we choose not to walk upon, because we might get our nice new shoes all dirty.
want to walk with Jesus.
what they perceive as different, un-Godly sins. Apparently, they have decided that some sins are so egregious to their way of thinking that even Jesus’ death on the cross can’t atone for them. Can you imagine these so-called Christians being judges at the winter Olympics. If a gay ice skater performed a flawless program they would be holding up scores of 2 or 3 because they can’t get past their homophobia. Somehow, the concept of propitiation is eluding them.
sinners and all sins, no matter how egregious they may seem to us. Are the sins of bigotry, racism, hate and prejudice any less than the sin that is perceived by some “Christians” in people who embrace a different sexual orientation? Remembering that Jesus reached out beyond the boundaries of the Jewish faith and lifestyle and welcomed all of the people, who are we to draw new boundaries that exclude some of those whom Jesus would have welcomed?
their Bibles as they proclaim the sins of others to be outside the power of Jesus to forgive. They have wandered away from the truth and the light and now dwell in the darkness with a new master. They spew forth hate and contempt for those that they see as different and preach the false message of an unforgiving God; a God who somehow has forgotten the act of propitiation that His Son Jesus performed as atonement for all of our sins.
They also learn about us from watching how we behave, as do others around us. You don’t have to become paranoid about it; but, it is something to keep in mind, that all of those who are around us on a daily basis either learn something about us from watching or they form some opinion about us based on those observations.
How many times have you seen someone that you didn’t know do something stupid and immediately you had had the reaction, “What a jerk.” You don’t really know if they are normally a jerk or not, but that was your first impression of them. If you were that person you certainly would hope that this isn’t their lasting impression of you, based upon that one incident.
several options being quickly presented to deal with the situation at hand. For Christians one option that should come to mind every time is the old standby, “What would Jesus do?” That is a great option because it makes us pause further to think about an answer to that question. Jesus never took the path of the jerk.
“What do you want from me? What decisions do I need to make and what should I base those decisions upon?” Sometimes those decisions have no moral content; but, sometimes they do and that is where having the right moral base is important. It is that base, or moral compass, that allows you to make decisions about right or wrong in life. You know what is wrong. Don’t go there.
to consult before acting or reacting. They may lash out or lash back at some perceived insult, rather than finding it in their hearts to forgive. Their lives are full of open sores at which they constantly pick and make worse. Don’t go there.
who desperately needs a friend right now. Maybe it was a wake-up call to you to try harder to understand what is troubling them and find a way to help. It in no way really hurts you, unless you let it. Don’t go there.
you, you are prepared to learn how to cope with anything because you are standing on the solid base of your faith. “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” – John 5:5
a “peace that passes all understanding” when we join Jesus in Heaven.
to let it go, to put it in the past and get on with life. Instead, we beat up ourselves for what we perceive were our mistakes or we blame others for their influence on the outcome of things. There is no peace to be found in playing the “coulda, woulda, shoudla” game over and over in our minds.
He is taking you. I’ve shared the little prayer that I use many time, but I truly believe that it is the key to achieving peace. I just stop myself, usually in the midst of what my ego is telling me is a crisis that I must somehow try to control, and quietly say to God, “Not my will but thy will be done.” I usually experience an immediate sense of peace and the crisis fades into the background noise of life. Try it. Maybe it will help you achieve peace, too.
at all, either within the heat of the moment or in a more calculating way. Seeking revenge for some wrong that one perceives has been committed against them goes directly against the principals of Christianity. In Matthew Chapter 5, verses 38-40, Jesus said, “38 You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[
that you have lowered yourself to the level of the person who you believe has wronged you and that never feels good. A second evil action does not make right the initial evil action. Rather, reaching out with forgiveness and love to that person not only makes you feel better, but it may help them, too. They may secretly be regretful of the hurt that they have caused and your forgiveness will bring closure to that regret and may bring you a new friend as well. Nothing works better to smother the flames of hate than a blanket of love thrown over the flames.
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