As Christians, we must understand that God wants us to be happy and to rejoice. Unfortunately, many people struggle with discovering that sense of happiness and joy. So, is it possible to be happy all the time? If so, what do we need to do first before we can be happy? As you see below, being happy all the time is actually much simpler than many people realize. It doesn’t require us to have the perfect partner, a high-status job, fascinating hobbies, or a fat bank account. The secret to happiness lies within our minds.
Why External “Things” Will Never Make You Truly Happy
One of the biggest misconceptions about happiness is that if we only acquired the right “things”, we could be happy. People tell themselves different stories about what they need to have to be happy. It might be a prestigious six-figure job, an interesting new hobby, or their dream romantic partner. All of these things are great ambitions to pursue, but they are not the secret to being happy. The right person may make us happy some of the time, but when we are alone we may feel miserable or lonely. We may enjoy a particular hobby, but we can only practice it for a certain number of hours each day. Having a higher income can relieve some of our material problems, but ultimately we soon become used to this new income and it no longer provides the same sense of happiness.
Becoming Distracted From Unhappiness
One of the ways we can tell that happiness occurs only in our minds is our ability to become distracted from it. You may have had this experience in the past when you’ve been worried about or stressed over a particular situation. You may have sat down and watched an enthralling movie. For a few hours, you were transported away from your worries. But think about this – your situation didn’t change while you were watching the movie. What did change was that you were distracted from your unhappiness. The thoughts in your mind were no longer focused on your unhappiness, allowing you to enjoy your life.
Discovering The Causes of Unhappiness
It may seem strange, but to be happy you first need to think about what is making you unhappy. It is our unhappy thoughts that rob joy from our life. Right now, you can make a list of the things that are making you unhappy. Ask yourself what thoughts you are having constantly that are making you feel insufficient, sad, resentful, or anxious about your future. You can also ask yourself what negative thoughts you are having about other people, and how people perceive you. Identifying the unhappy thoughts you are having is the first step to eliminating them.
Why Unhappy Thoughts Are Not True
We give power to unhappy thoughts when we believe them. For example, many people have negative thoughts about their capabilities and aspirations. It is easy to be locked in a cycle where it seems as though everything you do is a failure. We have these thoughts because we tend to concentrate on the negative events and
discount those that are positive. By focusing more on the positive elements of our personalities and the successes we’ve had in the past, we can start to dispel unhappy thoughts about ourselves. Understand that when you are thinking negatively about yourself, you are choosing to adopt a certain perception. An equally
true perception would be that you are a capable individual who can achieve your aspirations through hard work and perseverance. If you want to start getting rid of unhappy thoughts, you need to stop believing in them.
The reason that we are frequently unhappy is that we never recognize and question our thoughts. These negative thoughts instead become our accepted perception of reality. The fact is though, if these thoughts are examined in detail we invariably find that they are invalid. There is no reason to continue to live a life of suffering. Instead, you can choose to live a life of happiness and joy as God intended by taking back control of your thoughts.
If you are struggling with negative thoughts that still your peace of mind and joy, Christian meditation can help you to take control of your thoughts.
1 thought on “How to Be Happy All the Time”
I am not sure that God requires us to be happy all the time – just close to him. Yes thoughts can make us unhgappy – but so can sickness, poverty, hardship, the suffering of people we love, abuse – all very real things that affect us at times in our lives.