When I am Rich, I will be Happy!

When I graduate from college, my life will be so much better... and easier!  Oh man, I just need to be in a relationship, then I will be content.  I can't wait until I am just working in my dream job.  That won't be for another three years, what am I even going to do until then?  Just wait, I guess.  Pay my dues.  I'm sick of where I am.  I need to get out, and just be done so I can get on with my life.  If only I wasn't stuck in this rut, can't wait until it's over!  It seems like everyone else just has it easier than me.

Hmm... really?

I think if we take a hard look at all these statements, we at least somewhat instinctively realize that there is great fault therein.  But how often do we think such thoughts?  How natural it is to feel that our present circumstance is not good enough, or that it can always be improved from it's current condition.  How often do we find ourselves ill-contended, wishing we were something, somewhere, or in some time which we are not.  And why is that?

Important side-note: Hope is something we musn't neglect here.  Hope brings us forward, allows us look to the future, lifts our spirits, and enlightens our minds.  Hope accomplishes these things, as long as our hope is pure.  Sure, it's a beautiful thing to hope for any and all grandiose dreams, which our very creative minds may be so inclined to invent.   Please, don't mistake me.  Dreaming of ones own growth in character, of future success' and excitements, and even of happiness, in its beautiful simplicity, is to be encouraged on every hand. Let us continue to fill ourselves with hope!  Even in and for those purest of intentions.

So, there is the root. The crux.  What is the intention of this hope? Is your hope rooted in self pity, or sorrow? What can we conclude from this?  I conclude, that a hope grounded in discontentment, for current circumstances, is a hope lost.  Indeed, it is a hope tainted by it's type of feeling.

I wish to share something which may be a surprising concept to you.  That is, that these times in life where we have inclination to resist, are the very times we are shaped and molded into who we really are and who we will become.  For that reason I praise my God for discomfort, for weakness, for sadness, for trial.

This poem came to me recently. I felt liberated as these words filled my heart.

Perspective

I began to really love the flowers, in the winter
That's when they mattered to me.
I began to care about their welfare
When frost and ice roamed free
Engulfing the colors, and swallowing sun
That was when my love begun.

I really learned appreciation
Of all the things I had
When taken by the hands of scorn
I found reason to be glad.
I sang of redemption then, old things renew
And that - was when the flowers grew.

Thorns, bands, chains, and cold
You'd think my fulmination
But I say to you this day
In my humble observation,
Condemn me, oh the darkness cannot do!
These chains were where my freedom grew.

----By Debrah Galloway

Will I be happy when I have money, or that dream career? Will I be more content in a month, a year, in 10 years, or after I die? We must learn to have joy, right now!  To fill our hearts with peace in this very moment.

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer .." - 3 Nephi 1:13

One last thing.  It has recently been impressed upon me, how to receive beautiful and instant joy. What seems to bring me the quickest bit of happiness, is to fill my mind and heart with gratitude.

Think now.  Make a list of 30 things you are grateful for.  Or keep a gratitude journal/notebook. Add one thing new, to it, each day.  Or catch yourself in a moment of stress, and just stop for ten seconds (everyone can spare ten seconds). As you take that moment to stop, think of one thing you are grateful for.  Actually, don't just think of what your are grateful for either ... feel what you are grateful for.

"Find a place inside where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain."  - Joseph Campbell

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." - Buddha

" ..men are, that they might have joy" - 2 nephi 2:25

Thank you for sharing in this flow of thought with me.

If you feel so inclined, you may follow me, or 'like' me.  But don't stalk me, that would just be weird!

Please share your stories with me.  I would love to hear about times in your life you have been strengthened or changed for good by hard times.  I would love to hear times you learned to laugh and smile when you could have cried (not that crying is bad).

If you have a blog please share the address below. I would love to check it out!  

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/joy.html ; http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/1.13?lang=eng#12 ; pictures are linked to their original content for acknowledgement.