What's your HAPPY!?

I think it’s pretty interesting the way social media trends spread so rapidly, and the type of trend that spreads. As I stroll through my Instagram feed, the theme of memes that are typically reposted are about sex, celebrity scandals, or jokes at the expense of someone else (Sharkeisha). I was surprised to see that what I would think should be the latest trend, not many people are jumping on board, (at least not in the stream of my followers).

There is a 100 day happiness challenge.  The goal of the challenge is to find something about your day that made you happy. You must do this for 100 days in a row. The purpose is to acknowledge only the good things in your life and not weigh so heavily on the negative ones. While this is something I typically try to do every day, committing to the challenge makes me accountable and regardless of how rough my day gets, I have to realize that there is still something good about it. The challenge affirms that happiness, “the state of being happy,” is a choice, so choose it.

Jeremiah 17: 9-10 states that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” When thinking with my heart or “feelings” I sometimes overreact to situations or find it difficult to get the answers that I want, especially when it comes to dealing with relationships. There have been times when I allowed myself to become so wrapped up in my emotions that I was no longer operating from a rational place and I just felt crazy, all worked up, for nothing because the behavior did not yield me any results. Reading this verse clicked the “on” switch in my mind because it allowed me to recognize that I am the person in control of what I’m feeling. After reading that, “the LORD search[es] the heart and examine[s] the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct according to what their deeds deserve,” it was affirmed that I needed a reality check.  

Even though we’ve been granted free will, ultimately God knows our heart. When performing our daily deeds, it is important to understand the motives for doing so. For instance, one of the things that I needed to personally work on was needing to feel needed. If you surveyed 25 people and asked them “what do you think about Josephine?” Approximately 23 of those people would respond, “She’s a very nice person.” Overall, this is true, but only recently has my motive for being nice expected no reciprocity. For the longest time, being nice was my means of fitting in, being accepted by my peers.

It took me a while to realize that the only acceptance I need is that of my Heavenly Papa and that if I’m not being true to myself, then I’m not being good to anyone. So many times, I hear people say, “I just want to be happy,” and they begin to go through different transformations in their quest to find this happiness. Most people who seek happiness in the world never find it because being happy comes from the conscious decision to be happy. When depending external factors to make you happy, the happiness is only temporary; however, when your happiness comes from within, no one can steal your joy. 1 Peter 3:10-11 states that “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days,…Search for peace, and work to maintain it.” My peace is given to me through my choice to believe wholeheartedly in our Heavenly Papa. I choose to be happy.