Looking for Joy Doesn't Mean Life is Fantastic, But Thoughts Can Be

Heavenly Father wants His children to be happy, but not just happy....he wants us to have joy! But, here is the thing.....finding happiness and joy is NOT a frame of life... it is a frame of mind. It is the ability to see the silver lining even when it seems impossible to find it. It is knowing and LIVING that Christ LIVES.

In the last year and a half, our family has been through one trial after another literally. I have been in and out of depression, bitterness, frustration, confusion, resentments, and even feelings of hatred.

However, I learned before and it has come time for me to be reminded that happiness is not contingent on life. I am certain most are familiar with Viktor Frankyl.  He was a survivor of the Nazi German camps. He was placed in a march of other men, guns stuck to their backs, starved and fed rotten food, and beaten.  It was in those moments of this camp he learned what life really is about. He said,

" A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers.  The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in position action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way--an honorable way--in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment.  For the first time in my life, I was able to understand the words, 'The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an intimate glory."

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.  -Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

Why is it that so many can't seem to stay in this vibration?  Why do we tend to struggle so much?  I believe it was Richard Buckminster Fuller who said, "Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them." I would like to change the wording a little bit.  Everyone is born with the light of Christ, but the process of living casts a shadow.

As we have grown from birth, we begin to form habitual thinking patterns. Such as; "I always mess up," "I can't seem to get it right," "I am stuck," "I'm too fat," "I'm too thin," "I'm not pretty enough," "I'm not smart enough, " and the list goes on.  Some of the time we may not even notice these patterns of thought and wonder why it seems our lives feel like constant roller coasters. Why does it  feel like it rarely works out? Some of us may be stuck in constant chaos.

Every time we verbalize or think these kind of thoughts our biology will hear it and act accordingly.  What we tell ourselves, becomes our reality.  By changing our thoughts and replacing them with positive ones, we are literally changing the biological etchings in our brains.

 Just because it was what was familiar does not mean it is where we are meant to stay.

So, how do we choose joy?

Because of Christ, we are all complete and whole in our spirit self.  Some of us have just suffered so much pain, it is what we have continued to cycle in our lives, because it is what is familiar.  We as humans are familiar with drama.  We will typically revert back to what we are accustomed. Losing that pattern of happiness and back into the familiar feeling of trauma, thus creating continuous emotional cycles.  What I have found is hope that this indeed can be cleared.  All of these beliefs created throughout life can be reversed and cleansed and we can all remember our wholeness again.

Habitual patterns of thought can be overcome.  When we learn to take control of our minds, and replace old programming, we may begin to feel freedom.  Resentments over old hurts, pain, childhood, food issues, etc. begin to dissipate.  We stop blaming and begin to think, act, and take personal responsibility.  We take back our control.  And we do it naturally, because we begin to see ourselves for who we really are. Life starts to feel lighter and positive.  Knowledge seems easier to attain, and we feel closer to our source of creation and realize how much God really does love us and we truly FEEL that love.

I have found through my own personal daily scripture study some divine truths.  First, we were sent to this earth to gain experience and to get back home to our Father in Heaven again.  We each have our own divine mission.  These are known eternal truths.  But, what should be realized is that we have the divine capability to learn the lessons we have come here to learn, but do not have to continue in the same pattern in order to learn them.  True repentance is not returning to the thing that we have repented of, just as true wholeness is not returning to the thing that keeps us stuck.  We can choose to not be in these patterns.  We can remember our wholeness and return to it.  Then we can spend the rest of our lives working on maintaining that wholeness and helping others obtain theirs.

Life is Life.  People are people.  Agency is agency. BUT thoughts are OURS!! We own them.  We have agency, stewardship, AND control over OUR thoughts.  If we are not happy....we can change it! <3