What is it that makes you really really happy?
There are many things I enjoy, but I'm not certain they really make me ‘happy'. At the core of it all I realized a truth that is worth noting.
I can't be happy with someone or something, unless I myself am happy with me first!
DID YOU GET THAT? Lemme repeat…
I can't be happy (and this goes for you too) with anything or anyone in my life, unless I am happy with me first!
I say that because I can think of times past where I was genuinely unhappy with myself. Even as recent as Spring of this year, I fell into a funk I couldn’t find my way out of… nothing seemed to be going as I had planned and I became unhappy with myself and nothing else seemed to bring me out of it.
I even went so far as to stop my weekly inspirational emails for the first in a couple years, because inspiration for me came from feeling inspired and I was the furthest from that at the time (btw, thanks for all who inspired me to get the heck out of that dip and get back to the happy Stephen you all know and love 😉
So incase you are in a valley right now and trying to get other ‘things' or people to cheer you up and make you ‘happy’, know that you got to get right with you first. Be happy in knowing that you are a blessed being. You are love(d). You are alive. You opened your eyes today and have the same opportunity as does everyone else. We all were given the same 1,440 minutes today to make the most of our time in this day. Don’t allow life’s past disappointments, fears, challenges and pains hold you back any longer.
My pastor said something this weekend, that too often we await a zap from God to make us happy in an instant… but reminded me of the truth, that the miracles often happen in the journey. Despite whatever uphill battles, stress, disappointments are in the way right this minute, just be happy that you’re still on your pathway to where God is leading you. Be happy that you’ve still got the grace of time to see your way out of those issues and trust that you will see even more miracles unfold in your life.
I’m happy! I’m oh so happy with me. And as a result, I live to pour out that happiness in my wife, my daughter, my family and you, my friends.
So as that tune from the 80s or 90s goes…. Don’t worry, be happy now!