I have been on a quest to find out what it is that people want most out of life. What is it that they long for. What is it that will make them feel as if they have a complete life. I have heard many things, but most of all, I have heard that people want to be happy and successful. I myself had spent many years wanting and seeking the same thing but always seemed to be lacking in some way. It was not until I discovered the secret that set me free that I began to have what I was in search of. It took many years of searching the wrong places and seeking the wrong things for me to learn that my happiness did not and could not come from any of that. And until I was happy with myself I would never feel that I was successful at anything.

We often think that a bigger house, nicer car, better relationship, or more money is going to make us happy and fill the void that we have inside. We think that if we look better we will feel better. We think that if we get away from all the negative influences around us that we will have peace and be happy. Well can I tell you something, we can never experience real happiness until we are happy with ourselves. And until we are doing what our heart tells us to do, doing the things that our good side tells us to do, we will not be happy with ourselves because we will have underlying guilt or regret residing in us. Until we can accept our flaws, our mistakes, our downfalls and weaknesses, we will always have underlying shame and guilt. Until we can learn to embrace all of our imperfections and know our worth we will feel as if we are not good enough in some way. We can have the best of material things, the biggest bank account, or the best job, but until we are happy with ourselves, and our actions, we will not have lasting joy in our hearts. We may be happy for a moment, but it will not be long before we are seeking it again.

Real happiness comes from living up to our God given potential and being our best selves. Real happiness comes from being able to know that we are doing all and the best that we can. It comes from not having excuses to not do something that we know we should or could do. It comes from knowing that we were created with and for a purpose, uniquely and wonderfully, strong and able. Happiness comes when we accept ourselves, as ourselves, and do not try to live up to anyone else’s standards. When we are following our hearts desire we are following God’s will for us, which brings lasting joy as well.

We interrupt our happiness when we know that we should do something that is life giving to ourselves, for our well being, but we don’t do it. It makes us have disappointment in ourselves, brings guilt and shame, and it can cause us to get into a funk. We interrupt our happiness by self pity when things don’t go our way and we sit around thinking about how unfair it was or it was just our luck. We keep happiness away from us when we murmur and complain about things. If we are talking about what we don’t like, the bad ways that we feel, the possible bad things that could happen, the things that we do not like, then we are taking the happiness and the peace right away from ourselves.

Just as we are the key to our happiness, we are also the key to our misery. Both of which start with how our hearts feel about ourselves. How we feel about the effort that we are putting into this thing that we call life can determine the amount of effort that we continue to put in to it. If we know that we have been slacking in some area(s) and we know that we should do something that will increase our happiness or our quality of life all we have to do is let go of the fact that we have wasted time, let ourselves down, and decide that we are going to start living up to our potential. We can start fresh everyday because the bible declares that each morning is a brand new day. A new start to a new, better future. A new beginning. A do over, so to speak. No matter how far we have to go to get to where our heart desires us to be, as long as we are making progress, taking steps forward, we will have lasting joy on our journey. We will be happy along the entire journey if we are loving ourselves where we are at, that we are doing the best that we can, and we are doing what our hearts prompt us to do. There is lasting joy in the journey as long as we are moving forward toward our destiny.