The Pursuit of "Happyness"

I used to have a plaque in our bathroom that I would read every day that went something like this...."Happiness does not depend on what happens on the outside of you, but on what happens on the inside." For a long time I believed that, but couldn't seem to make it work in my life. The things that happened on a day to day basis always seemed to affect my well-being and I couldn't really say that I felt "happy" a lot of the time. Of course, I had my moments of joy and peace and contentment, but I couldn't seem to make them stay very long. When the next crisis came along, or disappointment, or even conflicts in our home happened, I would be struggling to keep my "happyness" intact.

Lately, I have noticed that I feel happy most of the time! My 'happyness" quota is increasing! I have tried to analyze why that is, what has happened to change me from the inside out. I have come to a few conclusions:

• My health is improving from what it has been for the past few years. I guess I attribute that to the month or so that I was in the hospital and recovering....every gain is a plus. I appreciate even one little sign of improvement. For this I am truly grateful.
• I am only working part time which gives me less money, but so much more important, it gives me more time to do the things that make my life meaningful. Things like, organizing my home more ("my house is a house of order" said the Lord.); reading good books (including scripture study); listening to good music that lifts my soul; playing & singing music again, something I have put aside for a while; talking to, thinking about, and praying about the people that are important to me; listening to Conference talks to and from work; appreciating the beauty of nature and the changing of the seasons; beginning to work on my geneology.
• I am also learning about spiritual things through the spirit as I prepare more diligently for my Relief Society lessons. I am uncovering the depth of my testimony and what it takes to nurture and expand it. I am pondering more the lives of good people that I know and am trying to be more like them including my husband, my children, people in the ward, friends, President Hinckley, and most importantly, Jesus Christ.

I am finding that "happyness" comes from inside, and that it may sneak up on you when you least expect. it! Anna told me the other day that "it's okay to feel happy, Mom." I guess I was feeling odd that I hadn't really felt it for so long. I think I am learning the secret of happiness, though I'm not sure if I can articulate it yet. I just know that it is like a compass, and I am trying to keep my needle pointed to the true north where it is strongest. I guess I am learning what makes my needle get off course, and I want to keep it steady.

I hope for all of you, that your "happyness" quota is increasing daily and that you find out what you need to do to keep your needle pointed in the right direction! Have a happy day!

The Hope of Spring

I just watched a robin taking a bath in a big puddle in our driveway! The robins are back! I always wondered where they go until spring, but at any rate, they are here now. We went for a ride yesterday out to the West Fields and saw the Canadian geese pairing up at the water's edge. As I look out the window at the snow covered fields and mountains, I wonder how they know that it is time to come home and start new life. They signify that there is hope that spring will soon come again.
I lost a dear friend this past week, John Wesley Bright. The heavens have received a joyous, lovely person who will soon be leading the heavenly choirs in beautiful music! The signs for hope in the resurrection surround us. One being that Christ told his disciples He would be "raised in three days"....and they witnessed that He was. Another sign being that by Joseph Smith's words, "we saw Him, even at the right hand of God!" And the Spirit has witnessed to me that he did see and talk to the resurrected Christ. The reality of the resurrection goes beyond a hope; the signs are there and I am as sure of it as I am that, in a few weeks, spring will be here in full bloom.
Never lose hope that spring will come or that you will see loved ones that have gone ahead. The resurrection is real and we will all be together again as resurrected beings in a place where it is always spring!

I love Spring!!

Had to share this with you. What a good philosophy to keep up! Enjoy!

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over."
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these childrenthat I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."
"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around."
"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, " Daffodil Garden ." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn.
"Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster headlined:

'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking'
1. 50,000 bulbs
2. One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.
3. Began in 1958.

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world . .
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way.

"Start tomorrow," she said.
She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting . .
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...
There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So . . .
Work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like no one's watching.
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

~~ anonymous ~~

My Seven Wonders

The Seven Wonders of the World

When asked to vote on the seven wonders of the world, a group of highschool students came up with this list: Eqypt's Great Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, the Great Wall of China, and Niagra Falls.
One girl in the class disagreed. For her, the seven wonders were: to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh, and to love.
Sometimes the things we take for granted are truly the greatest wonders.
(Ronda Beaman)

I thought about it and came up with my own list of seven wonders. Here it is: watching the sun's rays as they climb up on the backside of the mountain I see through our kitchen window in the early morning and then watching it burst over the crest of a peak right into my eyes; watching the glorious, unnameable colors of a Cache Valley sunset as it stretches across the horizon as I head towards my cozy home; watching the full moon send it's soft glow down upon snow covered fields and mountains as Dad & Scott and I drive home late at night; listening to the birds chirping as the weather warms and they flit from our big tree to the bushes outside our front windows; listening all alone (so I can turn the volume way up) to a wonderful baritone voice (George Dyer) singing in his fullest voice "How Great Thou Art", and meaning every word of it; hearing Dad and Scott laughing heartily as they tease each other; being caught in a big bear hug by someone whom I love and who loves me right back.
It doesn't get better than that!

Now let me read your lists......I'll be checking your blogspots for them!!