As I was reading the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon I marked each time the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord. His prayers were intentional and he must have been given a lot of thought on what he said in his prayers. I learned from my mom about the power of our thoughts. I believe that we have total control of our own thoughts but could easily get distracted if we are not careful. Bottom line, I believe that our thoughts very much control our feelings.
Anytime you allow your happiness to be driven from the outside in, it will never be consistent or sustainable. For example: When reading in Ether and how their little ships or barges were tossed and turned by the wind and all those strong waves, it did not enter the structure of those barges because they “were tight like a dish” That simply is telling me that If you depend on outside circumstances to determine your happiness, you will always be subjected to feeling up and down as the circumstances around you constantly change.
If your happiness depends on another person loving you back and that doesn’t happen then your happiness goes away.
If your happiness depends on a certain job or title and then you lose that title then your happiness goes away.
On the other hand, if your happiness is driven from within, going from the inside out, well then it is a completely different story. I believe the key to being happy is to think about all that you do have to be grateful for in your life. Every single one of us has something to be grateful for and the barges were grateful for the storm that took them to the promised land.
If you can read, be grateful for your eyes that can see the world around you. If you can hear, be grateful you can hear words and music and laughter. If you can walk, be grateful for your legs that allow you to run and dance. If you have friends, be grateful for each one. If you believe in a loving Heavenly Father, be grateful that He loves you unconditionally. If you have family, be grateful that you are not alone in this world.
All of us have something to be grateful for. If you aren’t sure how much you have to be grateful for in your life I will tell you to try something that a friend once suggested that I do at a time in my life in my late 40’s when I felt like my world was falling apart. My marriage was ending, I was burdened with being the sole support of my youngest daughter and scared to death to do that alone, I wanted to move to a new area where I knew no one, why would I wanted to do that? People would ask me? because I was embarrassed, I was struggling with my own self-worth and I felt that happiness was nowhere to be found.
I had gone back to school and my BYU Institute teacher suggested that I go home and kneel down in the middle of a room where there was no furniture to lean against. Then my friend said I was to say a prayer out loud to my Heavenly Father, but in this prayer I was to ask for nothing from Him. I was to simply start thanking him out loud for every single little thing I could possibly come up with that was good in my life. I was to pray as long as it took until I could literally think of nothing else good in my life. This friend pointed out that I should thank Him for my health, the grass, the flowers, a car…you name it I was to remember to thank Him for it.
I didn’t see how this prayer was going to make anything better in my life – it wouldn’t change my circumstances that were causing me to be unhappy, but I figured “oh well, it couldn’t make things worse”, and so I went home and tried it.
About 5 minutes into my prayer I broke down crying, not tears of sadness, just the opposite, they were tears of joy. I was absolutely overwhelmed at how blessed my life truly was and how much I had to be grateful for. When I finally got up from my prayer my entire perspective had changed. I stood up from that prayer feeling unbelievably blessed and amazingly happy. I couldn’t believe how happy I felt inside and how grateful I was for all that I had. That prayer changed my life. And each time I do this type of prayer, the miracle of happiness returns to my life. Now, whenever things in my life start to feel turbulent, I get down on my knees and begin my prayer of thanks for all that I have. I have been saying this kind of prayer every day this month each morning after I read my scriptures and each morning I have cried with a feeling of joy and gratitude.
Con amor,
Vero
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