Sunday surprise. Last week I mentioned that Rick Warren of Saddleback started his new series the Habits of Happiness. There were some points that I wrote I don’t do any of, and a few of you asked what those were, so I figured I’d share.
Laws of Happiness
To start, Warren said there are five laws of happiness to remember as he breaks down the series:
- Don’t look for happiness, create it.
- Happiness is not a goal.
- Habits create happiness.
- Happiness based on habits is long-lasting, where happiness based on happenings is short term.
- Happy habits are just as addicting as bad habits.
Growing Healthy Relationships
Last week he focused on growing healthy relationships and identified four ways to do that. The idea here is that because relationships are so important to our lives, creating habits that result in positive relationships goes a long way towards being happy.
- Be grateful for the people in your life.
- Pray with joy for the people in your life.
- Expect the best from people in your life.
- Love the people in your life like Jesus does.
And finally, Warren provided several hints towards happiness:
- Remember the best and forget the rest (develop selective memory, don’t well on negatives)
- The quickest way to change a bad relationship to good is to start praying for the other person(s). Pray that they will grow in love, make wise choices, live with integrity and will become like Jesus.
- Celebrate how far people have come rather than judging how far they still have to go.
I do like, two of these. I dunno. Just a random guesstimate. The point I’m pretty passive when it comes to controlling my happiness. I rely on others to make me happy. I let on circumstances to make me happy, or unhappy. I wait for good fortune to make me happy. To create your own happiness, to actively try to create positive relationships and not bitch about the people in your life you feel are doing you wrong is something I’ve never done. But I need to. I sit on my hands too often and wait for the universe to be good to me. Obviously, that’s not happening. It’s time to create.