Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things
Henry Ward Beecher


Common things that make me happy lately: crockpots, books, clean sheets, a new toothbrush, smiles, laughs, clean diapers, naps, dancing, normal working hours

Monday, January 30, 2012

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
Henri Nouwen

Sunday, January 29, 2012

If we aren't happy, of what use is the gospel, the Church and its organizations, programs, and the way of life it espouses? Moroni stresses the importance of being happy during this phase of our eternal existence by describing the judgment: "And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still." 
Elder Marlin K. Jensen

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything - whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.
Tina Turner

Friday, January 27, 2012

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it.
William Feather

Note: Don't put yourself in this category.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.
Barbara DeAngelis

While sometimes it is "easier" to play the victim, it is nice to know the power we do have over our own lives.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Albert Schweitzer

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Monday, January 23, 2012

Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.
Aristotle

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance until this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance until this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-16

I like to think that the first soul, or that one soul, we bring to God is our own. We still spend our days sharing the Gospel with others, but the biggest difference will be made in our own life.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Friday, January 20, 2012

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go
Oscar Wilde

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Aristotle

So nice to have control over something, don't you think?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.
Chinese Proverb

If you want happiness for an eternity -- Live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances.
Martha Washington

Do you have a disposition to do good continually or not?

Monday, January 16, 2012

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Your joy in life depends upon your trust in Heavenly Father and His holy Son, your conviction that their plan of happiness truly can bring you joy. Pondering their doctrine will let you enjoy the beauties of this earth and enrich your relationships with others. It will lead you to the comforting, strengthening experiences that flow from prayer to Father in Heaven and the answers He gives in return.
-Elder Richard G. Scott

Saturday, January 14, 2012

This is my "depressed stance." When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this.
-Charlie Brown 

Friday, January 13, 2012

If you want to be happy, be.
-Leo Tolstoy

Simple enough. 
With two interpretations: 1) if you want to be happy, be happy. 2) our mere existence should cause us to be happy.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves -- say rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
-Victor Hugo

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
-C.S. Lewis

A nice reminder of where true happiness comes from.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.
-Orson Welles

Monday, January 9, 2012

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
-Helen Keller

At a time when everyone makes resolutions, resolve to be happy.
(Also a good reminder for those starting school again today... you hold the key to your success and happiness. Don't let a grumpy professor make you think otherwise.)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.
-Mosiah 2:41

So if you aren't happy, what commandment are you failing to keep?

Saturday, January 7, 2012

For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Friday, January 6, 2012

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.
-Audrey Hepburn

What do you believe in?

Thursday, January 5, 2012

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit, and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
-Albert Einstein

Perhaps we've been complicating life. All you need are the essentials and happiness can be yours, if you so choose.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.
Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Most of us believe in trying to make other people happy only if they can be happy in ways which we approve.
Robert S. Lynd

Don't fall into this trap!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
George Eliot

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Beginnings

Once upon a time, I was attempting to complete the requirements to receive the Young Woman in Excellence award. For one of my goals, I collected happy thoughts each day. At that particular time, I was miserable. Life just wasn't quite going as planned and I was having a daily pity party. Each day I would find a quote from a famous person, or not so famous person, and write it on a 3x5 note card. It would then go in a little box. I'm not sure how long I did this but I created a fine collection of thoughts and along the way I figured out how to be happy. I think it may be time for another collection. I'm not miserable, in fact, far from it. But we need some extra happiness.

So on this lovely January 1st, here is my first happy thought of 2012:


Whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery.
- Anne Frank