People are obsessed with happiness. People are obsessed with being happy. There's a reason, a really good reason. The reason is because God created us for happiness. God created us for happiness. He created you to be happy. God wants you to be happy. It's the will of God that you be happy.
Now, that doesn't mean happiness all the time. And that doesn't mean euphoria all the time. And that doesn't mean that there isn't a place for suffering and sacrifice in our lives. But God created us to be reasonably happy in this life and eternally happy in the next life. It's that “reasonably happy” thing we're not that comfortable with. We don't want to be reasonably happy; we want to be euphorically happy all the time. That's why people do so many stupid things. Most of the stupid things we do, we do because we're looking for an elevated experience. Why do people become addicted to drugs? They're looking for an elevated experience. They're not satisfied with being reasonably happy. They want to be euphorically happy. And of course, then they want to be euphorically happy all the time. And so they need more and more of this substance to create that false euphoric happiness and . . . and well, we know how that goes.
The other thing that I think is really important for us to remember is that, very often, we are the creators of our own unhappiness. Because the reality is, happiness is a choice. A thousand times a day we have a choice between happiness and misery. And yes, there are some things that are outside of our control, but a thousand times a day we have a choice between happiness and misery.
Are you choosing happiness, or are you choosing misery? We create unhappiness in our own lives. How are you creating unhappiness in your life at the moment?
If you are in a place where you don't like who you are and where you are . . . if you are in a place where you don't like your life . . . what do we do about that? Just do the next right thing. It's always the path that leads to happiness. Just do the next right thing. Don't worry about what you have to do tomorrow—just do the next right thing. It's amazing how quickly adopting that attitude, that approach, can change the happiness levels in our lives.
