Happiness Matters

Finding joy allowed you to understand that happiness matters much less than the world wants you to believe.

#QuoteoftheDay

The more we lean into joy,
the more we create space for happiness.
– Kathryn Lang

A recent report shared by NPR on March 20, 2024, shared which countries were happiest. It pointed out that young people in The United States of America had a declining happiness from the youths of the past.

The report goes on to compare the ability to be happy to feelings of stability, security, health, and social connections.

It should be no surprise that children and youth today struggle to find happiness. They are bombarded with negatives 24-7 and those negatives literally ride around with them all day long.

But even without the negatives to hinder the happiness, happiness is fleeting, and putting weight on such a flimsy and limited idea means that discouragement will likely be on the other end of that see-saw.

Why Is It Important to Always Be Happy?

Don’t worry – be happy. That’s a little song someone once wrote and then sang it into infamy. Most people think it’s directing you not to worry and to be happy instead. But the truth is that when you choose to reject worry then happiness – or more correctly, JOY – abounds.

Even more powerful, the more we lean into joy, the more we create space for happiness and the more we develop the armor that keeps worry from latching on.

Literally, you don’t worry when you be happy.

What Matters for Happiness?

My mom died in the early Spring of 2012. She loved gardening and had a magic green thumb, so she had ordered lots of plants that all arrived after her death. My sons and I took those plants, along with many from her garden, and created a Joy garden that I could see out of my office window.

My mom’s name was Joy.

When the tornado landed on our house in 2020, it crushed that office window, but most of the Joy garden survived. When the workmen showed up to clear the trees and debris from our house so the insurance company could evaluate it, they had to crush a portion of the Joy garden. When the insurance company failed to do what they had contracted to do, the Joy garden was lost to the weeds and the wild (or I believe so since I haven’t found the heart to really dig through and see).

I fought my hurt for months. This year was more painful than any of the previous years because we sold everything to start fresh. As everyone shares their beautiful flowers, my heart aches for the Joy garden.

And it would be easy to fall into a funk that sucks any remnant of joy from my heart. They have what I once had. We’ve lost so much over the last four years, it’s not fair that my Joy garden and all those plants handed down from my grandparents to my mom to me are lost as well.

It would be easy, but Jesus. Leaning all into Jesus makes it possible for me to get past what was and see that there are so many possibilities ahead that will be even more. Joy is what matters for happiness to take root, but joy isn’t found in a garden, or a person, or anything on this earth.

And it’s a good thing because this world can be mean and spiteful and downright hurtful most of the time.

You find the way to happiness when you put down roots of joy.

Setting Joy Roots

It’s okay to be okay. Even when things aren’t going the way they were supposed to. Even when your Joy garden gets trampled by a crane. Even when you hear NO again when looking for the next step in your journey. It’s okay to be okay with where you are.

It’s okay to mourn. Mourning doesn’t negate joy. It’s simply a recognition that there is a hole where a wholeness once was. Even in mourning, there are rays of joy dancing around when you are okay with it.

It’s okay to share your joy. Actually, sharing joy expands joy. The more you show joy to those around you, the more you will see joy around you, and the more it will spark joy in your heart.

Joy makes the way for happiness to sprout. Happiness matters because it lightens the load and builds the courage for the next step. But always be seeking the happiness that comes from releasing the worry and leaning into joy.

How do you practice the habit of happiness?