Happiness Overrated?

My last post was a little dip into my thoughts on the meaning of life, since then I listened to a sermon on Happiness. Ironic. Anyway, it made me take this idea one step further. Happiness is shallow, so the meaning of life is not just to spread happiness, because happiness is short lived. If you want to spread goodness through the world you need to spread joy and answers to living a full life. Those of you who's life is full will understand this idea, but those of you who do not yet may have a hard time. I know because I have been on both sides. A full life brings you joy. Once you experience the joy-full life you crave it and do everything in your power to reach that state. Most of those who have not experienced the joy-full continue seeking happiness and wondering why they never feel complete.

It wasn't until I started a relationship with God at the end of 2011 that I experienced Joy-Full. (Yes, I know joyful is a word, but I have created my own altercation of he word/term/etc. to give it the more pronounced meaning that I want.) Those of you who read this and are turned off by my mention of God, I get it. I was there too, so I don't take offense. However, if you can not relate my term, Joy-Full, to your own life then you might want to stay tuned.

My life has changed drastically since I began seeking the Joy-Full life instead of chasing happiness.  We are talking two years, people. It was only two years ago that I changed my beliefs and thought process on things. Previously, I sought out short lived, fulfilling, happiness. Sure, I had a great time doing it, but I continued to search for some feeling that would stick around.  I felt empty. I even got married, finished college, had a good job and a great family, but it wasn't enough. Finally, I was unwillingly pulled into the doors of a church, that I now call home. It was different than what I was used to, there was loud rock music, coffee and people my age. The people also had a different glow about them, unlike any other church that I have been to. They were actually Joy-Full. Huh? I was a little perplexed as if I had stepped into another dimension.

Anyway, I continued to go and get more involved and really do some soul searching.  I also opened myself to God and the idea of a greater power, other than myself.  It was then that I began to see the Joy-Full for the first time. Things began to transform in my life, without much effort.  Two years later I look back at the changes I have seen in my relationships, home life, relationship with myself, finances and work. I didn't realize life could really be this good. I feel that I don't deserve all the wonderful things that have happened and it honestly keeps getting better in every aspect. Luck? I think not. Happiness? Would have never gotten me this far. A Joy-Full like only provided by God? Dead on.

Enjoy the journey! It is exceedingly more than the norm of seeking happiness could provide.

Ants

I took a break from blogging because life got a little crazy, to say the least. My 15 month old is now not just walking, but running, climbing and reeking havoc anyway possible, and beyond possible. It is crazy to watch how fast she grows. Every week she is learning something new. Watching her life flash before my eyes has got me doing some deep thinking about life in general and reevaluating some things.

Have you ever stopped in time and really thought things through? I mean, not what you are going to wear and how it would effect your day, or what job will you choose and how much money you will make, but instead what is the purpose of life and what really matters in the grand scheme of things.  I guess you can say that I have been in the land of re-discovery for the past three months and my (open ended) conclusion has left me with the theory that we are all ants.  Yes, three months and all that I came up with was we = ants. It is kind of amusing looking back, but I really think it is that simple.

Let me explain myself. First, I tried searching for explanations, 'meaning of life' sort of things, (not religion or science related, there is a place for that too).  What I came up with was 8 million different 'opinions', none of which worked for me. What I have decided is that we are all just busy little ants.  The meaning of life is only a term that us ants came up with to try to make sense of 'it all'. However, we never will. No matter how many theories there are 'it all' is so much greater than us and so far beyond our understanding that trying to comprehend it is impossible, just as an ants trying to comprehend humans. Make sense?

Okay, so we have no control or understanding of the greater picture, what is our purpose here on earth, if we have one.  I boiled it down to two things, positive and negative.  Positive feels right (but what is right) and negative feels wrong (again, ideas created by the human psyche). It is a simple idea, but I feel that the only thing that we really know and can really do to fulfill any purpose is to spread positive and suppress negative while we are here on earth.


This is just a summary of my idea, but it seems to be just as basic as I described. I am still developing it, but I really think that underdeveloped it will be more accurate than something more complex. So what it comes down to is, toss the 'norm' of everyday life and fill your everyday life with positives and share them with others so that positives like happiness, love and peace can be experienced by a greater number. Suppress the negative in all forms so we can overpower the negative energies with positives making our time here on earth at positively peaceful for all. If you can just look through the fluff of life and discover truth and what really matters maybe it will actually matter in the greater scheme of things, but then again, who knows if we are all just busy little ants just trying to make a difference in our small, little, minute, microscopic world.