Many emotions need to be managed, but many of them can be a source of enjoyment. The first example of a positive emotion that comes to mind is happiness. I believe the main thing everyone wants in life is to be happy. No matter what our pursuits are, we hope they bring us happiness.
If a person works hard to accomplish goals, she does it because it makes her feel happy. My daughter Sandra is a highly organized woman. She told me onece that when she check everything off her list as being done, it makes her feel really happy. Frequently when we talk by phone and I ask her what she is doing, she says, “Organizing.” I am a little different from my daughter. I love for things to be organized, but I prefer not to be the one who organizes them. My assistant is good at organizing. I can give her a pile of all kinds of stuff and say, “Get this organized somewhere so I can actually look on a shelf and see what I have.” Ipay her to organize so I can be happy.
I believe things being well organized gives us a sense of order and peace, and that produces a sense of calm as well as happiness. Chaos, on the other hand, leaves us confused and unhappy. God is a God of order, not confusion. If your surroundings are chatic, I’d venture to guess that other parts of your life are out of order too. I suggest you get organized. If you just can’t seem to do it yourself, you might pay someone to do it, or find a friend or relative who actually loves the task of organizing and ask them for help. You can “barter” with them and in turn help them with something you’re especially good at.
What do you do that makes you happy? People go on vacations hoping to buy a little happiness. Sometimes they even go into debt to buy a week’s worth of happiness, and then when the bills come in, they aren’t happy anymore. Some of the things we purchase are needs, but many are just things we think will make us happy. People often change jobs searching for happiness. We even do things we don’t like doing, just we can be happy with the end result. A woman may not like to clean house, but she looks at her clean house and feels happy, so week after week she cleans it. Actually, I cannot think of anything we do that does not have happiness as a motivator. There are many things that make me happy, but I have found that obeying God is the number one thing that makes me happy.
Sadly, many people don’t obey God and then frantically wear themselves out trying to get or buy happiness some other way. No matter what we own, we will not be happy if doing God’s will is not a priority in our lives.
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