HERE ARE SOME SECRETS TO TRUE HAPPINESS

Father John Murray

I went to a hotel lounge to meet some guests while the "happy hour" was in full swing. Three men were sitting at the long bar. One sat on one end, another sat in the middle and the third sat at the far end. No one spoke a word. They were watching a television talk show, and they seemed any-thing but happy. Then, after 10 minutes, one man got up and said to the bartender, 'I'll see you tomorrow."  It was a sad, sad scene.

Despite our Constitution, the gospels never say that we have a right to pursue happiness. To the contrary, true happiness often hides from those who chase after it and clings to people who are not looking for it. Happiness won't come with a bigger home or a healthier body. It is like butterfly wings: if we look too closely at them and study them too hard, they will fall apart before our eyes.

Let me give you Murray's essential ingredients of happiness:

1. In searching for happiness, begin with yourself, not your pocketbook. When you are living an upright life and things are right with God, then happiness is within reach.

2. Genuine happiness comes as a by-product of helping other people and being pleasant to the people you meet. Take a good look at some happy people, and see how often they give of themselves to others. It is a curious fact, but you receive happiness when you give it to others, and you lose it when you try hard to possess it.

3. Center your lives on persons instead of possessions. Don't clutter your home with clothes and gadgets that never satisfy. Avoid the seduction of the consumer world. Hang onto the values that deal with faith and family rather than the size of your wallet and the cars in your garage.

4. Random acts of kindness can bring you happiness. But don't just hold the door open for people or wave people ahead in traffic. Do it from the heart, and then congratulate yourself. It is not just that you are kind for doing it, but you should feel better for doing it.

5. Work can help to dispel loneliness, but you are asking too much of it if you think it can bring happiness to other areas of your life. Instead, discover the healing power of a hard day of satisfying work.

6. Happy people have friends who share their values and ideals. They arc cheerful in spite of their troubles because they have allowed trust in God to replace anxiety about life.

7. Get in touch with the magic of a child. Play a game or read a story to little children.

8. Gratitude and happiness go hand in hand. Thank God for the small, precious moments of life by trying to make others happy.

9. Laughter is the best medicine for a happy life. Meet each day with a smile. Enjoy life. It is never a sin to have fun.

10. Do something for the poor and unfortunate and sickly. It is the best way to free yourself from self centeredness. The talents you possess are gifts from God. Use them to further his kingdom. The happiness that comes with generous service is beyond words.

11. Life has bruised us all a bit, but don't dwell on the wounds of the past. You don't have to be victimized for the rest of your life by something that happened a long time ago.

12. Happiness demands that you talk with God in prayer. Slow down enough to recognize the peaceful moments in life.

13. You spend so much time looking for happiness and searching for it All along happiness is already within. It is the gift from God that he has already given us. Allow God's unconditional love to transform us into men and women who love God and all his people. Then you will be truly happy.