Simply Happy

At first it was subtle little hints, then it became more and more obvious...

It's time for me to be happy.

You can ask my husband, or those closest to me-- I haven't been the easiest to live with for the past few months. When Bill finally asked, "When are you going to start being nice to me again?" I finally realized that my unhappiness was affecting a whole lot more than just me.

You see, I haven't felt very good since about April. This has been a challenging pregnancy, to say the least... I'm tired and grumpy much of the time. (and after this post, I will probably have my moments still!! So cut me some slack, I'm working on it!!)

But the Lord wants us to be happy. He has provided much for us to enable this state of happiness. I truly know I have been blessed beyond what I deserve and it's time to show some smiles about it!!

Our entire homemaking lesson this past week was on, "A More Excellent Way." I invited my wonderful non-member neighbor and went, not knowing EXACTLY what a "more excellent way" entailed. We are SOOOO very lucky in our ward to have one of the best teachers/speakers ever. Brother David Shumway and his family moved to our ward just over a year ago and they've blessed our lives ever since. Besides his amazing wife and 6 great kids, he is a Church Education System (CES) director and used to teach at BYU. He is phenomenal. He spoke to us on finding a "more excellent way" by using the GREAT PLAN OF HAPPINESS. hmmmm... what a great idea! He mentioned numerous times that we, as Latter-day Saints, have the advantage over those who do not share our religious beliefs. We have a great plan of happiness and all we need to do is to follow it. Sounds easy, right? WRONG.

Dang it, life gets in the way! And that's what I have let happen to me over the past months. It's time to follow this great plan and get back on track. Among other lessons Brother Shumway taught, he challenged us to make the sorrows of life the dips in our road, not the peaks. In other words, live so you are constantly happy and the trials you face are short little valleys VS. living miserable and your happy times being the peaks. It was a lightbulb moment!!! Thank you...

Afterwards, my neighbor said to me, "I know why you invited me... that was exactly what I needed to hear." Amen Sista... me too.

Here are a few quotes I have read recently on a blog of an LDS musician who is waiting for a heart transplant. Talk about not feeling good... he has an amazing attitude and is enduring so gracefully.

“Happiness is a state of activity.” -Aristotle

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” –Helen Keller

“Experience is not what happens to a man, it’s what a man does with what happens to him.” –Auldous Huxley

“God left the world unfinished; the pictures unpainted, the songs unsung, and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys of creation.” –Thomas S. Monson

“Simplify. Simplify.” –Henry David Thoreau

I love the last one: "Simplify, Simplify" That's what makes life so sweet... And that's what I have been trying to dolately: simplify and focus on what really matters. That is what is right here in front of me. I am so blessed and it's time for me to

simply BE happy.