Month: July 2014

Laugh & Be Happy

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

Proverbs 17:22     King James Version (KJV) by Public Domain

What are some things that make you happy? Shopping at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, and Earthfare Market make me happy. Waking up in the morning with Jesus on my mind makes me happy. Being able to get out of bed with nobody’s help but God’s makes me happy. Hanging out with my two sisters makes me happy. Having the assurance that Jesus loves me makes me happy!

   KD  Laughter increases happiness. You can’t laugh and

                                        be sad at the same time. You have to make a choice to do one or the other.

KD2

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.”  

― E.E. Cummings

Three Hymns
One Sunday a pastor told his congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 bill in the offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he’d like to personally thank the person who placed the money in the plate.

And there sat our Rosie all the way in the back. She shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and in thanksgiving asked her to pick out three hymns.

Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building and said, “I’ll take him and him and him!”

                                            laughing people

Learn to laugh more. When you need a break from thinking – just laugh. When you’re having a bad day – just laugh. When you’re feeling stressed out – just laugh. You don’t have to be happy or feel good first. You don’t need a sense of humor either, and you can do it any time. Fake laughter becomes real laughter very quickly. A good belly laugh can be like an internal jog.

After doing a study on the benefits of laughter, I decided that every time I got in my car, I was going to spend a few minutes laughing. Some days I didn’t feel like it, but I “faked it until I made it.” I started off with ha, ha, hee, hee, ho, ho …………………………………….

I thought about the goodness of God and His promises. I thought about the fact that I am a “winner” in life. I thought about the fact that nothing bad could happen to me without God’s permission, and if He permitted it; it was working together for my good.  It wasn’t long before I was laughing for real!

Ha, Ha, Ho, Ho laugh

It is recommended that thirty minutes of exercise three times a week and 15 minutes of hearty laughter each day be a part of a healthy lifestyle. Ten to fifteen minutes of laughter could burn 50 calories.

Possible benefits of laughter include:

  • Improves alertness, creativity, and memory.

  • Helps you sleep better.

  • Relaxes the whole body.

  • Decreases depression and increases life satisfaction.

  • Increases endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that give a buzz during exercise.

  • Relieves stress and tension.

  • Increases the body’s tolerance to pain.

  • Helps you forget about your problems, if only for a few minutes.

A Sure Cure

Three Pastors in the south were having lunch in a diner. One said “Ya know, since summer started I’ve been having trouble with bats in my loft and attic at church. I’ve tried everything–noise, spray, cats–nothing seems to scare them away.

Another said “Yea, me too. I’ve got hundreds living in my belfry and in the narthex attic. I’ve even had the place fumigated, and they won’t go away.”

The third said, “I baptized all mine, and made them members of the church…
Haven’t seen one back since!!!”

“We don’t stop laughing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop laughing”

Michael Pritchard

Bye for now.

laugh out loud

 

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/10547.E_E_Cummings

http://www.christian-jokes.org/jokes6.html                   Author is Unknown

http://www.christian-jokes.org/jokes2.html                    Author is Unknown

Grateful & Happy

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His
love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”
― Thomas Merton

Grateful & Happy

I have tried to make the choice to be happy most of my life. I’m still a work in progress. It’s not that my life has been so terrible, it hasn’t. I grew up  knowing that my mama and daddy loved me and my four older siblings. They always provided for us. As a matter of fact, I was an “ungrateful, selfish, spoiled” child.  My daddy and oldest sister get the credit for spoiling me.  I take the credit for being ungrateful and selfish.

I think I began to be ungrateful and unhappy when, as a child, I began to compare myself to other children. I was never thin enough. I wasn’t pretty enough. My hair wasn’t long enough. My skin wasn’t light enough.  I was taller than most of the other children, so I wasn’t short enough. The list of complaints goes on and on.

I was depressed and even considered committing suicide several times during my teenage years. I never actually tried to kill myself. I was too afraid that I would botch up the job and be maimed or a vegetable for the rest of my life. I never thought I would live past the age of eighteen.  God has brought me a long way.

It hasn’t been an easy job loving and accepting myself.  Being grateful and happy has not been easy.  Some days are better than others.  The good news is: My grateful and happy days outweigh my ungrateful and unhappy days.  The gap is getting smaller and smaller.  I plan to spend the rest of my life finding things to be grateful and happy for.

I greet the day with gratefulness.  I choose to have an attitude of gratitude. When my eyes open in the morning, I  thank My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I make positive declarations.  I declare, “I am blessed when I go out and when I come back in.  Today is a gift from God.  It’s wonderful to be alive another day to glorify and honor Him.  Nothing is going to happen to me today that God can’t handle. I am grateful for all that I have had, for all that I have now, and for all that I will have in the future. I choose to be grateful and happy.”

I cannot control negative situations that I encounter during my lifetime. I can control my reactions to them.  I was on my way to work in August of 2013. I went through the green light.  A driver didn’t stop at her red light and ran into my car. Thank God, no one was hurt. My car was totaled. I had owned that Mustang for 13 years. I had no car payments, the insurance wasn’t high, and the yearly taxes weren’t high.  

I made a choice on that day, not to act crazy.  I made a choice to be grateful.  I could have died.  Someone else could have died.  The situation could have been so much worse. I was also grateful that the accident wasn’t my fault and that the other driver had insurance.

I went to the car dealership and signed the papers to purchase a new 2013 car.  I had not had that car a month, when it just completely died on me. It had to be towed. The dealership informed me that it needed a new battery.  That didn’t sound right.  Why would a new car need a battery so soon? I got the car back.  Thank God for warranties. The story keeps getting better and better.

I was laid off my job of eleven years, October 31, 2013. I loved that job and thought I would retire from there.  There I was with no job and car payments to be made.  This was not a happy time for me. It wasn’t easy for me to be grateful nor happy. As I write this post, I am still unemployed.  That brand new car has died and been towed three more times. The car company informed me that they will buy back the car.  I have never gone through a buy back process, so I don’t know how it will work.

I am not feeling sorry for myself.  I am not asking, “Why are all of these bad things happening to me?” It hurt to lose my job. I shed some tears. I am not super woman. I am grateful for the years that I had the job.  Not everyone has been blessed to have a job that they actually love to go to.

I don’t like being at home. I can’t shop like I want to. I can’t do things like I used to. I enjoyed getting out of the house, dressing up, and wearing heels to work. This is not the route that I would have chosen for myself.  I believe that God has something better in store for me.  Throughout this process, I think I have gotten closer to God while choosing to be grateful and happy.

We can choose to find something to be grateful and happy for in every situation. One size doesn’t fit all for happiness. Here are 6 more things that I tell myself or do to help me stay grateful and happy:

1.)  I affirm that trouble doesn’t last always.

2.) I affirm that my situation could change for the better before I go to bed tonight.

3.) I remind myself that everything has a beginning and an ending.

4.) I change the words to the song, If You’re Happy and You Know It to: I’m happy and I  

know it.

5.) I quote and meditate scripture from the Bible.

6.) I remind myself that Jesus loves me and because He loves me, everything is working

together for my good.

What will you say or do to help you be grateful and happy today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/69-folks-are-usually-about-as-happy-as-they-make-their

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/gratitude

http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-nTBBkdzTA

http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-niXoygGiB