I watched an intriguing documentary the other day called, “Happy.”  It focused on what truly makes people happy.  I found it to be quite uplifting because it confirmed what Jesus taught.  Psychologists found that money, power, and popularity have very little to do with one’s happiness.  Yet, most people are convinced that these things will make them happy.  They did find that money does play into one’s happiness when one’s needs aren’t being met.  But once people reach the place where their needs are met having more money doesn’t make one happier.  For example, one study found that those making $50,000 a year are just as happy as those making $5 million a year.  Shockingly, another study found that a poor rickshaw puller in India is just as happy as most Americans.

What does make people happy?  They found a handful of things that contribute to people being happy.  First, they found that when people engage in activities they enjoy, not for pay but out of the love of doing it, they are happier.  One researcher referred to it as being “in the flow.”  He found that when people engage in activities that they enjoy their minds and energy become so involved that they forget or push aside all their worries and enter into a flow that is very satisfying.  It didn’t matter if the activity was playing an instrument, skateboarding, rock climbing, gardening, or cooking, doing what one loves simply for the love of it makes people happier.  I couldn’t help but think of Paul who was “compelled” to preach the gospel and said he learned the secret of being content both with a little and a lot.  He was doing what he loved.  He was in the flow.

Another thing they found that contributes to one’s happiness is relationships. (As Gomer Pile would say, “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!”)  Those who have close relationships with their families and have close friends are happier people.  They found that the people of Denmark are the happiest in the industrialized world and they have very positive attitudes about community.  They even have apartment complexes where people all have their meals together and take turns cooking so that they only have to cook for their families a few times a month, giving them more free time.  But the result is they end up with extended families because of all the time spent intermingling.  So children often feel like they have several sets of grandparents and the cross generational interaction causes young parents and children to feel much more secure as they receive input from the older folks.  We are social beings.  We were never meant to be isolated.  It makes total sense that our happiness depends on being connected to others.  In fact, the poor rickshaw puller in India had close relationships with his family and neighbors. But they found that being connected to groups that have judgmental views of others makes individuals less happy.  – Politics & religion anyone?

They also found that teamwork makes people happy.  When people work together for a common goal, they’re happy.  That would explain the popularity and satisfaction people find in team sports.

Finally, they found that seeking to be compassionate and caring for others makes people happy.  The research confirmed that Jesus’ teaching is true that by laying down our lives for others we find life.  They spent some time with some of the people working with Mother Teresa’s mission in India.  They found that the people who were caring for the dying were genuinely happy people.  One man from Europe had a lucrative job with a computer company but left it to go work at the mission when he heard about it from a friend.  He’s been caring for the poor and hurting in India for seventeen years now and loves doing it.  He described the satisfaction he feels when he takes in a starving person on the verge of death and cares for him.  He said that even answering one’s request for a glass of water becomes satisfying.

This documentary struck me because of the times in which we are currently living.  I think one of the things Father is doing in this hour among those of us living in the United States is bringing us back to Himself and His ways.  He’s bringing us back to what really matters.  It’s interesting that in the Declaration of Independence the founders of the United States called for “the pursuit of happiness.”  Yet, when you look at what most people in this country pursue you see it is the stuff that won’t make us happy!  I really believe Father, through His love, is bring us back to what will satisfy us.  The interesting thing is the bottom line of what brings us happiness is love.  Doing what we love (what Father knit inside of us), loving others, and being loved.

Loren Rosser