Hope

Through my personal scripture study, I have been studying a lot of things on the topic of happiness and hope. An article from the September Ensign really stood out to me; The Healing Balm Of Hope by Vaughn E Worthen. The article was all about how hope leads to happiness.

"Hope develops in the crucible of experience if the right ingredients are present. Those ingredients include the following: faith in God; righteous living; positive expectations; living with purpose; setting and working toward goals; initiating and sustaining personal effort; bridling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; a willingness to tackle challenges; and competence in creating healthy relationships. (Sept. 2013 Ensign, The Healing Balm of Hope, By Vaughn E. Worthen)."

These values of hope are huge in developing happiness. There are several of these values that I have been working on in my personal life. Obviously setting and working toward goals; that is what I am doing with this project. The Lord wants us to grow and the only way to do this is to push us and make us grow through things that might make us uncomfortable. 

Another of the values that I have been working on is bridling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. I am a very emotional person and learning to bridle these is very difficult. The hardest thing is learning to control my anger/irritability. The only thing I have found that works is take a deep breath and say a prayer. These feeling do not come from the Lord and asking for this helps eliminates these feelings. 

Creating healthy relationships is also key. Gretchen Rubin, in her second month, focused on her marriage. One thing she worked on was not expecting praise or appreciation from her husband, then when he did show appreciation for the things she does, she was much happier. If we expect those we love to appreciate what we do, then we take advantage of their appreciation. We need to show appreciation instead of expecting appreciation!

One final thought from the article states: "Research demonstrates that hopeful individuals make healthier lifestyle choices, recover from illness and injury more effectively, and experience increased life expectancies. They manifest less depression and anxiety, find greater purpose in life, and experience improved mental health and increased life satisfaction. They persevere when barriers arise, are more effective problem solvers, and adapt when circumstances warrant it. They are successful in finding benefits from adversity. They enjoy more positive relationships and seek and receive social support. Hopeful students experience enhanced academic success. (Sept. 2013 Ensign, The Healing Balm of Hope, By Vaughn E. Worthen)."

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/09/the-healing-balm-of-hope?lang=eng