For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child down submit to his father.
It made me think of my pursuit of happiness and my purpose of this blog in helping me improve my life on a daily basis...
It's so ironic and even slightly comical to me that as we get older and experience more of the world, we come to believe that we know more about how everything works and therefore how to control it. In my 23 years on this Earth, however, it seems that somewhere along the way I forgot how to really be happy. In trying to find my way back to a higher norm of daily happiness and not just satisfaction I've been led back to my Christian faith and letting my relationship with God help guide me back there. I love this scripture and the fact that it resonated with me because children are so naturally happy!
I think of my sister Veronica and her kids and they are so filled to the brim with joy that when you're around them you can't help but smile! Seriously, try looking at them and not smiling, even just once!!
Aww lil' K! :)
OK, you get the point, these kids are cheesers and they are a great evidence that kids are naturally happy people. It's so awesome that even though we, meaning adults, often think that we're the ones teaching them that it really does go both ways and they help show us a few things we can improve on.
It's interesting, I was reading a study published in the journal Child Indicators Research that talked about children with different levels of hope and how they differed in self esteem, life satisfaction and family cohesion. The study, conducted on ~300 middle-school children, found positive correlations between a child's level of hope and their internal levels of self esteem, life satisfaction and family cohesion. I found one hypothesis of explanation for this to be particularly interesting as it suggested that children with high hope are less influenced by counterproductive negative emotions.
This is so inspiring to me because I've found that harnessing my emotions and ridding my mind of negative thoughts right as they begin to creep into my mind helps me keep my mental focus on positive things and being happy!
So, all in all, here's to the awe-inspiring example of children and how amazing they can be at teaching us a thing or two! :) If you want to be happier today (and who doesn't!?) then YOU try taking a pointer from a kid and focusing on the positive!! Control your thoughts and you can control your destiny!!
Sow a thought, and you reap an action;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
-R.W. Emerson
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