"Five Habits of Happy People"

Here are excerpts of Wm J. Monahan's "Five Habits of Happy People" which I feel all of us could use in our lives to not only help ourselves but to help our neighbors, our family, our community and our nation.

1. "Service - Serving others is the hallmark of a happy people. ... Serving others is a matter of the heart, not the calendar. Ironically, service yields its sweetest fruit from high-hanging branches when we reach up from our lowest points; especially the valley of our own trouble and trial. Lifting the burdens of others makes our own burdens easier to bear.


2. Love - President Uchtdorf (from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has said, "Love is the true altitude of our discipleship" and because love is the greatest commandment, it ought to be at the center of everything we do in our own family, in our church callings and in our livelihood."


3. Gratitude - ... Practice daily gratitude.


4. Self-Control - The more control from within, the less control from without. Happy is the person who is free from the chains of addiction or unbridled desire.


5. Resilience - Is resilience a habit? It can be. ... The habit of responding to adversity with a consistent and eternal perspective allows us to bounce back. When we recognize that we are beloved sons and daughters of God, we can endure anything because Jesus endured everything on our behalf. Faith fuels resilience and is essential for peace of mind. Peace of mind and happiness go hand in hand."

-Shelly