LOVE 

Love is a small word with a very big meaning. The dissolution is that many view love as a simple emotion. The reality of love is that its best friends with illusions. Although love is way more perplexing to explain. I knew someone once  who loved a man a gift from God she called him. Her grandmother told her to not fall in love with just anything about a man  that will fade with age but to fall in love with the eyes that never age and that is exactly what she did. Many who don't know her story can describe this as romantic but it broke a piece of her that she will never get back but that piece was not used vain it became her stepping stone to happiness.

9 Ways to be Happy and Make Something of your Life 

 1. Be Grateful 

Gratitude is an important factor to include into your every day lifestyle. Gratitude comes from the Latin word gratus  which means being thankful. Being thankful or writing down what your thankful for is important because it teaches oneself to perceive the world differently.  At times when the world seems very harsh through a tough day one should stop and start to see what their thankful for because  it opens a positive perspective over situations. Being grateful is not only very healthy for oneself but also for the people surrounding you. Showing gratitude towards someone may also help them to see  their day turning around if they too have had a rough day going on. A simple gesture of gratitude can make a difference no matter how big or small. Someone very wise once told me "its better to add on to the world than to take more form it or do nothing at all to it". The  person receiving the gratitude can even have their view of them self  change for something  positive. All of this can occur through one person being grateful. Living in a busy world can take a turn for the negative to a person. Although many doctors have made studies that the human brain is such a perplex part of our system that their are ways to change our mindsets without bringing chemicals or toxins to our system. Being grateful is just one aspect of a way to make your life happy. 

2. Be Smart

          Life is what you make it to be but somethings we cant change about life which means we have to maintain a level of intelligence in order to sustain ourselves in this world. There will be times one must have certain strategies to surpass life's obstacles either its to get into a good college or in order to obtain a good paying job. Being smart can also mean being social aware of issues around you. By doing so one can easily see issues and decide the right thing to do in a situation. Staying aware of good and bad things happening around you politically and socially can also help maintain your self as a good well informed citizen. Making the right decisions can mark the future you will have. When making wrong decisions it can cause bad out comes like ending up in jail. Making good decisions can also come from being smart helping oneself stay in the right track in life and reaching goals. Making smart decisions also helps your peers surrounding you. In this way you become a good leader and motivator to your peers wanting to reach your same achievements. In order to live a happy life being informed is good for those around you. As well as helping you form into your identity. Some ways we can achieve this is by staying in school and expanding our understanding by reading.  Roy E. Disney once said " its not hard to make decision once you know what your values are".

3. Be Involved

There is always an outcome to many actions either its good or bad  but without taking action there wouldn't be any outcome at all. Being involved can help you have new experiences. It opens doors for you heart to collect passion through every new thing you do. Walking new terrains can be the cause of a new start. One outcome of being involved is that you become then a part of a whole. Involving yourself either its in the community or school is a great way of contributing your potential to something else. By getting involved we are taking stance towards things that matter. Its important to be involved not only for our sake but for the reason we need to have to be involved in the first place. Barack Obama once said " dont just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table.Better yet fight for the seat at the head of the table. A change any change at all can impact but it needs to start with action. Getting involved can create change.  Before creating a change in our surroundings we need to create a change within us first.

4. Be Clean
Being clean is crucial to the way others perceive you. Its always good to maintain oneself clean either its physically or emotionally.   Now its almost inevitable for people to judge one another by the mere appearance of a person. The few steps one can take to achieving good hygiene is by taking showers at least once every two days but also keeping your surroundings clean like your room or you home this also helps develop responsibility. Money doesn't have to be a big factor on the way you can physically present yourself through fashion. You can go for the bohemian, modern, or rustic style if you just have confidence. Although an  important thing to have in mind is to not let vanity enter that confidence. Julian Casablanca once said " Vanity can easily overtake wisdom".  Even though its good to maintain oneself clean on the outside it is also well needed to be emotionally clean. A lot of people suffer from broken homes, relationships, and lack of identity because of past hurts. It is crucial to get rid of these emotions because it can change the path of your life for the something positive.  Being clean can also mean within our bodies and what we consume. For example eating healthy and building up your body strong to live a long lasting life. 

6. Be Positive

Its very important to start your day off  with a positive mindset because often times our days and moods are often shaped by our attitudes. Positivism is not just another word for being in denial on whats really bad but shedding light to situation that because of our negative attitudes we don't see the good in. Being positive doesn't only brighten your day but brightens your self the way your speak and act start to change. The more one practices this in their every day can start to become a good habit. I've heard a saying that goes ," you cant live a positive life with a negative mind ." This saying is a frame to the reason that our attitude can help or ruin our days. There is always a good coming out of a bad but not all the time we notice this because of being so caught up in our own opinions so its very important to stay positive towards difficult situations. Training yourself to see things with more positivism can be very crucial to how you'll continue to walk through life. Being positive is helpful for others when they too have difficulty seeing things through the brighter side. It can help you have and obtain better friends around you because of your positivism.   

7. Be Humble

Humility is not just a characteristic its a its a good base for one to walk on. To be humble one gains strong characteristics and gets rid of others such as greed, arrogance, and ignorance. When you learn what humility is and how to execute it well it can change the way you see the world forever. Greed is the real cause of many nations destruction and those with humility save others hopes for mankind. When you walk with arrogance you walk with dark shades that make you lose the true color and beauty of the world and people. Ignorance is different you no longer wear shades but your blinded not by something but your simply choosing to close your eyes to others. This can be seen in the way we over look others who are defenseless. Humility makes our mind widen to better actions we can take. Dale Partridge said ," the cost of not being humble is extremely expensive." This quote ties with a bow my description of the way we can make or break our world with and without humility. In this quote Partridge is saying that lacking humility can take a big tole on those around us and within ourselves. Being humble is key to being happy because you feed your heart what it means to be grateful. 

8. Be Still

There is a certain type of yin and yang aspect of being still to be aware of . Like water at times is still but also always changing always  flowing so must we. To be still is to stop not always physically but mentally to see the things one wouldn't in a rush. For example if i show you an intricate picture quickly and ask you to describe everything about it you wouldn't be able to but if you took your time you just might. There is a benefit from being still in a world that's in s rush. When your still you learn to appreciate the small things in life. Although we also must move with the water where it may take us. The Lord say " be still and know that I am God."  is a key quote from the Lord in order to walk with peace and patience. To be still is rendering your thoughts to the Lord and letting him act rather than act on our own and tire yourself. To be still is also to have faith to trust that he is in charge. As we remain still through circumstances we become wise. 

9. Be Prayerful

Many people ask at times why must we pray? Loving God and following God requires prayer that's a fact there is and shouldn't be any way around it. Following God is not a religion its a relationship with him. In a relationship there are no rules there is just the logical listen and be loving to your partner to have a good relationship. There is no must its what the person is willing to give to the other. The same thing goes with being in a relationship with God you need to listen , pray , and spend time in his presence. For example a relationship requires communication like talking on the phone we must talk to God because prayer doesn't have an outline its a conversation with the Lord. By doing this we strengthen that relationship with God. Its the same as going on a date its purpose its purpose is to get to know that person like going to church and reading Gods word and learning about him is a way to get to know him. Prayer is important because our prayers the way we pray can change our circumstances by declaring in faith. A lot of people have miss leading thoughts about prayer thinking its only useful to ask but there wrong. Prayer is a incense to God as seen in Revelation 8:4.

Reflection:

  Writing the " 9 ways to be happy" was very useful.  It was a good reminder of the many small things I could do to add to my life and the world around  me. Due to the reason that it had to be 12 sentences it helped me really squeeze the juice out of each topic. A lot of the topics I already do but through this writing assignment it served as a reminder to action these things in my life more and more each day. I hope that more people recognize the importance of doing these 9 things for the stability and rise of  humanity.   

 MY SUMMER

This years  summer experience for me  was very unique compared to every other summer.  Usually my summers are full of relaxation basking under the warmth of the sun at the beach or enjoying quality time with the people I don't see very often. Although this summer was very peculiar because of the amount of quality time I spent on myself either it was attending  leadership conferences or exploring more of my talents and gifts in the comfort of my own home. I expanded my knowledge through different experiences for example going to San Diego for a missions trip in June to later return for a conference in July. Within the month of  July I also went on a retreat in the beautiful mountains in the Oaks campsite where I caught a glimpse of a future job I look forward to after graduation. In conclusion without going into much detail my summer like no other summer was just that "my" summer a time in which I spent on myself. Not much finding myself but creating myself.