The Recipe for Happiness

| Kadie W., 17, California | A cup of sugar, a dazzle of salt, and a teaspoon of vanilla are just a few of the key components to a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Just like sugary, delicious desserts, many of our fun earthly activities bring us temporary joy and satisfaction. They may taste, or seem, sweet for a moment, but soon the feeling is forgotten and can easily be replaced with something bitter. 

These days it has become so easy to cave into the negativity surrounding us and even easier to bring ourselves down. Although we’re surrounded by beautiful people and wonderful things to be thankful for, we tend to focus on the worst. Whether it be an insult directed towards us or a series of unfortunate events riddling our day, it can be increasingly difficult to focus on the positive side of things. Especially during this time in quarantine, isolated and away from many of the people we love, it’s almost natural to fall into a depression as our thoughts turn sour. 

Every day we do small things that bring us temporary happiness, small things that serve as distractions from the adversities plaguing us. But sadly, tasty desserts and worldly hobbies can’t relieve you of the hard moments, the persistent negative thoughts, and the judgments you place on yourself and others. 

Unlike baking chocolate chip cookies, the recipe for constant happiness is not something edible or even visible! Instead, this recipe is a simple approach to finding consolation during all of your troubles. It contains only one ingredient: agency! We have the choice to have joy, to be grateful, and to focus on the good. 

A lot of the time, on our worst days, we forget that we have agency. We forget that we have the choice to let things go and move past them, or to focus instead on things that make us happy. We forget that we are in charge of how we feel and happiness is not a result, but a decision. Whether it be which outfit to wear, what to eat for breakfast, or whether we should do our chores, we make countless amounts of decisions daily. Our Father in heaven gave us the ability to choose, and we exercise that gift constantly. So why not choose to change the way we think about ourselves and others? Why not choose to focus on everything that we can do, instead of everything we can’t? Why not choose to move past, and learn from, the bad situations so we can focus on the good ones? 

Why not choose to be happy?

At least for me, pessimistic thoughts come easier. But with an effort to fill my mind with more positive things, I’ve found that in turn, I’ve become a much more positive person. More often than not, I am able to focus on what I have to be grateful for, rather than painful moments and self-deprecating thoughts. Insults and judgments no longer seem to persist in my mind as they once had, and I feel a lot freer because of it. 

My life has become so much more sweet because of the recipe for happiness! 

Try it today, for free!!