"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy."
A duty is a responsibility, and a responsibility is the state of being accountable.
To underrate is to undervalue.
In other words, we undervalue our responsibility of our own happiness.
It's funny how an internal locus of control keeps coming up, huh.
Sarah talks about how we need to bring about a new state of mind when we think about happiness, how we need to make happiness a habit. Happiness is an inalienable right, meaning that your happiness can't be given to you or taken away from you by any outside force (internal locus of control, there it is again).
BUT
"We have to be willing to pursue it...Genuine happiness can only be realized once we commit to making it a personal priority in our lives." -SBB
WHAT?!!?!?!?!?!??!
What, you ask? Make my happiness a priority in my life? You must be joking. I've never heard that. I'll I hear is serve others, give to others, love others...making myself happy would be selfish.
........
Well that's not exactly true now, is it.
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." - BOM
"Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, everything to its natural frame - mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption - raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other - The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil" -BOM
"And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." -BOM
Need I go on? Happiness is not just a prize to be won when we die, it is to be lived and experienced NOW.
Any argument that says that making your happiness a priority in your life makes you a selfish person is going to be flawed in some way. If you see a selfish person, you see that all they do is try to make themselves happy. If you really look at those people, you can see they aren't actually happy...that's why they keep looking.
I'm not saying don't think of others, I'm saying do think of others. If you are happy, you will be better in everything you put your mind to.
The analogy of the oxygen masks has always struck me and many people. When the plane is going down, who do you put the mask on first, yourself or the child next to you? The answer is you. If you don't get the mask on yourself, you might pass out before you're able to put the mask on the child, and if you do get it on the child you might pass out before getting yours on also. The child can't do theirs, or yours. If the child passes out while you're putting yours on, that's okay, because you've now got yours and have the oxygen you need to take care of them.
"You won't be much help to others if your own faith (or happiness) is not securely in place."
-Elder Neil L. Anderson (even though his talk is about Joseph Smith, this principle applies to so many things)
"Like any new behavior, happiness can be learned." - SBB
This idea of self-care may seem completely foreign, I know it did for me when I first read it, but it can be learned.
So, let's do it!
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