Joy...

One of my favorite things about going down to my in-laws is that Mom saves all of her magazines for me to bring home - so I always bring back a stack of Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, the weekly Dallas Cowboy Magazine (for Pat, of course) and once in a while a Reader's Digest.
It usually takes me a while to look through them all, but I usually find great articles and a few coupons still in date to use.
This morning I was reading February's Reader's Digest and stumbled on a story about Joy and the writer's (Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert) thanks everyone can find this wonderful quality.
Here is what he says:

1. Commitment - People who are in a committed relationship usually happier than even those who live together but are not married. Gilbert said that once he discovered this in his studies he went home and proposed to his long-time live-in girlfriend and found that marriage has made him happier than he was in the 12 years they lived together.

2. Little Things - Find happiness in the little things and try not to stress too much over finding the big joys in life. Gilbert says he's learned to find happiness in his daily walk from home to work and now enjoys that daily stroll.

3. You own strength - People are stronger than they realize and time really does make things better.

4. Go to Church (or join some sort of community effort) - Gilbert says it's not so much the religion that makes people happier, but the fellowship with the other members... therefore just joining a group of people who gather together can bring a person happiness.

5. Giving - People find joy when they give back to others... even if that giving is small, it makes a difference in the life of someone else and improves the life of the giver.

6. Invest in experiences - It's not the new car that will bring you happiness, but the times you spend in it that will create lasting joy. Gilbert says a splurge on a vacation and the experiences they'll have their will make him or her much happier than the new car ever will.

I thought I would share with you a few pictures of the three people who make me the happiest and bring joy to my life. Even though we're about to face a new world outside of newspapers, Pat and I have our healthy, beautiful children and each other to see ourselves through.