Believe it or not, the New Year is upon us.  While many people have vowed not to make New Year’s resolutions, they are still resolute in the fact that this will be the year they …. make more money, move to a different neighborhood, purchase that new car they have been eyeing,  find their soulmate or _____ (you fill in the blank) all in an effort to be happy or more content with life.  Not that having goals is wrong, but are these things going to bring you contentment?

 If it is true that things bring happiness, where’s the proof?  It has been said that the one with the most toys wins, but one look at Tiger Woods, Bernie Madoff and others suggests that having lots of money and stuff doesn’t always equal happiness and contentment or the ultimate definition of success.

 Perhaps what people are missing is that happiness seems to be a state of mind.  In general, when people are happy/content they seem to do better in life.

 According to 225 studies involving 275,000 people, psychologists found that people aren’t happy because they are successful.  They are successful because they are happy.  The research showed that happy people are easier to work with, more highly motivated and more willing to tackle a difficult project.  Therefore, they are more likely to be successful.  Happy people appear to be more successful than their less happy peers in three primary life areas – work, relationships, and health.

 The logical question would be what do happy people do to be content in life?

According to numerous experts, content people have learned to do the following:

• Accept where you are today and live in the present.  Instead of wishing for what was or what could be, actually learn to enjoy where you are at the moment.  If you are stuck on the dreams you can’t embrace what you have today.
• Be grateful.  If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back and a roof over your head you are richer than 75 percent of the world and if you have money in the bank, in your wallet and some spare change, you are in the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.
• Take responsibility.Happy people have no problem being responsible for their own actions.
• Take pride in what you do. Whatever you do, do it to the very best of your ability.
• Stop chasing the Jones’s. People who are content in life don’t waste time trying to keep up with everybody else. They have learned to be satisfied with what they have.
• Connect to others. Happy people value connectedness with family and friends.
• Live out your faith. Those who attend a place of worship almost every week or more,
  are happier than those who rarely or never attend. The 2004 General Social Survey showed that 43 percent of religious people said they were very happy with their lives compared with 23 percent of the nonreligious.  This connection between faith and happiness holds regardless of one’s particular faith expression.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their
minds to be.”