Reflection
The word yield has a variety of meanings. On the road, it means to surrender, to give way. In nature, it means to give rise to, to bear fruit. On the spiritual path, one leads to the other. Once we give up our notion of how life “should be,” we free ourselves to experience the abundance of the lives we do have. What keeps many of us from experiencing joy is the illusion that the circumstances of our lives are not right. We think if only something changed on the outside, our lives would improve. Nobody but us is responsible for our happiness. It is our natural state. If we are not happy, it’s not because somebody has taken something away from us. It’s because we have added something to reality—some illusion, some desire, some attachment to “how it should be.” And this is what we have to surrender, this notion that someone else is to blame for what our lives look like.
Jan Phillips
Prayer
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy.
Psalm 16:11
Action
Is there something spoiling your peace of mind and happiness? If so, examine the source and nature of the issue. If you are responsible yourself, determine what to do about it.
Suggested Reading
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is now law.
Galatians 5:22-23
These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:11
Christianity spreads through the joy of disciples who know that they are loved and saved.
Pope Francis
Be happy at the moment that”s enough. Each moment is all we need not more.
Mother Teresa
We become happy by learning to appreciate what we have as well as to achieve what we want.
Joan Chittister
A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy.
Thomas Merton
Happiness is not a goal…it’s a by-product of a life well-lived.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Happiness depends upon ourselves.
Aristotle
A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.
Albert Einstein
Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.
Muhammad Ali