Happiness is an emotion that will come and go and is hard to control because so much depends on our current external circumstances. Happiness can be increased with an increase in personal freedom, material possessions, or the receiving of pleasure. But It would be hard to be happy when you are chained to a wall in a dark damp dungeon or when being burned at the stake by an angry mob.
Therefore I would like to recommend that you seek joy instead. Joy is based more on your current internal circumstances and is dependent on a few things that you can always be in possession of. Here are the main things that bring joy into my life.
I believe and have been assured that my life has value, no matter what my current circumstances I still have this assurance.
My life has meaning, I am fulfilling a purpose. No matter where I am or what is happening around me, even if I'm being burned at the stake, I can still fulfill my purpose and give meaning to my life.
I am contented, even though I may not have everything that I want which can make me unhappy, I do have everything that I need which makes me content.
I have hope, I know that I have a future that transcends anything that is taking place on planet earth. I have another home, I'm a citizen of a far Country, and I have a large family that is waiting for me to finish my work here and come home to be with them.
I get joy and freedom from knowing the absolute and unchanging truth. The boundaries that have been set for me inside of that truth are the very things that give me the greatest freedom known to man. The fact that those boundaries will never change at the whim of man gives me great confidence that my joy is eternal.
The last thing that I have that is so important to my joy is love. Not the flighty and fickle love of passion, or the changing love of friends and family who often let me down, but the unconditional love of God as was demonstrated in the sacrificial giving of His Son for my reconciliation.
There are many philosophies, religions, and codes for living that a person can enter into and receive a great deal of joy and freedom. But the only place that a person can go to and receive all of these things that I have listed above and more, is found in the Attributes of the True and Living God.
So my humble suggestion is to seek eternal joy by studying the attributes of the eternal God of the Bible. I'm not asking you to take my word for it, I'm just asking you to think about the superiority of "Joy" over happiness, and then compare all avenues to obtaining that joy with an open heart. If you do this I'm completely confident about the outcome. Because I know that if a person ever finds and comes to know the truth, then they will also find lasting joy. 🙂
I appreciate your feedback, and you are right joyfulness is more superior to happiness, Joy is stronger and soulful, although I wouldn't pit them against each other. Joyfulness is more spiritual and internal, I guess why I choose to use happiness is because I was talking about an external material thing(money) and how it affects us. there is a direct relationship between money and happiness. so it was an easier topic to phrase.
If I was talking about something spiritual the perfect term would be Joy. Joyfulness is superior. we all want to be happy but joyfulness is the final destination 😊