Happiest by Susan Chadaz

Send us a textThe birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is the preface to His story. His ministry is the prologue, His sacrifice and atonement are the substance of the story, and His resurrection is the epilogue. Elder Gary E. Stevenson taught, “Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms, you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don't have a New Testament; you don't have a Christianity.” What about the rest of His story? 

Send us a textYou are not destined to fail. The plan is for you to ‘rise above'. Elder Kearen testified, “The intent of the Father's great plan of happiness is your happiness, right here, right now, and in the eternities." In the middle of every battle…His greatest desire is to help you.  If only we would turn to Him. We can choose to bring the good He has in store for our lives into our lives. 

Send us a textHave you ever felt cold?  Have you ever felt discouraged, sad, or without warmth? Piece by piece, thread by thread, we are creating a quilt of faith and hope through the atonement of Jesus Christ that will give us warmth and comfort when the cold days come, 'knowing all the while that we are encircled "in the arms of [His] love."  

Send us a textWhat do you see when in this school we call life--predicaments, bumpy roads, and sharp turns in the form of calamity, mishap, and misfortune leave you at the bus stop with your suitcases packed full of insecurity, self-doubt, and uncertainty?  Through a different lens of hope, faith, and purpose, we each have a choice of what we choose to see in our world. 

Send us a textI've got good news for you—really, really good news—the kind of news that can change your life. This kind of news can save, strengthen, and rescue you. In fact, Christmas is the perfect time of year to talk about this good news because Christmas is when this good news was born. 

Send us a textElder Richard G. Scott taught that “this life is an experience in profound trust—trust in Jesus Christ, trust in His teachings, trust in our capacity as led by the Holy Spirit to obey those teachings for happiness now and for a purposeful, supremely happy eternal existence." You have the capacity to see and create happiness and joy in your life now, just by believing and seeing the vision that you can. Happiness can be grown here. 

Send us a textIn every life, there will be detours and delays. The trick will be to decide to find joy in the ride, learn from the ride, and become more because of the ride--even in the middle of every journey.

Send us a textWherever you are in life, whatever 'mission' your life has sent you on, you're not alone. With the Lord's help, this is a mission possible. What do you really need to know for your life to be a mission full of possibilities? 

Send us a Text Message.You are one of the 'Battalion Leaders'. In October 2013, President Russell M. Nelson, declared: “Your Heavenly Father has known you for a very long time. You, as His son or daughter, were chosen by Him to come to earth at this precise time, to be a leader in His great work on earth.” You were built for this!

Send us a Text Message.Our Heavenly Father has an unlimited supply of power and love for you.  He is always there wanting to bless you. Jesus Christ is the mediator.  We pray to the Father through Jesus Christ.  When we obey and follow Christ's example, that completes the circuit, and our lives are blessed as we walk in His light. 

Send us a Text Message.Do you know…YOU were born to be a hero?  Do you know you have defeated Satan before you came to this world? In Romans 13:12 we read, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light.”  You are going to need the 'Armor of Light' to defeat him again. 

Send us a Text Message.What can you do today, right now, that will help you hold onto your hopes and dreams, and see all the opportunities to find the happy all around you?  Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught that "Hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness." 

In last October's General Conference, Elder Carlos A. Goday told a story of a taxi driver he met and helped as this man who was a father, reshaped his life to return to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Elder Goday sked him…  “…why he decided to return, he said it was because he and his wife felt their children would be happier in life with the gospel of Jesus Christ. ”

Happiness is not determined by the circumstances of your life, happiness is dependent on the thoughts you have about the circumstances of your life. Elder Ulisses Soares taught, “Happiness is determined by habits, behaviors, and thought patterns that we can directly address with intentional action.”  Happiness is a choice that anyone can make. 

Our Heavenly Father's plan is a plan for Happiness and the Spirit of the Holy Ghost is a way of maximizing that happiness. Learning the language of the Spirit will help you in every aspect of your life. 

Where do we find true and lasting happiness? In last October's General Conference, Elder Gary B. Savin taught that in our world today “ …essential principles for true happiness seem to elude many in this confusing world, where many things are interesting but few are truly important.” Finding lasting happiness in a ‘fallen world' is going to take some ascending, some climbing. Happiness is going to take some work.

Charlie Brown asked, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"In the middle of the hustle and the bustle, in the middle of the fresh tree or the artificial tree, in the middle of shopping, stressing, baking, and decorating--we do know what Christmas is all about. 

Consider all the stars in all the heavens in all the galaxies far and wide, do you know you are worth more than them all?  Paul taught, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God..." (Romans 8:16). 

Like a cross-country race, life can give us days when the path is smooth and the run is easy, but at other times, what seemed to be effortless before, can become a rough road of bumps, hills, and life challenges that may press us into giving up the race that is set before us, and instead of holding out for long run blessings, we may turn aside giving in to life's short run substitutions.  Happiness is the very reason to stay the course. 

In a world of beauty and joy, we will also know sorrow and despair, but through an eternal perspective, we will be able to see from a new point of view. 

As we cast off the words of darkness, then we will be able to put on the armor of light. Darkness is vanquished when light is present. 

They weren't discouraged when things got harder, they didn't even think that they were failing, they thought they were learning.  They were willing to give willingness a try. 

Have you ever had a challenge in your life that left you with questions? Questions like: When will I?  How can I?  What should I do?  Which way should I go? or How can I find my way forward? No matter how difficult or confusing the challenges may be, you can always remember that the answer is simple: it is always Jesus.

Want to be happier? Help others. President David O. McKay said, “The noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make other lives better and happier!” In this podcast, we will be learning the four principles of the Healer's Art.

I think there will always be days when we may feel inadequate, maybe times when we feel deficient somehow, or possibly there may come moments when after all we can do, after all we have tried, our efforts seem to be in short supply. President Thomas S. Monson said, "Lest we at any time feel inadequate for the tasks ahead for us... may I share with you a statement made in 1979 by President Ezra Taft Benson, "God has saved for the final inning some of His strongest children who will help bear off the kingdom triumphantly.”

What do you do to continue forward when hard days come? Elder W. Mark Bassett taught, “…as we move forward with faith in Jesus Christ, the fourth day will always come. He will always come to our aid or to raise our hopes back to life.”

We will all struggle at times, and with our ups and downs we will pray, we will wait, and we will learn to endure. All the while knowing that no one is less cherished. You are of great worth through it all. 

When your mortality gets hard, when happy seems to have been lost behind the couch for the day, or when storms blow in and you're left standing in the dark, there is a way to live and be happy.

In this life we can expect those moments when hardships sail in, troubles drop by, and ordeals are dealt into our day. The challenge is to not let the challenge become an additional ordeal.  

There is power in positive thought that allows us to see the sun shining on rain and rain falling on sunshine. In the children's classic, The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodges Burnette, healing and transformation come to pass by the power of positive thought.  She writes, “If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” 

How do we build peace in every condition no matter how difficult the situation?  How do we follow the Savior's example and the prophet's plea to be a peacemaker? It is possible to disagree without the spirit of contention by building a framework of peace into your life. 

What advice did your mom give you while growing up that she declared was good for you? After years of research, on many counts, your mom was right.  After all, she always did just want you to be happy. 

Outside of everyone else's control is your own power to genuinely build your own happy as you cultivate the art of self-compassion. You already have everything you need to grow.

In Elder Gerrit W. Gong's conference message last October, he said, “Happy and forever” are not the imaginary stuff of fairy tales.”  In this podcast  we are going to talk about your own personal ‘once upon a time' journey toward  'Happy and Forever After'.

Have you ever had your plans change? We all make plans for our lives.  We set goals and prepare for the future as we should and sometimes in each of our lives…plans change. Sometimes what we had planned compared to the lesson plan our Heavenly Father has for our lives is not the same. In the middle of change, we can learn, grow and become more every time we pray.

When we understand whose child we really are,  then our prayers become a priceless gift from God opening direction and purpose in every step we take, giving our lives a continual curriculum of strength and peace. 

In your daily life have you ever felt mentally drained, gasping for breath and stumbling through thigh-deep snow just to put one foot in front of the other? Welcome to Survival 101.  Be ready to learn how you can be prepared, carry on, and find the happy in any climb. 

Whenever we look outside of ourselves, we tend to evaluate, compare, and judge. But it is possible to rise above judgment and rewire our brains toward more understanding and empathy for ourselves and those around us. 

What's your story?  And do you really want to stick to it? Just because we think something, doesn't mean it's true, but how we consistently think leads us to how we act.  We can think thoughts that will help us to act with compassion and hope, or we can choose thoughts that can leave us depressed and angry. You have a choice every day to choose what story you 'want to stick to.'

In all of our ‘Happy-ology' learning, I wonder if there might be some ‘Happy-ology' unlearning that needs to also take place. Maybe on your journey to learn how to find the happy, you've been practicing it over and over again, only to find out you had some unhappy habits that were ‘missing the mark'.  Today we are going to talk about, unhappiness and how to unlearn it. 

Can you clearly see through the circling seasons of your life? What is your visibility scale as you rise and look around at this journey we call life? In this podcast, we are going to talk about the Visibility Scale, and how seeing yourself more clearly will help you on your journey forward. 

In your journey to find the happy, building relationships with other people matter, and matter more than anything else in the world.  Making a connection with someone can jolt us with positivity in the moment and then that connection strengthens over time which raises our happiness baseline permanently. 

Kindness really is contagious and is known to actually have lasting effects not only on the receiver but the giver as well.  A simple act of kindness, holding the door open, a smile, or giving a compliment can bring a smile to your face and lift your mood. 

Do you have an emergency 'fiery trial' preparedness plan for your life?  When life gives you billows and days that are tempest-tossed, grab hold of your ‘emergency trial preparedness' plan and instead of stop, drop and roll, you will be able to start, lift, and grow.

If you are to choose the happy in your life with all the possibilities that can come when you step forward out of the mundane of your life, then you will need to learn how to keep fear in check. Fear is a call for courage.  

 Curiosity is the ‘sauce' that takes a normal life and enhances a curious mind to look beneath the surface and discover new possibilities. How is your curiosity and how can you cultivate more of it in your search to find the happy? 

You have the superpower to shape any external event in your life into the story you want it to tell.  The story you choose to tell about your own life story is inexplicably linked to your finding the happy in it.

Having patience will give you the ability to keep moving forward in your life as you blend together hope and acceptance which is the recipe for more patience. In a nutshell, it's easier to be happy if you are patient.

We all make mistakes, some big and some small.  By scanning what's up ahead of you, looking for positive opportunities to learn and grow, and by rejecting the belief that every down in life leads you only further down, you will give yourself the greatest power possible; the ability to ‘fall up'.  "We don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents." 

Once we truly ‘get the picture' that we are all unique and different, and once we really understand the reason why we are all unique and different, then we will be able to stop comparing and start admiring the many unique and different strengths and powers we all have been given…that all the world may be profited thereby.

What do you think of when you hear the word 'success'?  In this podcast, we are going to talk about orienting ourselves, our kids, and our families toward success...especially since it is time, once again, for Back to School.