My #1 Habit for Shaking the Blues and Living in Joy, Peace, and Contentment

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Turn on your TV cable news. Doom-scroll down your social media app. Mentally rehearse the problems, stresses, and troubles you experienced just today.

Now how are you feeling?

I’ll guess you’re not bubbling over with peace, joy, and contentment!

Trust me, I know from experience that modern life can beat down even an optimistic person.

We have beautiful scriptural promises of joy, peace, and of contentment. However, cultivating that experience in a world of strife, fear, outrage, and stress sometimes eludes us.

Our brains are primed to search for danger, threats, and problems that need to be addressed. That’s good. Otherwise, we wouldn’t drive so carefully, plan so thoroughly, or exercise strategy and caution.

For many of us though this instinct can run amuck. Hyper-alertness for problems, threats, and can cause too much focus on negatives, increasing the likelihood of anxiety and depression.

(Perhaps you naturally tend toward optimism and seeing the glass half full. You constantly keep that frown turned upside down! I can say with certainty, though, many others struggle to maintain that positivity.)

So how do I maintain my joy, peace, and contentment?

My answer isn’t in the DSM V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) but straight out of the Bible.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:4-8 NASB

Notice this passage concludes with a promise of peace!

One lesson I take away: we must cultivate the fruits of peace, joy, and contentment. We must take some action.

Specifically, our directives from this passage:

·        actively rejoice in the Lord

·        bring every specific concern to God in prayer

·        give thanks regularly

·        focus our thoughts on good things

So that brings me to my #1 habit of shaking the blues and living with joy, peace, and contentment.

As simple as it may sound, writing a gratitude journal works wonders. It is a powerful technique for focusing on a simple exercise that incorporates aspects of thanksgiving and thinking about or savoring the positive.

I keep a little notebook beside my bed. I date the top of a page each night and write down at least three things for which I am grateful. Often, I wrote more than 3.

Sometimes I have been tempted (but resisted) to add a few prayer requests to God. My mind wants to refocus on the problems! No way. I tell myself I can write the prayer requests, just not in this book.

Much research demonstrates a connection between gratitude and a sense of well-being. One study found correlations between writing in a gratitude journal and a sense of positive well-being.

Even on stressful days, I don’t have any difficulty thinking of three or more positives. I recall small positive events and interactions from my day, but which I have forgotten by evening.

I notice warm uplifting emotions and enhanced enjoyment of the positives of my day and overall life circumstances.

Maybe you’d like to try it or recommend it to your parishioners. We probably all need a joy reset.

Best of all: it is easy and free!

Let me know what you think.

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