Episode 767 Happy Even in an Unhappy Place
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 767 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hey guys, this is Matt ham from you print. I want to encourage you to find your own journey to living your life's calling. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.
[00:00:27] and then find the joy in the next moment of being alive. See the truth is being in a difficult place, being unhappy, struggling, having a hard time. That doesn't mean you have to accept it. It doesn't mean you have to live there. It doesn't mean you have to stay there. You can take activity and take action and do things to change your reality.
[00:00:50] Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire or to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn [00:01:00] to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.
[00:01:12] So that you can impact the world.
[00:01:22] And today's spiritual foundation episode about developing your influence. I talk with you about first Thessalonians, chapter five, verses 16 through 18. I share how you can be happy even in an unhappy place. And I also share how that does it mean you accept that or just stay there either. Now first Thessalonians chapter five verses 16 through 18 says rejoice.
[00:01:47] Always pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this as the will of God and Christ Jesus for you. I love that passaged rejoice always pray without [00:02:00] seas ceasing. And in this year in 2020, which has been an incredibly challenging year for folks, it reminds me of how we are asked to find joy.
[00:02:11] We are asked to find happiness. We are asked to find ways to give joy to rejoice. Even if things aren't going well. And the larger context here of this passage. This is about that. This is about finding those happy times, even when you're unhappy. I left the corporate world a number of years ago to launch my own business.
[00:02:35] And a lot of times I get asked, Oh, you hated working in corporate. You didn't like your job or you didn't enjoy it. But the truth is I really did enjoy my job. I loved what I did when I worked in the corporate world. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the actual job. I enjoyed the mission, it was behind it, but I also knew it wasn't every the thing that I was [00:03:00] called to do that I was called to go out and start my own business and do something different.
[00:03:05] And so I did that, but the happiness that I had, the joy I had existed. While I was doing the job and enjoying it. It existed while I was not enjoying the corporate job. And the same thing happens now with my business. It's, there are things about my business. I love, there are days where I get done with a client call and I've got more energy than what I started the day.
[00:03:30] And then there are days where it's a struggle and things are hard, or my clients are dealing with difficult things that emotionally drained me. There's parts of the task in my daily job that I love to do. And there's parts that I hate. There's things that I do because I need to do them not because they are the most pleasant or most lovely are joy filled activities that I can do.
[00:03:55] But the truth is I can choose to be happy, [00:04:00] even if I'm in an unhappy place, even if things are going really hard, even if it's a year like 2020, and it seems like nothing has gone well. There are still activities you can do. There are still things that you can do to find those moments of gratitude. One thing to recognize is you need to be grateful for all of the blessings you do have and all of the gifts that you do have almost anything in your life.
[00:04:31] Can be turned from a negative to a positive by recognizing the things that are there that are good about it. Instead of focusing on what's wrong focus, what is on, right. Instead of focusing on, Oh, I'm not making as much money as I would like. Yes, but are you making enough money to eat? That's the first thing to be grateful for.
[00:04:56] And then you can grow from there, recognize that you can pour [00:05:00] hope into other people. If you're struggling, that doesn't mean you don't help others recognize that you can ignore or eliminate or step past criticism. You can be given an insult, but you don't have to accept it. Recognize that you're not perfect and neither is anyone else.
[00:05:21] But what you can do is choose whether or not that negative emotion that someone else is sharing is one you want to accept. Allow yourself to have the moment of unhappiness recognize that things didn't go great. Maybe it was a struggle. Maybe you didn't get that job you wanted, maybe you didn't get the promotion you wanted.
[00:05:41] Maybe someone you love has passed away. Maybe you've gotten bad news. Maybe your finances are messed up. Maybe your spouse is mad at you today. Maybe you're sick or you're tired or something is going on emotionally. That's fine, where you can recognize that you can allow yourself to be [00:06:00] unhappy. You don't want to ignore it.
[00:06:01] You don't want to pretend that it's not there, but you don't want to live there. It's okay to feel the pain, but recognize that that pain means that you're alive. It means that you've got another chance to move through it. It means that you've got another chance to make something positive. It probably means you're learning a lesson or there's something from this that you can share with others to help them as well, and find the gratitude where it is find the little things or the big things that you can be grateful for.
[00:06:34] And then find the joy in the next moment of being alive. See the truth is being in a difficult place, being unhappy, struggling, having a hard time. That doesn't mean you have to accept it. It doesn't mean you have to live there. It doesn't mean you have to stay there. You can take activity and take action and do things to change your reality.
[00:06:56] But taking action doesn't cover to come from a place of [00:07:00] unhappiness. It can just come from a place of tomorrow can be different from today. And I will be thankful when I have nothing and I will be thankful when I have many things, because my job is to be thankful and give gratitude for the blessings that I have all of the time to rejoice all ways, not just to rejoice when things are good and not just to rejoice when things are bad.
[00:07:27] But to rejoice at all times. That's what we're asked to do. And here at the end of the year, as we come upon the Christmas season, recognize the hat is truly finding happiness everywhere. Thanks for listening.
[00:07:51] thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just [00:08:00] sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired.
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