GET RIGHT WITH YOUR SOCIAL SUPPORT NETWORK

I read an interesting thing in the Harvard Business Review. And that is this: happiness can be learned. It’s not innate or environmental or luck. And I figure finding God is probably a lot like practicing for happiness.

Here’s the background on happiness: training your brain to be happy is like training your muscles. The exercises are simple—jot down 3 things you’re grateful for, write a positive message to someone in your “social support network” (I think that means friends and family), exercise for 10 minutes, take two minutes to write in a journal your most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours.

I can vouch for all of those things—most of us can. Those of us without naturally sunny dispositions have to work on it sometimes.

And I’m guessing the same is true for God. Having more God in your life could be a lot like having more happiness in your life. Practice. Go to Sunday School, church. Get nourished, eat bread, drink wine, let go, be thankful, open yourself to grace, be reminded. You are not alone.

Anyway, not that I follow my own advice. But listen, the story I was reading also had another fact worthy of pointing out: Of the 5 activities listed above, the most effective “may be engaging positively with people in your social support network.” Now I’m guessing those people at Harvard are talking about fellow parishioners and your priest.