How can we experience true, complete and lasting happiness? Discover the recipe for the best life you can ever live – here and now – and through eternity! Video available at www.empowermissions.org.

<p>How can we experience true, complete and lasting happiness? Discover the recipe for the best life you can ever live – here and now – and through eternity! Video available at www.empowermissions.org.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Empower Missions

Joakim Hjortland

The Paradoxical Prescription to Happiness

Dear Holy Father, we thank you for this beautiful day, beautiful Sabbath you have given us.

And I was reminded this morning of when they built the temple and then they have this inauguration of the temple, how you answer the prayers and you fill it with your presence Lord, and when they built this building in accordance with your will.

And Lord we believe that we are here to celebrate this day that you have sanctified.

And I want to pray that you similarly will be present with us in a special way as we come together in your house to worship you, to learn about you, that you may give us your spirit as you have promised, that you may lead my words, that you may speak on our hearts.

Lord, you know what, I ask pray that you may tailor make this message.

You know what each and every 1 of us can take with us from this message.

And I ask pray that you may, though I might not even say it with my, with the words I will say up here front.

Lord, I just pray that you may impress the things you have in store for us today through your spirit.

Thank you, Lord, that you will draw us closer to you.

And Lord, I pray, I'm reminded of this beautiful verse in the book of Psalms that I delight to do your will, oh my God.

Lord, that's really the joyful experience you want us to have as followers of you.

And I just pray, Lord, that that may be our experience every year and every day.

Thank you Lord that you will lead us, you will speak to us through this message.

The message this morning is entitled, The Paradoxical Prescription to Happiness.

How many of you, how many of you want to be happy?

So in other words, This is a message that is relevant for all of us.

Some time ago, I was reading this interesting article in a, you know, Swedish newspaper.

Basically the title of the article is, you know, Million Wage, you know, Luxury Cars, luxury houses, the recipe of joy?

It s basically the question that s asked here.

And the article is talking about this British study that had been conducted with 3, 000 people, basically asking them What are the necessary ingredients for the perfect life, for perfect happiness?

What do you need to really have happiness in your life, to really have the best life you can live?

And these are the following answers that were given in this survey.

They said, you know, you needed a yearly wage of over 120, 000 euro.

You needed a house with a value of 206, 000 euro.

In addition to that, you needed a summer house, you know, this nice Aston Martin car, yeah.

And, you know, other things people would mention as a necessary ingredient would be, would be things like, you know, academic success, you know, being on the top academically or, you know, being, or fame some would say, you know, or some would say being on the top of your sport or having maybe the perfect spouse, others would add there.

These are the type of things that they answer and that people would answer if you ask them what do you need to have perfect happiness, to really be happy, to really have the best life you could live.

I read another interesting article about actually a British girl as well, 16 years old, Callie Rogers.

She won approximately 2 million British pounds, approximately 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 euro at the time, or when I calculated this, on the lottery.

She got what she maybe would have dared to hope for when she bought that lottery ticket.

She got what many, many thousands of people all over the world are dreaming for or hoping to get 1 day.

And this made it possible for her as a young girl to do pretty much anything she could dream about or would like to do.

For instance, she used 730, 000 euros for luxury houses.

She used approximately 360, 000 euros for sports cars, you know, 280, 000 euros for exotic vacations.

The next 1 is the hardest 1 to understand, I think.

Now, do you think all of these things that she was dreaming about, do you think this gave her a better life?

Do you think this, now she reached it, she came there, perfect happiness, best life, do you think, do you think this, this really gave her a better life?

Listen to, you know, just a few years after when I read about this, she lived in the home of her mother and she had 3 cleaning jobs just to make ends meet, just to get enough to survive.

And listen to what she says, very interesting.

She says the following, I honestly wish I had not won.

If I knew what I know now, I would have given the money back right away.

She says she won, you know, she got what millions of people are hoping to get someday.

And when she gets it, she says, I wish if I knew what I know now, I would have just given it back.

Now, let me tell you about my friend David.

When he was, you know, since he was a little boy, you know, he loved skateboarding.

He was going out, you know, skating and skating and, you know, he became pretty good, you know.

And when he was 18, you know, he wanted, he basically, his dream was fulfilled.

He moved to California and he was able basically to live there as a professional skateboarder.

So he was there skating with some of the best, you know, skateboarders in the world.

And he had a promising career as a skateboarder, only 18 years old, you know, living his dream.

But after 1 year there, he realized that this didn't give the happiness and the fulfillment that he thought it would, that he hoped it would.

And therefore, after only 1 year living his dream, he said, no, this is not it.

And so he basically, he decides to go away from there and move, you know.

Now what he does instead, he turns to music and with some of his friends, you know, they start this band together, this music band.

And eventually, they're getting pretty good, you know.

They're playing more and more, you know, more and more requests to play different places and they are actually recording 2 albums, you know, and they are playing with, traveling around the US together with some of the most known bands in that time and doing very well, you know, having success and gives them some happiness, but he realizes also here, this doesn't really give the satisfaction, this doesn't give the happiness that He thought it would.

And again, so he's disappointed, but he decides to basically quit in the band.

So what he does instead is, now he turns to academics.

And so he's studying medicine, and he's doing very well.

But again, he realizes, hey, this doesn't give what he thought it would.

There's still, he still has some empty space in his heart.

And he's looking around him, he's looking, observing people and trying to figure out what can really give happiness and true happiness and joy and meaning in life, what can really do it, what is the recipe, what are the ingredients that is needed, you know.

And 1 observation he makes is, it seems like those who are the most happy, the people he sees around him, that are the people that are in a relationship with someone.

So he thinks, yeah, maybe I need to think more about that part.

And so basically he pursues a relationship and he gets this girlfriend eventually and they're really in love, they're really having a good time and he thinks, yeah, this is it, he thinks.

But eventually he realizes that this doesn't work out as he thought either.

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The Paradoxical Prescription to Happiness

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