Awesome Bishop wrote:Joy: What keeps us from it?*Sometimes righteous sorrow for our actions can be turned against us to make us feel hopeless and dejected.
- life events
sins/guilt
choice
physical factors
*Sins lead to unhappiness
*Weaknesses are to humble us, and going to God with our weaknesses can help them to become strengths without making us prideful
*Feeling temptation is not a sin, but giving in to them is. Weakness is not a sin.
*How we react to our trials determines how much control they have over us.
*Life cannot be both faith-full and stress-free
*Sorrow can be a temptation, but we can chose to reject it and be happy. Medical/clinical depression is an exception, and we should not feel guilt for struggling with it.
*You will not be happy all the time. Be grateful for the happy times you have.
Finding Joy / Fighting Depression
Finding Joy / Fighting Depression
This is mostly connected to the discussion in "I just wanna say..." about depression. I had a bishop give a truly inspired "chastity" talk about finding joy. And since I have my notes handy, I think I might as well share them. Since this was his version of "the talk," it focuses a little more on overcoming sin and temptation in order to be happy, but I still think some of it applies here.