Happiness and Joy

Immediately following the death of Lehi, Nephi records that he "did cry much unto the Lord... because of the anger of my brethren. But behold, their anger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life" (2 Nephi 5:1-2). The Lord had fought many battles for Nephi with his brothers, and developed Nephi's faith and capability in the process, but now he warned Nephi in a dream that it was time to leave.

As Nephi and his followers fled the land of their first inheritance and began to build a new community, they worked hard with their hands and learned many different trades. They established a government to serve the people and provide for their defense. They studied the brass plates, established a church, and built a temple. They had children and raised their families in righteousness. In other words, Nephi records that his people "lived after the manner of happiness"  (2 Nephi 5:10-18, 26).

Clearly, the first Nephites did not have much time to sit on the beach sipping pina coladas, but they did experience three things that modern researchers (like Dr. Arthur Brooks, the Harvard professor and happiness researcher who I will paraphrase here) have found to be critical for our happiness: enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose. Importantly, all of these elements of happiness also require a degree of unhappiness.

Enjoyment, for example, is the sum of pleasure, communion, and consciousness. Pleasure alone is animal-- fleeting and solitary. All addictions are about pleasure. But enjoyment includes others. It includes memory. As Dr. Brooks notes, eating a freshly-baked turkey may give us pleasure, but making a memory with our family over a Thanksgiving dinner can bring enjoyment that contributes to our happiness.

Because no one element of enjoyment is sufficient on its own, it requires self-restraint to forego solitary or purely carnal pleasures in favor of those that build relationships and shared experience. Discipline can be uncomfortable and even unhappy at times, but faithful endurance through unhappy moments ultimately yields greater happiness.

Similarly, the satisfaction we experience from achievement requires the work and sacrifice to achieve. Ongoing satisfaction means continuing to work and sacrifice to reach new achievements. And purpose in life is very often related to the suffering we experience.

The Nephites seemed to understand that happiness and unhappiness are not mutually exclusive or contradictory. We can experience both at the same time or in rapid succession. Neither is a permanent destination, but rather a direction or focus of our lives at a given moment. Happy feelings are like the smell of turkey: evidence of a feast rather than the feast itself. Whatever our feelings in a given moment, we can still experience the happiness that comes from enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose.

We see these principles in action again five hundred years later when the much larger Nephite nation was engaged in a war in which their rival had sworn an oath to drink the blood of their leader, Captain Moroni. The Nephites worked feverishly to build new cities and fortify them with mounds of earth, wooden walls, pickets, and guard towers. There were conflicts on the battlefield and spiritual battles to strengthen the faith of the people. With unity of purpose and achievement, "there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni" (Alma 50:23).

Though most of us aspire to move in the direction of happiness, Lehi taught his son Jacob to aim higher. "Adam fell that men might be," he taught, "And men [and women] are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25).

Joy is a gift of the spirit that comes to the faithful for intentionally trying to live a righteous life. It is a preview of the greater, more fulfilling, and lasting happiness awaiting the faithful in the presence of God (2 Ne. 9:18; Mosiah 2:41; D&C 93:33-34). The For Strength of Youth guide explains that "joy is not the absence of sorrow in your life; [it is] the presence of Christ in your life" (see also D&C 101:36). President Nelson taught that the joy we feel has more to do with our focus than our circumstances. We can receive "an intensity, depth, and breadth of joy that defy human logic or mortal comprehension" as we "'[look] unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith' 'in every thought.'"

This is the experience of Alma the Younger. Confronted by an angel for his efforts to the destroy the church of God, Alma was "racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree" and "tormented with the pains of hell" (Alma 36:12-13). After three days, he remembered that his father had taught the people about Jesus Christ. "Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me... And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36:17-20).

President Nelson continued, "As our Savior becomes more and more real to us and as we plead for His joy to be given to us, our joy will increase. ... When we choose Heavenly Father to be our God and when we can feel the Savior's Atonement working in our lives, we will be filled with joy. Every time we nurture our spouse and guide our children, every time we forgive someone or ask for forgiveness, we can feel joy. Every day that you and I choose to live celestial laws, every day that we keep our covenants and help others do the same, joy will be ours" (Joy and Spiritual Survival, October 2016).

We do not earn or deserve joy, but the Lord does require us to participate in it, much like He requires effort to enjoy the blessings of sunlight. The sun does not rise because we are owed payment; yet, it is there every day and available to those who are willing to open the windows, or better yet, go outside and stay long enough to feel its warmth.

Like Alma, the people of Nephi, and the Nephites in the days of Captain Moroni, participating in the gift of joy includes turning toward our Savior, aligning our will with His, and showing genuine intent and desire to live the gospel. Sometimes effort is required to expand our capacity so that we can receive the gift the Lord has for us. As we open the door for our Savior, he fills us with joy through the grace and power of His infinite Atonement.

Similar participation is required for other spiritual gifts. We often speak of the peace we feel in the temple; but that peace comes as we serve, performing His temple work and turning our hearts to God. The Lord offers rest to those who labor and are heavy laden, but labor is prerequisite and leads to a new kind of work where we are yoked together with the Savior (Matthew 11:28-30). We can know the truth of all things, but we must study and pray with real intent (Moroni 10:3-5). Even the redemption made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ was preceded by the participation of Adam and Eve in the Fall.

"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." 

There will be days when we can rest and recover with literal or metaphorical pina coladas, but most of our lives will be filled with work, family responsibilities, church responsibilities, and challenges of every kind. Even so, we can experience happiness parallel to our struggles through shared moments of enjoyment, disciplined satisfaction, and the deeper sense of purpose that comes from personal sacrifice. 

Because of Jesus Christ, our happiness can be magnified until our souls are filled with joy. As President Nelson taught, "When the focus of our lives is on God's plan of salvation ... and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening-- or not happening-- in our lives." When we choose to fully participate in our lives and in His gospel, with our focus centered on Christ, we can live "after the manner of happiness" and experience a measure of heaven on earth.