The magic ingredient to happiness

I have three words for you:
READ YOUR SCRIPTURES!

Do it. In fact, if you haven't already done so today, leave my blog and go ahead and do it. I give you permission. You can finish reading this later.

So, as a first year school teacher, I have had a large load to carry, and the silly thing is that I had been trying to carry it all on my own. The first month and a half of school this year was filled with many tears, high anxiety and lack of sleep. I was still somewhat happy, but having lost a great deal of balance in my life, I was growing increasingly miserable.

Often I would pray and ask Heavenly Father, "Why is this so hard?" I would plead with Him for help.

But...

Then I would fall into my 5 hour sleep coma, and would do nothing to aid Him in helping me.

Or in other words, I was asking for help, but I was not making the necessary efforts to receive that help. It's like asking someone for food because you're starving, but walking away before they can either give you food or tell you where you can find some.

I was not engaging in meaningful scripture study. Sure I would read a verse or two, a chapter or two. But I wasn't investing myself in my scripture study. So distracted with everything else on my mind, I simply couldn't concentrate, or so I told myself.

I spoke to a good friend about my troubles about two weeks ago. I wanted to know how I could place my burdens upon the Lord, whenever it felt that I was often carrying the heavy load all by myself and consequentially and frequently tripping and falling to the ground under its weight. His advice was both simple and timeless. He encouraged me to make meaningful scripture study a top priority in my daily routine. As he advised me, I knew that I would find answers to my prayers by following his counsel.

So, for the past two weeks, I have successfully carried out a meaningful scripture study everyday. And a miracle happened! Suddenly I find myself having not only the energy and capacity to deal with all of my job-related responsibilities, but also having the inspiration to do so effectively. I've felt my burdens lift as I make time for reading and pondering the Book of Mormon and various conference talks by the apostles and prophets. I have felt immensely happy despite a tight and demanding schedule and a ceiling high stack of to-do lists. I have felt peace in the place of anxiety stress. I have felt relief and comfort on mornings when I normally would have felt fear. And I know these blessings are a direct result of me reading the scriptures everyday.

So, get off the internet, and go read your scriptures. Do it! :D