{"id":8843,"date":"2016-12-29T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=8843"},"modified":"2016-12-27T11:47:44","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T16:47:44","slug":"makes-happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/makes-happy-new-year.html","title":{"rendered":"What Makes a Happy New Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8844 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2016\/12\/new-year-1898575_1920-300x108.jpg\" alt=\"new-year-1898575_1920\" width=\"383\" height=\"138\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Soon, we will all be shouting, \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d It\u2019s a warm and hopeful sentiment because we know that happy people live longer, are healthier and live more prosperous lives. But how we try to find happiness matters. Scripture confirms that true happiness is found in our relationship with God.<\/p>\n<p><em>But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. Psalm 68:3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:13<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But do we play a part in feeling happy?<\/p>\n<p>A study reported in the March 2008 issue of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/media\/releases\/2008\/weiss.cfm\">Psychological Science<\/a>\u00a0concludes that certain personality traits predispose us to happiness. Even if you are fortunate to have happy genetics, about 50 percent of happiness is up to us and influenced by external factors in our lives. Thus, we do influence how happy we are.<\/p>\n<p>And here are a few ways to increase happiness:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Make God your most important relationship.\u00a0<\/strong>Believe God wants the best for you, is ordering your steps, and can be trusted to be who He says He is and do what He promises. Happiness is an outcome of our God relationship. This doesn\u2019t mean we always feel happy, however,\u00a0we can be happy because of God\u2019s presence in our lives. We are not alone to face trials and tribulations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Work on your intimate relationships.<\/strong> Strong and healthy marriages are associated with increased happiness. People who pursue intimacy with others and don\u2019t judge themselves against others are happy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be grateful and express it.<\/strong> Happiness increases in those who feel and express gratitude. Take time to focus on your blessings. Tell others how much you appreciate them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Be forgiving.<\/strong> University of Michigan psychologist Christopher Peterson found that forgiveness is a trait linked to happiness. Forgiveness is also a biblical mandate linked to our relationship with Christ.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t look to materialism<\/strong>. What doesn\u2019t make people happy is stuff! One of the reasons we find depression increasing after the holidays is that possessions don\u2019t bring the proclaimed happiness advertisers purport they do. When happiness is dependent on materialism, people feel empty and realize that stuff cannot fill the void.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, this December 31, when we ring in the New Year, remember to keep God at the center of your life, work on your relationships and keep them strong, don\u2019t buy in to the idea that things bring happiness and maintain an attitude of gratefulness and forgiveness all year long. Then, it will be a Happy New Year!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soon, we will all be shouting, \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d It\u2019s a warm and hopeful sentiment because we know that happy people live longer, are healthier and live more prosperous lives. But how we try to find happiness matters. Scripture confirms that true happiness is found in our relationship with God. But may the righteous be&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[916],"tags":[198,199,3140,3142],"class_list":["post-8843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god-relationship","tag-happiness","tag-happy","tag-happy-new-year","tag-new-year"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Makes a Happy New Year?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/makes-happy-new-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Makes a Happy New Year?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soon, we will all be shouting, \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d It\u2019s a warm and hopeful sentiment because we know that happy people live longer, are healthier and live more prosperous lives. But how we try to find happiness matters. Scripture confirms that true happiness is found in our relationship with God. But may the righteous be&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/makes-happy-new-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-29T11:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-27T16:47:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2016\/12\/new-year-1898575_1920-300x108.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Makes a Happy New Year?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2016\/12\/makes-happy-new-year.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Makes a Happy New Year?","og_description":"Soon, we will all be shouting, \u201cHappy New Year!\u201d It\u2019s a warm and hopeful sentiment because we know that happy people live longer, are healthier and live more prosperous lives. But how we try to find happiness matters. Scripture confirms that true happiness is found in our relationship with God. 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Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8843"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8847,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843\/revisions\/8847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}