I would be happy if…

a. I don’t believe in “happy.”
b. I looked like my favorite celebrity and had a trillion dollars.
c. I’m pretty happy now.
d. Happy is my middle name (and “supremely ecstatic” is my first name).

If you chose "a" or "b," you may have a serious case of humbugitis. The cure, you ask? A good, solid dose of life lessons from our fictional friend, Ebenezer Scrooge...

Life Lesson #4: It Takes Courage To Be Happy.

“I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am,” (Philippians 4:11b-13).

How happy are you right now on a scale of 1 to 10? If you answered between 1 and 9, what is holding you back from a 10?

The natural response is to evaluate your happiness based on your circumstances. You might say, "I'm happy because I just met this great guy/girl," or "because I just got a raise," or "because we just moved to a new home." The problem with this approach is that happiness based on circumstances is short-lived and will leave you unhappy most of the time.

Maybe you've assumed that anyone who is happy is automatically happy -that they don't have to work at it. Maybe you've convinced yourself that happiness is for people who don't have any problems and get all the breaks in life. The reality is that happy people don't always feel happy and they have problems just like everyone else. It takes courage to transcend circumstances choose to be happy.