We all want to be happy. Period. In fact, I would argue that nearly what we do, whether it’s working, marrying, sports, hobbies, etc… so much is done with an overarching purpose: To feel happier. It’s not that we particularly enjoy all of these activities for their own sake, even though we might (and for some, we certainly should), but that we want to create certain feelings: Passion, excitement, purpose, love, excitement, relief, or any other emotion that makes us, well, happy.

Sadly, most people fail in their quest for happiness for one simple reason: They seek it where there is nothing to be found. A recent survey from Mind Share Partners reveals that 50% of millennials (23-38 years old) and 75% of Gen-Zer (18-22 years old) respondents have quit a job partially due to mental health reasons. (To put that in perspective, only 20% of the total survey respondents reported doing the same.)

For baby boomers (55-73 years old), the number was the lowest, with less than 10% leaving a job for mental health-related reasons. Stress comes in many forms but it’s the failing ego that leaves in knots about what to do. And when we do not get what we expect and want what happens?

Doctors call it depression. For decades, standard treatment for depression hasn’t changed. Sufferers typically are prescribed antidepressant medication and talk therapy.

Period. But at least 30 percent of depression sufferers aren’t helped by standard treatment. Instead, they are left still searching for true and lasting relief.  Empty success, shallow pleasures, and immediate gratification seem to dominate our culture more and more, so it’s time to ask: What really makes us happy?

"Unlike eastern meditation, which advocates detachment from the world, Christian meditation calls for attachment to God" 

According to the researcher Ed Diener, who was the first person to study happiness scientifically, its not money.

Diener compared people on the Forbe’s list of wealthiest Americans with the general population, and found that they were only slightly happier than average, with 37% being less happy than the average American. Looks like we might have been chasing the wrong things. All the research has shown that materialism depletes happiness, threatens satisfaction with our relationships, harms the environment, renders us less friendly, likable, and empathetic, and makes us less likely to help others and contribute to our communities.

” John 3:6 Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”…  1 John 2:16 …For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

We often look for happiness in the wrong places or blame bad luck in the genetic lottery for our misery, but through changing our thoughts and actions, we can all become happier. Once you realize that, happiness becomes a choice.

Are you willing to make it? With the use of meditation you will RESET your life and begin again with a model based on positive awareness, personal strength and spiritual success! You will:

1. Identify and delete from your life the cause of negative decisions you make on a daily basis
2. Learn why you let a bad mood run your day, why you focus on what’s wrong, rather than what’s right
3. Understand why when things don’t go your way you find yourself blaming others or beating yourself up
4. Learn to break the reaction patterns that control you, and replace them with calm objectivity.

The Christian meditation that we teach must be distinguished from the sort that we find in eastern religions or more recent new age fads. For example, unlike eastern meditation, which advocates emptying the mind, Christian meditation calls on us to fill our mind with God and his truth.

Nowhere in the Bible is the “mind”, per se, described as evil or unworthy of being the means by which God communicates with us. What the Bible does denounce is intellectual pride, but not the intellect itself. It is humility that we need, not ignorance.

I stand opposed to arrogant and cynical intellectualism. But that is not the same thing as using the mind God has given us, with the help of the Holy Spirit and the instruction of Scripture, to evaluate and discern and critically assess what is happening in both the church and the world. 

Thus, unlike eastern meditation, which advocates mental passivity, Christian meditation calls on us to be still and know.  This is nowhere better stated than by Paul in Philippians 4:8. Here he encourages us to “let our minds dwell on” whatever is “true,” “honorable,” “right,” “pure,” “lovely,” and of “good repute.”  

Unlike eastern meditation, which advocates detachment from the world, Christian meditation calls for attachment to God. If the believer disengages from the distractions and allurements of the world, it is in order that he/she might engage with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Christian meditation calls for acknowledgement of the reality already created by God. Unlike eastern meditation, which advocates metaphysical union with 'the universe', Christian meditation calls for spiritual communion with God.

Our meditation is an inner journey to find the center of one's being, Unlike eastern meditation, which advocates mystical transport as the goal of one's efforts, Christian meditation calls for moral transformation as the goal of one's efforts.