Looking out for number one

“Happy people [are] more likely to demonstrate more empathy and are willing to donate more money to others in need. When we are happy, we are less self-focused. Looking out for number one is more characteristic of sadness than of well-being.” (Psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman in his book, Authentic Happiness, p. 43)


I read that today and it just struck a chord within me.  We live in a society where everyone seems to advocate "looking out for number one".  We throw things away instead of using them.  We break something and we "just have" to buy a new one.  We all own TV's and computers and hi tech equipment that we "just have to have".  Seems to me that we are so involved with collecting things, that it is easy to forget what we are really here for.  It is easy to forget that those things don't matter in the least.  That there are many, many amazing gifts in our lives that are not things.  I have learned in my life that I am happiest when I lose myself in the care of others.  When I place others before myself.  I am happiest when He uses me for His purposes.  When something I do is what someone else needed.  I am most content when I remember to use my hands in doing His will.  In helping His children.  When I use my heart for love and kindness.  I am most happy when "number one" takes a back seat to my family and friends.  I like to remember the six Be's from Gordon B. Hinckley.

• Be Grateful
• Be Smart
• Be Clean
• Be True
• Be Humble 
• Be Prayerful

"Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves." 
— Gordon B. Hinckley


So today, let us try just a little harder to make the burden a little lighter for someone else.  Let us be just a little better than we were before.  Let us put aside our complaints and find the things we have to be grateful for.  Let us be, just a little more like Him.