Happiness?

Last night I watched the first episode of Kevin McLoud's 'Slumming it' (reviewed here). He spends two weeks living in a Mumbai slum famous because of Slumdog Millionaire. He went there because it seems to have been suggested that they have a stronger sense of community than many Western societies in spite of the high level of poverty.

I am also reading a book called 'The church of Facebook'. The first chapter talks about how the evidence from positive psychology is that one of the main keys to happiness is 'Connectedness' - the sense of being part of something bigger and connected in meaningful ways to other people.

The research a few years ago suggested that Generation Y felt that the purpose of life was to be happy. At the time I read an amazing book by Tobias jones called 'Utopian Dreams', In it he visits a number of communities to work out what makes then tick. His conclusion was that those who have faith at their heart are more successful.

Is it any surprise that human happiness is most likely to be found when we realise that we are designed for relationships?

New Year, New Resolve!

Well it's 2010 now and I have decided that it is time to blog more regularly. This is more of a personal blog but i will also post stuff on the SU Youth Blog, 'Gathering Crumbs' when the issue is directly related to youth & childrens work.

I have just returned from a fantastic few days on an SU holiday over New Year called Breakthrough. It was a real privilege to work with such a great team and have such a fun time seeing in the New Year with God. It was also great to see suchg a wide range of young people together. As i looked back on 2008 it was with considerable pain (check out my facebook notes if you want to know why) but also with a sense that I am not alone in this journey. God is with me and he has sent fantastic people to walk with me.

I have learnt to trust God more and my overriding lesson will be that God's plan never fails. As well as learning together we had a fab time with the hokey cokey on the beach at 1am on New Years Day and a paddle in the very cold North Sea. I had some great chats to people as well as lots of cake!

As well as sorting out equipment today I spent a great couple of hours sledging ( no thats not to do with cricket!)

The Sunday Times yesterday devoted its magazine to the question of happiness. You can read it here. I wonder if the key to happines is something to do with contentment? Paul says to Timothy that happiness with contentment is great gain and contrasts that with money. That will be my prayer for 2010 - to be content with whatever God sends to me.

Happy New Year