Happiness is being content

President David O. McKay often quoted William George Jordan: "Happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is the warm glow of a heart at peace with itself."

Happiness is a state of being contented or satisfied. But sometimes it’s hard to be content and satisfied — to have enough. There will always be a newer watch, a more powerful computer, a fancier car or closet organizer. But you can never get enough of what you don’t need, because what you don’t need never satisfies. We spend money we don’t have to buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like who don’t come over and get impressed anyway.

President McKay further said that "to seek happiness or even contentment in the acquisition of . . . worldly things alone is to lose sight of the higher purpose of life. And that is one reason why there is discouragement and why there is despair generally in the world."

Source: Godliness with Contentment, Mary Ellen Edmunds