Happiness is a Choice

If you're depressed, it's your fault. Maybe it's because you're an unrepentant sinner. Or maybe it's because you refuse to recognize the goodness of the gospel in your life. Or maybe it's both.

For some people happiness is a choice, but that is not universal. People with chemical imbalances in their brains or mental illness don't have much of a choice, yet they are confronted with this poisonous mindset by well-meaning members at church on a frequent basis. A common misconception is that changing one's attitude will change the way his brain works.

This attitude is subtly (or not-so-subtly) reinforced when happy people bear their testimonies about how they choose to be happy, and therefore thy know everybody can choose to be happy; when stories of pioneers who never complained are shared and discussed; when discouraged missionaries are told to "forget themselves and go to work"; etc.