September 23, 2011

Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen is a happy guy who’s actually been criticized for smiling too much. In “Every Day a Friday”, he shares what’s behind that smile and why he is so positive.  One of the first things he tells readers is that we choose whether or not to be happy.  Feelings are not something done to us, rather it's something we choose to experience. 

He understands we don’t have control over everything that happens to us, however, he points out that we always have control over our reactions and how we respond.  By not responding to the negative, we’re freeing up energy to focus on the positive and the things that truly matter in our lives. ( Some of these ideas are very similar to the advice Joyce Meyer gives in “Battlefield of the Mind” and "Living beyond your feelings".)

Osteen wants his readers to not let their days become 'downers' because of other people.  He encourages us to remember that we can’t change people and not all of them will like us, so we have to be careful to not let their actions impact our happiness.  If we view ourselves as children of God and focus on that, negative opinions of others will have less of an impact.   We'll never please anyone, so we shouldn't use our energy trying!

Overall, he offers a lots of great tidbits in the book, which lead to heavy highlighting on my part!  He references Colossians 3:2, which is about setting our minds on things "above" (meaning spiritual things). By doing this, we’re simply not leaving space for the negative in our lives.  To hold on to your happiness, remember that today is the only guarantee you have.  Once it’s gone, you won’t get it back, so don’t waste it on the negative.  

Disclaimer: I received this book from free from the publisher.

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