ADDICTED TO HAPPINESS. HOW OUR ADDICTION TO HAPPINESS RUINS OUR LIFE.

If your aim is to be 100% happy, 100% of the time, you can be 100% certain that you will fail into utter misery. We are constantly being fed ready-made recipes for happiness, impersonal visions of what happiness looks like, false idols of who we should be in order to be happy. We can grow from the darkness in our lives, as much as we grown from its light. Happiness comes from unexpected places and we should always be ready to embrace it. If we are blinded by these unreal visions of happiness, we might just let true happiness pass by unnoticed.
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The video 'ADDICTED TO HAPPINESS. HOW OUR ADDICTION TO HAPPINESS RUINS OUR LIFE' was recorded by Fr Seraphim Aldea from Mull Monastery (The Orthodox Monastery of All Celtic Saints), on the Isle of Mull, Scotland.

[@KaiAnneClews]

"Our modern happiness is boring and impersonal, and nothing impersonal comes from God." ❤

[@Rovinarul]

"Pride tries to imagine a world and live in it. Humility receives the world as God built it." Saint Sophrony of Essex

[@WittyComm3nter]

"Be happy that it's wind outside"... largest gust of wind in the whole video occurs immediately after. That made me happy haha

[@kevinmckay6815]

I'm addicted to these videos from Father S.

[@remahunt4277]

Kevin McKay Me tooTotally...

[@JasmineTheSaint]

Thank you, Father. My mother passed away last wednesday are we are trying to adjust with life without her.

[@razorrob73]

I'm so sorry, Jasmine. Have mercy Holy Trinity on her Mother's repose and memory, and through the intercession of the Heavenly kingdom, have mercy on Jasmine's family and dear friends, through this time of mourning. Thank you. Amen.

[@rockwall6]

I am not looking for happiness but for a meaningful life with a thankful heart towards God.

[@OmShaanti1111]

To everyone reading this: May the JOY of the Lord be on you. This is never dependent on your external circumstances, when Jesus resides in us, through His Spirit, we can find joy within even when we are crying outside. Happiness is fleeting and superficial, find your JOY in the Most High - rest in Him and His faithfulness. God bless you 🙏

[@shawnhampton8503]

This is so true. Our entire marketing, advertising, and social media is built on the false chase for "fun" or "happiness".

[@johnpaulhumphrey2981]

I hear this nowhere else. Thank you! As I head toward Orthodoxy, I forsee a stretch of desert, and there is the temptation to bow before the empty worldly "sacrament" of happiness, and stay in my current position where no one gets upset. Pray for me.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

I too heading towards Orthodoxy been in that desert for 20 plus years I see a patch of an Oasis not too far ahead but not quite there yet will be praying to say one for me and you'll be there too

[@PhoebeK]

Father, as ever your message is so pertinent. Through my struggles with mental heath problems I have learnt that the recipes for happiness bring the opposite for me. Rather as I have learnt about myself and discovered that I exist best in relation to God whatever the world thinks, I have found joy. I have also found that being able to identify as part of the Autistic community has given me the freedom to reject the prescribed expectations of the world and learn from some of the most joyous if in some ways most limited people it is possible to know. Small children and those with profound learning impairments tend to be the most joyous in my experience as they just take life as it comes and find the good things in every situation even if it is as little as a single flower in growing through a crack in the path or the song of a single bird. With finding my Joy in God happiness no longer matters as I can be filled with God's joy even when in the most difficult and painful times. I no longer care to be happy, I just want to be with my beloved God and share in the joy that relationship brings, everything else is secondary.

[@kaybrown4010]

I thank your grandparents for showing you what it’s like to be fully human, embracing everything wholeheartedly, with thanksgiving to God. May their memory be eternal. ☦️❤️

[@user-ts5wk3ed4x]

Exactly. We take those small moments of happiness in a hard and unjust life on Earth.

[@zane62135]

Thank you for this talk! I'm so burnt out in regards to technology and the internet, at this point it gives me literally no joy whatsoever. The only thing that gives me happiness is stepping outside and looking around. Enjoying the sun's rays hitting my face, hearing all sorts of sounds, watching stressed people drive around in their cars...it's actually amazing how much stuff there is to enjoy anywhere on earth, if you just put some effort into appreciating it.

[@prosperikiensikimama2957]

I needed this today. God bless you Father 🙏

[@raggedyman6327]

One cannot grow with perpetual happiness. Thankyou 🙏

[@atoadigi]

Let us all be given the grace to follow this Wisdom that comes from on high, and no longer follow the wisdom or spirit of this world, Amen!!!

[@miriam4091]

Happiness is in the simplicity we choose to have and do; not the artificial high much of the world gives us. Thankyou for this penetrating lesson! God bless from Canada.....

[@xAzurasKnightx]

Father Seraphim, you truly speaks the Water of Life. These words, though often showing me my true status, always give me a deep insight and hope and direction how to move on, on the narrow path. My our Lord bless you and the monastery again and again and again!

[@thehooksman]

Dear Fr. Seraphim, Thanks for your videos. They have enriched my spiritual life over the last year. I even found and purchased the book "Sayings of the Desert Fathers" that you were reading from in the video on being dead to the world. I'm a Lutheran pastor and I have been doing a study series during Lent for my congregation on the Desert Fathers. Thank you again, and may God continue to bless you and all at Mull.

[@Erstus]

It's amazing how at the exact moment in the end of the video, when he said to be happy about the wind, there was a loud gust of wind there to confirm its awesomeness.

[@cata2215]

Thank you again Father Seraphim! I have a card on my dresser that says “Embrace every experience you have in your life, good ones and bad ones.” I heard it on a travel program where the host was interviewing a nun at a Greek monastery. This was her “best advice” on “life”. It brought me to tears and true conviction that I don’t live my life this way. You have once again confirmed a deep secret from God. Lord have mercy! Help me.

[@tonysears7429]

God bless you .... . I always thank our Holy Trinity for your videos and your teaching ...... you hit the mark on every topic that allows self reflection and spiritual growth....you always leave me smiling..

[@gregoryblaska1586]

"Do the mad things of ascetical struggle while you still can" I just 'fell' upon this today with the luck of a KZbin draw.. I am not Orthodox, but I am extremely Orthodox-friendly. This astonishing homily / sermon just opened a rich vein of Understanding for me. Thank you, Father Seraphim, for placing yourself for His Word's use.

[@zzzaaayyynnn]

What a wonderful examination of our false goals: Father Seraphim has a way of diving into the core of the issue and bringing up pearls of wisdom.

[@GrayWithMe]

Beautiful sermon - this makes me think of Boethius - never be too dependent on Lady Fortune

[@zorangelev2117]

Before internet movies we're similar and had similar effects on our mind and soul, a lot expectations in live we became blind...

[@tamochiko]

Thank you father 😊 wish you all the best

[@franzseedorf8799]

This sermon has made me happy 😊

[@vivienne4686]

YESSSSS! Spot on! Father, you are a sword of truth!!!!! 🙏🏻

[@lizsalmon533]

Thank you Fr Seraphim once again for your message today. As a person going through a time of uncertainty about my life and direction, your message today has pressed home what is necessary for our growth. Praying for you and all at the monastery and all my brothers and sisters.

[@user-oh6fm7og8z]

Videos are aswome and very useful for us. Greeteng from Belgrade!

[@s.d.berquist6866]

Thank you, Fr. Seraphim

[@maryprochilo4498]

My moments of saddness brings me closer to God in prayer. When im feeling happy I get distracted in doing things and going places. It takes more effort to stay focused on The Lord when I'm busy in the world. Saddness is good for my restless soul. Love you, brother

[@annesmith9181]

This examination of “happiness” is so spot on. Simply brilliant. This Follower of Christ is a Master Speaker and magnificent communicator.

[@marieotu1612]

Awesome, teaching, Father, thank you..

[@SIEBEGORMEN]

Wonderful talks with a most impassioned delivery

[@GuydiscipleofJESUS]

Blessings in JESUS MIGHTY NAME 💜

[@vince3292]

👏👏👏 Brilliant Father! All Praise and Thanks to the Holy Spirit at work through your most valuable on point message ! ✔ Praise Be To God. 🙏🙏🙏

[@prypiat27]

Be content through the seasons, all of them, and give praise to the Lord for allowing us to read his word and pray to Him. Experiencing our undeserved grace from the Lord. Its matter of being thankful and content.

[@Owl365]

One of my priests, although I think he speaks beyond his own experience, talks of fulfillment as being the goal instead of a saccarine existence.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

I agree happiness comes from within. My troubles are self-sabotaging myself and believing I'm loved by certain people and considered family by these people when their actions are just the opposite I love not making plans unless along with God deny yourself daily and take up the cross

[@buffedtrainer1]

Nothing is more important than that you feel good, because when you're deliberatley choosing to feel good, then and only then can you connect and reunite yourself to God. God is pure positive energy and one of the ways to align yourself with that is through appreciation and through loving youraself enough to choose happiness. Happiness is anything but inpersonal.

[@danielwoldu1855]

Too much Happiness may lead to abnormal life .

[@cathy3130]

Fr. Seraphim, Thank you for this video. I loved listening to you talk about your grandparents. Hearing the passion in your voice talking about their lives was like receiving Jesus Christ as you described their lives. My grandparents (from a different country in Europe) gave to me an experience about their lives that blessed me with a down to earth and Spirit in Jesus Christ blessing. Forgive me for saying this (incase I'm not qualified to talk from my level of the laity to you, a Holy Monk)..."The blessed Trinity and the saints are among us through Jesus Christ". These days I take care of my mother, their daughter, and I am having blessings which I never expected to experience. I'm learning more about them from my mother. It is a beautiful blessing that I hope will continue even after her passing on to be with the Lord Jesus.

[@crystalbarnard3905]

Thank you, Father, for the moving reminder of where our true happiness is to be found. My day suddenly feels lighter and brighter! God bless you!

[@andrewklager1347]

Looks and sounds very windy there, Fr Seraphim ... I was wondering if that telephone pole in the window might topple over 🙂 This is such a beautiful message, Fr - I think it’s my favourite video you’ve made so far. You’ve given us such an important message that we all need to hear over and over again. It also connects nicely with my own current research and writing on how our false selves are constructed through our imitation of the desires of others, wherein we mistakenly think that we are our choices. Our true selves desire only God and union with Him, with Christ as our archetype of becoming human, which is only the continuation of our creation as humans from Genesis 1-2 until the point when Christ uttered, “It is finished,” while hanging on the cross that we’re all also called to take up and participate in. Thank you again for this beautiful teaching.

[@kidistiamaniel6524]

Father thank you for your Sharing this video with us as we Christian Orthodox yes we supposed to be happy amen amen amen thank you God for everything✝️✝️✝️

[@ruthshivani]

brilliant sharing .. thankyou

[@ChibiBoxing]

Amazing video, everytime I think I don't need to watch your video because I think is not directed to me, it makes such a great impact in myself...thank you so much.

[@thanasistama3943]

Good talk.

[@justinmihoc7691]

Resilience isn't born out of comfort and happiness, or through controlling every aspect of our life at all times. I often think about what makes one wise, and wisdom is indeed a goal in every society/time: it is to have lived experience rather than success and happiness. Very good video, Father. May the Lord keep you healthy and in peace to continue to teach and soothe souls.

[@Charlyfox1966]

THANK YOU father for these words they are very true,I can recognize this attitude about having to be constantly happy, So now i know why it feels wrong....I like the vision of true happiness you offer, like something i nearly had lost and forgotten. May God give also the strength and the trust in Him to embrace all facettes of life we may experience

[@emmap1159]

I love you Father. You make me smile.

[@katkat2340]

Amen Amen Amen

[@radamanthus]

Thank you, Father Seraphim. These videos are helping me immensely in my journey to Holy Orthodoxy

[@thomaslovell7861]

Once again, your spoken word cuts to the heart of things. Thank you for your continuing ministry. I pray Christ richly bless you today and every day. I will visit Mull if the Lord opens the way. Peace. Tom

[@JuliaJayATOP]

I want to flee the world...pray for me Father🙏🏼😇🕯☦️

[@BpGregor]

Thank you for your time Father Seraphim.

[@aleksandarstojkovic607]

Amen, father. Greetings from Serbia. Mention us in your prayers.

[@JuliaJayATOP]

Wonderful words of inspiration today father bless thank you 🙏🏼

[@melissadifini2190]

Amen . Thank you !

[@ftweedy5580]

Loved this !!!!! Thank you. Praying for you

[@InTheWind_]

I love the sound of the sea outside of your window. God is good!

[@daddycool228]

I can vouch for this in my life. Genuine wisdom.

[@johnmorrison8513]

Fr. Seraphim, thank you for your beautiful words regarding our obsession with being happy at all times. The thoughts you share are so helpful! Blessings to you!

[@zacharylowreyna]

Thanks for this Father. As someone who has struggled both with substance addiction and clinical depression it resonated closely with my heart. I was reminded of the Israelites at the foot of Sinai who preferring a ready-made solution chose the golden calf to the amorphous living God. It is very easy for me to fall into the belief that happiness is 1) a specific, ready-made thing which I simply lack and 2) the whole purpose of life. But this makes an idol out of happiness, not only blinding me to the small ways happiness surrounds me all the time, but worse, making me feel like I somehow lack something essential to life. In the end, this makes me miss that the living, undefinable God is waiting to fill me in a way that will superabundantly exceed my deepest hopes and longings. In elevating happiness to the highest good in life I constantly miss that God is calling out and dusting off the god within me. I trade the wonder of becoming god for a fleeting emotional state. True happiness--joy--comes not from attaining certain things or situations, but seeing even the most trying experiences as carefully planned hammer hits by the undefinable God working to uncover the true life in me.

[@heatherwhitehead3743]

One time someone challenged me to some philosophical debate. His stance was that the meaning in life is to be happy. Reaching nirvana here I suppose. I only know I am most happy when I am helping someone else. Thankyou for these Lenten talks Father.

[@ddixon172]

True lasting ,happiness only comes when you serve others putting their needs before your own.

[@ofirshorshy8281]

🙏🙏🙏That is a really good reminder. I do find ,yself cauth in this illusion of what I think is happiness and what would make me happy and I struggle for happiness. Thank you.

[@charmingSaint]

This morning when I woke my window was open and that's where my pillows are at and as I was laying in the morning birds were just starting to wake I thank God birds are singing love songs.

[@philstevenson6067]

Timely and beautiful words of wisdom.

[@tutuianualexandru9187]

Doamne ajuta, parinte Serafim. Desi in România avem atat de multi duhovnici plini de har, cuvântările dumneavoastră sunt minunate si atat de bine ne explicati problemele cotidiene in context duhovnicesc. Va rog mult daca nu va deranjeaza prea tare poate aveti un pic de timp in plus pe viitor sa ni le traduceti si in română. Binecuvântați parinte. Si mulțumesc mult.

[@jeridburleson2100]

Thank you father glory be to God.

[@deborahbrayton276]

Good to hear from you. Have a,blessed day...

[@rustysmalls]

Cultivating joy through spiritual practice, breaking free from the black hole of the ego is different to the ephemeral type of momentary happiness that feeds the ego. Our modern culture is filled with things that give us a happiness fix or drug as you say,, something that boosts our mood. Elevating our consciousness, that benefits everyone, not just ourselves, is the way to joy and peace

[@Aleksandr-Herman]

Great message.

[@Mary-ui4im]

So beautiful Father. Amen 🙏

[@marionsolace9646]

I was unhappy all my life until i met a guy who i overheard saying: "-im not happy, something is not right!". I then realised that feeling happy or not can be used as an indication to wether one shpuld stay in a situation or not. I had never been happy so unhappy was the norm for me. But after that i dont settle for less. His words resonated within me and i understood how deprived and misled i had been of this. My goal is to be happy!

[@janniemay4966]

I am glad you brought this up

[@charmingSaint]

Thank you For understanding me I'm not a happy person I'm a miserable person and I feel more comfortable now listening to you this was the most beautiful moment spending time with you and listening to you.

[@barbuciprian9823]

Sarutmana Parinte imi plac foarte mult postarile dvs , imi ating sufletul .Imi pare foarte rau ca nu stiu engleza .Am vazut ca ultimele postari nu au subtitrare in limba romana .Va rog din suflet ,nu stiu daca depinde de dvs ,puteti sa puneti subtitrare si in limba romana.Va multumesc si ma iertati! Maria Barbu

[@nps737]

Oh thank you father live fre amen

[@emilysimmons3529]

Both comforting and convicting at the same time. Thank you, Father!

[@rebeccamcgrath3748]

I can't believe how true this is!😫 Thank you for opening my mind to this. God bless you.

[@JJ-ik7zw]

Amen. The feeling of not being safe.

[@ak99]

Thank you Father! This changed my world for the better.. me praying to win the lotto has made me see I was mocking God.

[@philipjones369]

Thank you, Father, for all the well-defined points that slip the average thinker. We who believe and trust in the Lord and carrie out procedures reassuring our loyalty and love of Christ that we will live again through his sacrifice. We are under attack many times during the day and night even when we are sleeping. Dreams can be devilish? Joy I find is a better word to describe my feelings when I reach an equilibrium between good sounds and my belief in a God who is schooling me for another existence in the place prepared by our Lord. We have commandments to consider in as much as living a life that pleases our Father and not using our free will against his purpose and reasoning. It's easier to be happier without the daily problems that most people go through every day, like getting to work that something you don't have to do. It's a nightmare and when we get time to dream and dwell in good thoughts it's nice to find some happiness? Life is a struggle for many of us. I am pleased that there are still good disciples like yourself, breaking down the outer crust and finding the real purpose of it all. Shalom.

[@bdnl6268]

"I will lead her into the desert, and speak to her heart....."Hosea 2, 16 NAB.

[@socol76]

God bless you, I was really just wanting to find such information just now and here was the video right in front of me when I turned on KZbin!

[@alfredhitchcock45]

Amen

[@amberlynnlawrence7469]

Your videos always encourage me in the faith! Please keep making them!

[@parysethibodeau9474]

beautifully truthful Father!! thank you and God bless you and everyone at the Monastery!!

[@AbbyS933]

This is amazing!!!

[@maryzimmerman2699]

My oldest had a journaling gift for Christmas. All over it it has quotes that say things like "find your happy, do more of what makes you happy, you do you" and in the USA at least I feel these statements can be harmful. In the the way of disappointment and dissatisfaction with life I suppose. I mean if you take it as take a deep breath and enjoy the scenery on your way to work, then that's great. But living in a world of exceptable narcissistic practices and instant gratification. These phrases are not the bricks to build a strong productive adult.

[@EK-sz5no]

Wow!

[@ministeriumfurgutelaune5728]

Thank you!

[@marshabrubaker185]

Another excellent message. Blessings on you & the monastery.

[@SIEBEGORMEN]

Wonderful impassioned delivery

[@jameshutchins3396]

Truly this is the way. Bless you father +++

[@Grahzzyvtvlog]

Amazing video