The Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology of Happiness

It is 2008, it is my 16th wedding anniversary, and I am walking into the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray for a miracle. I am about to turn in my letter of resignation from a dream job in Washington, DC. I am about to give up a forty percent raise, wonderful friends, and the best parish I have ever joined. So, I make my way past various side chapels until I find the statute of Our Lady of Sorrows. I kneel down. I am in tears. I pray for a last-minute miracle.

Why am I resigning? As much as I love DC, my wife hates DC. So, months ago, I began to pray that God somehow would change her mind. I’m praying, praying, but nothing changes at all.

Eventually, after a couple months with no results, I say to my wife, “Honey, I’ve been really praying for you that you can grow to love Washington DC. I just want to let you know. I’ve been praying every day for that.” And she says, “Well, that’s interesting. Have you asked God what God wants?” My first thought was, “No. I haven’t done that.” Next, I thought, “I don’t want to ask God what God wants. What if God wants me to go back to Los Angeles? That’s the last thing I want.” I was afraid to pray. But after maybe three weeks, I thought, “God is all knowing and all loving, and maybe I should check-in with God just to see.”

So, I finally prayed to ask God what God wanted. I pretty much came to conviction right away that my family ought to move back to Los Angeles.

I’d like to tell you that when I got back to Los Angeles, I was a happy camper, and that everything was going great. But that would be a lie. In fact, I was miserable and dejected, missing my friends and missing lots of things about DC.

So, I did what every scholar would do with a serious question. I googled, “how to be happier.”

Continued below.