Reflection & Prayer Prompts

The Psychology of Happiness

Personal Reflection Questions

Take time to sit with these questions. They're invitations to honest self-assessment and growth.

1. Are you living or waiting? Have you been postponing happiness to "someday"—when you graduate, when you get the job, when you find the relationship, when the kids are older? What would it mean to create happiness now, not later?

2. Where do you compare yourself to others? Social media, friends' lives, colleagues' success—where does comparison steal your joy? What would change if you only measured yourself against your own growth and goals?

3. What are you giving? Not just money—time, service, attention, kindness. Where are you actively giving? If giving produces happiness, how might you increase it?

4. What fills you up relationally? Who are the people who actually energize and fulfill you? Are you prioritizing time with them, or letting other demands crowd them out?

5. What's your calling? Not just your job—what makes you come alive? What contribution do you want to make? If you don't know, what might help you discover it?

6. Where has negative thinking become a habit? What's the running commentary in your head? Is it hopeful and proactive, or is it defeating and closed? How might shifting your thinking change your experience of life?

7. What are you grateful for—right now, specifically? Not generically. Specifically. Can you name 10 things? 20? Do you take time to notice and savor them?

8. What do you do just for fun? Not for pay, not for recognition, not for anyone else. What makes you lose track of time? When did you last do it?

Guided Prayer Language

Use these prayers as they are, or let them guide you into your own words.

A Prayer for Shifting from Surviving to Thriving

God, for a long time I've focused on surviving—managing pain, getting through, keeping my head above water. And that was necessary. But I sense you inviting me to something more.

Help me shift from surviving to thriving. Show me what abundant life looks like—not circumstantially perfect, but genuinely full. Help me believe that happiness isn't just for other people, but that you designed me for it too.

Give me wisdom to know which practices need attention. Give me courage to try new things—to give more, compare less, connect deeper, think differently. One step at a time.

I don't want to just exist. I want to flourish. Show me the way.

Amen.

A Prayer of Gratitude

God, I confess I spend more time noticing what's missing than what's present. I compare, I envy, I want what I don't have—while taking for granted what I do have.

Teach me gratitude. Not just saying "thank you" but feeling it. Help me see the gifts that are already here—the people, the opportunities, the simple goodness of an ordinary day.

Right now, I'm grateful for: [Name 3-5 things specifically]

Help me make this a practice, not just a moment. Train my eyes to see blessing. Train my heart to savor it. Let gratitude become my default, not my exception.

Thank you for everything I've taken for granted. Help me take nothing for granted.

Amen.

A Prayer About Calling

God, I want my life to matter. I want to do something meaningful—something that contributes to your purposes and uses what you've put in me.

But I'm not always sure what that is. Sometimes I'm just getting through the day, and purpose feels distant.

Show me my calling. Help me notice when I come alive—what activities, what contributions, what kinds of work make me feel like I'm doing what I was made for.

And if I'm already living my calling and don't recognize it, open my eyes. Maybe what I'm doing matters more than I realize. Maybe meaning is here, and I just haven't seen it.

Use me, God. For your purposes, for others' good, and for my deep fulfillment. Help me find where those three things meet.

Amen.

A Prayer for Letting Go of Comparison

Lord, I'm tired of measuring myself against everyone else. I scroll through their highlight reels and feel like my life is worse. I hear about their accomplishments and feel like I'm behind. I compare, and I always lose.

Help me stop. Help me examine my own life, my own growth, my own goals—without the constant reference to others. Help me be inspired by people without being diminished by them.

You didn't make me to be anyone else. You made me to be me. Help me walk my own path, not constantly looking sideways to see if I'm keeping up.

Set me free from comparison. Let me find my worth in you, not in where I rank.

Amen.

Optional Journaling Prompts

If you want to process further, try writing in response to one or more of these:

1. Write about a time you achieved something you wanted and discovered it didn't make you happy. What did you expect? What actually happened? What did you learn about where happiness comes from?

2. Make a list of 20 things you're grateful for. Push past the easy ones. Get specific. Include people, moments, small pleasures, surprising blessings.

3. Describe your "someday" life. What have you been waiting for before you let yourself be happy? Then ask: what would it mean to bring some of that forward to now?

4. Write about someone who seems genuinely happy. Not perfect circumstances—genuinely flourishing. What practices do you observe in how they live?

5. Imagine you had complete freedom to design your life around your calling. What would you do? How would you spend your days? What does that fantasy reveal about what your heart actually wants?

6. Audit your giving. Where do you give time, money, or service? Is it enough? Where could you give more? How does giving affect you?

7. Write about what comparison costs you. How much mental energy do you spend measuring yourself against others? What would that energy produce if you redirected it to your own growth?

A Final Word

Happiness isn't a destination you arrive at someday. It's a garden you cultivate now.

The research is clear: the biggest factor in your happiness isn't what happens to you—it's how you live. The practices are simple. They're not secrets. They're choices available to you today.

Give. Connect. Be grateful. Think well. Pursue purpose. Learn. Play. Forgive. Set boundaries. Live in the present. Take responsibility for your own flourishing.

You weren't made just to survive. You were made for abundance, joy, and meaning. That life isn't somewhere else. It's cultivated here, in the practices you choose.

What will you cultivate?