Chapter 15: Miserable or Joyful?
The Daily Misery Index is a graph that identifies the most miserable days. The data was gathered from the frequency of Google searches for the words—pain, anxiety, stress, fatigue, depression—for every day for a year. (I tried to copy the graph here, but it would not let me. Click the link to see it.)
If you can envision the graph in your mind, the months are in columns across the top--January to December. A scale from 50 (less miserable) to 100 (more miserable) is calibrated on the lefthand side. A black curvy line starts in January at 65 and goes up and down, according to the data, to end at December at about 65. A blue line shows the raw data. It looks like a seismograph, measuring earthquakes, going up and down across the graph. The least least miserable days of the year are New Year’s Day, the Saturday after Valentine’s Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Day is the least of the least miserable days.
The data shows that summer months are less miserable than winter. The explanation for this statistic is that darker, colder months cause more depression. It’s scientific name is seasonal affected disorder. A psychiatrist who reviewed the graph said: “It’s been shown pretty clearly that as daylight decreases, starting in the fall, people will have more feelings of depression and anxiety. If they are feeling depression and anxiety, they will report stress.”
But why then, when December is a cold, dark month, should there be “a pronounced dip in depression, anxiety, and stress?” One explanation is that the negatives of cold, dark, and out-of-control busy is offset by what experts call “holiday-induced euphoria.” And we assume obvious reasons for holiday-induced euphoria such as the giving and receiving of gifts, the giving and receiving of service, the focus on the birth of Jesus Christ, and the fun tradition of Santa Claus.
The opposite of the Daily Misery Index could be summed up in the Christmas song, “Joy to the World,” and looking at the graph, there is joy to be had. But since no one googles joy on a joy-filled day, we could use General Conference as our Joy Index.
In the recent October General Conference, 2016, there were thirty-eight talks. In twenty-four, the word joy was spoken at least once. In total, joy was used 127 times and we sang, “Now Let Us Rejoice.” You might say that joy was a theme.
Two talks oozed joy. President Russell M. Nelson used joy fifty-two times, and Elder Dale G. Renlund, the newest apostle, used joy 18 times. What we learn about joy in these two talks may explain how this December can be an even more joy-filled month.
President Nelson’s talk, “Joy and Spiritual Survival,” classifies joy as a “principle that is key to our spiritual survival.” President Nelson said, joy “is a principle that will only become more important as the tragedies and travesties around us increase.”
He spoke of frightening last-days prophecies and said, “None of us should be surprised when we see prophecy fulfilled…. As conflicts between nations escalate, as cowardly terrorists prey on the innocent, and as corruption in everything from business to government becomes increasingly commonplace… what can help each of us with our personal struggles and with the rigorous challenge of living in these latter days?” He summarized: “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang...).
In Elder Renlund’s talk: “Repentance, a Joyful Choice,” he quoted President Boyd K. Packer. “The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … It just heals, and what it heals stays healed. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, [the Savior] has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. … The Atonement … can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/repentance-a-joyful-choice?lang...).
President Nelson taught: “Joy comes from and because of [Jesus Christ]. He is the source of all joy.” And Elder Renlund taught that joy comes when we repent, which also gives joy to the Savior.
Given the choice, would anyone choose misery?
(c) Marilynne Todd Linford, 2018
If you can envision the graph in your mind, the months are in columns across the top--January to December. A scale from 50 (less miserable) to 100 (more miserable) is calibrated on the lefthand side. A black curvy line starts in January at 65 and goes up and down, according to the data, to end at December at about 65. A blue line shows the raw data. It looks like a seismograph, measuring earthquakes, going up and down across the graph. The least least miserable days of the year are New Year’s Day, the Saturday after Valentine’s Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Day is the least of the least miserable days.
The data shows that summer months are less miserable than winter. The explanation for this statistic is that darker, colder months cause more depression. It’s scientific name is seasonal affected disorder. A psychiatrist who reviewed the graph said: “It’s been shown pretty clearly that as daylight decreases, starting in the fall, people will have more feelings of depression and anxiety. If they are feeling depression and anxiety, they will report stress.”
But why then, when December is a cold, dark month, should there be “a pronounced dip in depression, anxiety, and stress?” One explanation is that the negatives of cold, dark, and out-of-control busy is offset by what experts call “holiday-induced euphoria.” And we assume obvious reasons for holiday-induced euphoria such as the giving and receiving of gifts, the giving and receiving of service, the focus on the birth of Jesus Christ, and the fun tradition of Santa Claus.
The opposite of the Daily Misery Index could be summed up in the Christmas song, “Joy to the World,” and looking at the graph, there is joy to be had. But since no one googles joy on a joy-filled day, we could use General Conference as our Joy Index.
In the recent October General Conference, 2016, there were thirty-eight talks. In twenty-four, the word joy was spoken at least once. In total, joy was used 127 times and we sang, “Now Let Us Rejoice.” You might say that joy was a theme.
Two talks oozed joy. President Russell M. Nelson used joy fifty-two times, and Elder Dale G. Renlund, the newest apostle, used joy 18 times. What we learn about joy in these two talks may explain how this December can be an even more joy-filled month.
President Nelson’s talk, “Joy and Spiritual Survival,” classifies joy as a “principle that is key to our spiritual survival.” President Nelson said, joy “is a principle that will only become more important as the tragedies and travesties around us increase.”
He spoke of frightening last-days prophecies and said, “None of us should be surprised when we see prophecy fulfilled…. As conflicts between nations escalate, as cowardly terrorists prey on the innocent, and as corruption in everything from business to government becomes increasingly commonplace… what can help each of us with our personal struggles and with the rigorous challenge of living in these latter days?” He summarized: “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/joy-and-spiritual-survival?lang...).
In Elder Renlund’s talk: “Repentance, a Joyful Choice,” he quoted President Boyd K. Packer. “The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … It just heals, and what it heals stays healed. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, [the Savior] has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. … The Atonement … can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/repentance-a-joyful-choice?lang...).
President Nelson taught: “Joy comes from and because of [Jesus Christ]. He is the source of all joy.” And Elder Renlund taught that joy comes when we repent, which also gives joy to the Savior.
Given the choice, would anyone choose misery?
(c) Marilynne Todd Linford, 2018
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