How To Find The Source Of Happiness & Love

It’s a common belief that humans aren’t designed to receive love from only one person.

People who rely on one source for their happiness often end up feeling disappointed and frustrated. For example, they may have frustrations with their parents or partners over what they’re doing wrong or not doing at all. These arguments arise because they have deep needs that are not being fulfilled. No one person can fulfill all of our needs or meet all of our expectations.

Many people also have a limited understanding of what love truly means. Love isn’t about finding someone to make us feel less lonely, more special, or complete. It’s about sticking by people and believing in the best version of them, especially during their most difficult moments. You can learn more about this in the article “What is Love? And How Does It Feel?“

Ultimately, we are all made to receive love from both God and our community. One person alone cannot provide us with all the love we need.

The truth is we are ALL made to receive love from God and our community. One person just can’t do it for anyone.

How to Find Multiple Sources of Happiness and Joy

1. Learn to love yourself: You were created as a beam of joy, love, and light. Loving who you are will bring joy to your life that overflows into everything you do.
2. Prayer and meditation: Connecting with God and asking Him to fill you with an abundance of His love, joy, and happiness will cause your cup to overflow with gladness.
3. Mindfully schedule fun: It’s important that your mind isn’t always focused on negativity, serving others, and tasks. Take time to treat yourself kindly and pamper yourself.
4. Release your worries: Try not to focus on things you can’t control. Pray about it and ask God to intervene, then allow Him to work. Worries of this world can cause you to feel dark and heavy with grief.
5. Surround yourself with love: Identify the people who make you feel loved and happy, and make an effort to spend more time with them. If your family and friends are not able to provide this kind of support, consider joining support groups, bible studies, friendship circles, book clubs, or any other community that allows you to interact with a diverse group of people who can help uplift you emotionally.
6. Start a new hobby: Learning something new can give you an adrenaline rush and help boost your mood. Hobbies can include singing, dancing, sewing, swimming, running marathons, climbing, and more. Finding a new hobby can also give you a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment as you develop new skills and interests.

What happens when we receive love from one source?

1. We may develop the God Complex, believing that we can be everything to someone and make them feel loved. However, the truth is that if they have never felt loved before, they will eventually feel that way with you too. Read more in Is The God Complex Hurting Your Relationships?
2. You may feel bitter. We may grow bitter with our loved one and feel that they aren’t loving us the way we want to be loved. However, they may not be able to meet all our needs for love.
3. You may feel alone. You may feel alone when your partner is not able to be there or comfort you in the way you need, leaving you feeling lonely. Everyone comforts and thinks differently, which is why having a community of support is important. You may need someone with a different style when going through different types of situations.
4. You may have unhealthy expectations. We may develop unhealthy expectations, expecting one person to do things they are not capable of. For example, expecting a spouse to watch love movies with us when they can’t stand them. That’s where friends can come in to fill some of our needs if our partner doesn’t enjoy the same things as us. Read 5 Ways To Avoid Unhealthy Romantic Expectations to understand this topic further.
5. We may learn to cover the pain we feel. We may learn to cover up the pain we feel, using a person to fill our pain like a drug that makes every problem go away. However, this doesn’t fix anything in the long run.

It’s not healthy to rely on one source for happiness. Toxic relationships can develop when we expect to give or receive love in an unhealthy way. No one should expect another person to meet all their needs or fill the voids in their life. Similarly, it’s not fair to expect anyone to provide all the love that we may be missing or craving.

Related Article: The Single Girl’s Guide To Finding Real Love

Where were we meant to receive love?

Can you hear God’s love for you through a child? Can you feel God’s love for you through a police officer deciding not to give you a ticket? Will you allow God to protect you when you felt that nudge not to drive down the street that later had a lot of traffic?

The source of love is God, and He created the whole world. If we allow God to speak to us through His creation, we will experience unlimited happiness and love. The source of happiness is learning how to hear and feel God through His creation.

I feel God’s love through compliments that I need that day from strangers. I hear God’s voice through people that say exactly what I needed to hear that day. I experience the source of happiness when I meet people that can understand me or enjoy life with me.

I believe humanity is God’s gift to the earth. In fact, God gave Adam a partner (Eve) because He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” (Genesis 2:18) Did God intend for Adam to only feel love from Eve? I don’t think so. I believe God gave them the ability to reproduce because He knew more people meant more beautiful experiences on Earth. Therefore, He also gave them a command, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” (Genesis 1:28)

Related QUIZ: Do you know how to receive love?

When God created Adam and Eve, He created the beginning of a family system. The multiplication of Adam & Eve’s DNA would eventually lead to aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, grandfathers, grandmothers, neighbors, and friends.

Ultimately, Eve was a gift to Adam. Eve would continue to bring gifts to Adam by providing an immediate family, extended family, and community to engage with. Isn’t this a beautiful picture of how God loves humanity? That He would bring humanity to the earth… for us to simply be in community with?

At this point, you may be saying it’s not safe to do a relationship with everyone on Earth – that is absolutely true. However, God never intended for toxic behaviors or relationships. God actually wanted to correct this issue when He came to Earth in human form (Jesus Christ). He wanted to show people how to access real love – connection with Himself and people.

My Testimony

Receiving Compliments from Men

Initially, I sought validation from men’s compliments to feel beautiful, worthy, and amazing. Compliments from friends or family didn’t have the same impact on me. In fact, most compliments didn’t hold much weight, and I often doubted their sincerity… except when it came from a man who showed me romantic attention.

I realized, I didn’t know how to receive love. And, I ended up in relationships with men that didn’t know how to receive love either. They needed to play a “protector” or “savior” role in my life, they need to feel needed. And, I needed to play a “mothering” role in their life to feel loved. We both needed to do something to feel loved.

But, when I didn’t need a protector or savior any longer, the men I dated became insecure and felt unloved. The truth is, I was their only source of love. Eventually, I was healed and didn’t need that sort of broken love. So, my ex- wasn’t interested anymore because He didn’t feel needed or loved. I felt worthless because I couldn’t do anything to make him love me.

Then, I learned that I was NEVER suppose to make anyone feel loved. And, in healthy relationships two people feel loved without each other. Together, it’s dynamic because your individual cups are filled and romantic love makes it overflow!

Receiving Compliments from Students

I had to learn to be loved by God. I’m a school teacher, and the kids would express their love for me often… But, I could never take it to heart. One day, a student flips around a gift on my desk that read, “The Best Teacher Ever” and the student said, “You know this is true right?” I smiled and brushed it off. In my next class, another student did the SAME thing. IT WAS SO WEIRD!

I realized, that it was God trying to speak to me. God wanted to show me I was loved. Usually, when I don’t appreciate or truly take to heart a compliment from someone… Someone unrelated says the same thing. God keeps having people repeat the same thing till I get it. Just last week, I HATED my hair and God sent almost everyone and strangers to tell me, “I love you hair.“

Or, someone said yellow really brings out my eyes. I thought they were just trying to say something nice so I ignored it. Two other people that didn’t hear the conversation said the same thing. I can give you countless stories of compliments I didn’t take to heart, that others repeated. And, I’m sure you can too!

Can you take a compliment? What is God trying to tell you? Are you receiving the love that God is trying to give you?

Related Article: 10 Emotional Needs That Destroy Relationships!

How do you have the GREAT relationships God meant for you?

We all attract amazing people and then that fire quickly fizzles out as conflicts arise, this is an issue. We must learn how to address conflicts, so we can keep amazing people in our lives.

• You must learn to love people. Learn to love people beyond their flaws. Try to stick out friendships and go through hard things with the other person. Continually try to love them too much. Then, have difficult conversations to help them understand you and love you better. If the person is difficult and abusive, love them from a distance or with boundaries.
• You are not meant to be alone. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?” – Ecclesiastes 4:9

Related Article: 6 Signs That You’re In an Abusive Relationship!

9 Bible Verses To Have Great Relationships:

• Romans 13:8: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
• 1 Corinthians 16:14: “Do everything in love.”
• Proverbs 3:3-4: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”
• 1 John 4:16: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Related Article: 7 Reasons Why Advice Isn’t Working For You (Romantic + Friends)!

• Ephesians 4:2: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
• 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
• John 15:12: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
• 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”