Not Happy

I don’t think emunah is the solution to feelings of unhappiness. I think figuring out the source of the unhappiness and changing it is the solution.

You mentioned love for Hashem. As I understand it, one of the main aspects of the spiritual derech of Chabad is to meditate on the greatness of G-d, which leads you to feel love and awe of Him, and to therefore be happy and enthusiastic in your avodas Hashem. You might look for Chabad meditation resources, whether through their main website or people like R’ Dovber Pinson.

Those are all excellent ideas, yytz.

Personally when I’m feeling down I love to play guitar. Davening with a lot of kavanah also helps- focus on every word and don’t be afraid to fall behind. Sleep is also very important, as is taking a walk or exercising every day.

Recently, I’ve taken on a minhag by the arizal of making a declaration every morning to perform the mitzvah dioraisa of ve’ahavta le’reiecha Kamocha. This gets me in the right state of mind, and focused to really love my all jews i interact with, and help them out, in any way possible, be it a kind word or tzedakah.

Another good thing is to find a hobby, like learning a language, knitting, or playing an instrument to make your time more fulfilling.

In my experience with many, many people, it is much more often that unhappiness leads to a lack of Emunah than the other way around.

Happiness/Unhappiness comes from within, it is not related to outside factors.

We all know people who have a seemingly good life, health, parnassa, kids, happy marriage etc.. and yet they are miserable. On the other hand we all know people who have many challenges in life, and yet they’re happy, they are mekabel yesurim be’ahava.

We create our own misery with our thinking – with the way we perceive our reality. Some people perceive the cup as half-empty, others perceive it as half-full.

Our thoughts create our reality.

Emunah is one of the tools with which we can influence our thought process. If we truly believe that everything is orchestrated from above, and whatever Hashem does is good, we won’t feel the urge to fight Hashem’s decrees. When we relinquish control, and allow Hashem to do his job, we gain inner peace, and that’s the key to happiness.

When we find menuchas hanefesh within, we don’t need to change anything on the outside.

Were you unhappy before you started reading the coffeeroom?

I googled “does internet usage cause depression?”. It seems that numerous studies show that it does.

newcommer: Try mindfulness exercises. When you do things, pay close attention to what you are doing (like doing dishes or folding laundry, or even when you are getting dressed.) When you do these things, don’t think about the past. Don’t think about the future. Just pay close attention to what is going on in the present moment. It may be difficult at first, but if you keep trying, it will do wonders.

And like others said, it’s important to figure out what it is that is disturbing you. Some things are obviously beyond our control. Some people live with others who cause them to be depressed. And one must learn how to live with that without it bringing them down. Sometimes a person’s own belief system causes them to bring depressed, when in reality they have a belief that is all wrong.

add some humor to your life! Learn to laugh at the simple things that come your way, even if they seem “not funny”. Thing about all the happy things that come your way- all day long. Focus on them. Happiness is an active occupation-

you must try to make yourself happy.

And Emunah will guide you through it all- and release the source of stress and unhappiness within you.

But you have to be the one trying to create a happiness within yourself!