Satisfaction comes while dwelling in the spiritual realm

Have you ever felt on top of the world, like your present state of happiness would never disappear and nothing could destroy your peace? Almost everyone has felt that euphoria. Although you don't need to think a bomb is going to drop at any time, you must learn how to handle feelings of occasionally being "down in the dumps."

True depression needs to be treated without hesitation, but one shouldn't expect life always to be sunny without kinks either. It seems that people expect constant excitement. When you experience sadness without realizing a particular reason, you panic and grab a pill to assuage it all. If it's genuine depression, and the doctor prescribes it, by all means take something.

However, if what you're encountering is just a period of boredom, or you're dissatisfied with your life in general, you have to learn to deal with it and know that it's a normal state of being human.

Almost everybody has heard the clichés "turn a lemon into a lemonade" or "look for the good in every situation" and other positive advice when you're feeling blue. Sometimes you don't even know what's wrong. You ask, "Why am I feeling out of sorts and unhappy when nothing bad of any significance has occurred?" You dig deep within yourself to try to find the cause so you can shake yourself free from this uncomfortable depressing state. No one likes to experience these doldrums and dark times -- but we all do. Just remember, moods change.

Sometimes you think a new job will solve your emotional dilemma, making you feel more valuable and satisfied. Maybe living at a different location will help make things better. You've lost your emotional footing, and regardless of what compliments and support you receive from others, it doesn't seem to help. You're off balance. You pray and your prayers seen to go unanswered. You ask, "Where are you, God?"

Perhaps you've attained all your goals and desires in this life, "So what's wrong with me?" you question. Years ago, people certainly must have been bored. Many lived in the back country on a plot of land called a farm. They struggled day after day with little reward -- and not much entertainment. What did they do to keep going on? They worked hard deriving meaning from what they did, but occasionally, that became uninteresting too.

Women knitted, gardened, sewed, cooked and performed household chores. Men worked and hunted, among other activities. Most knew they couldn't change their circumstances, so they altered their attitude and determined to find things to fill the time and find fulfillment.

I'm sure those people felt sad, despondent and as life had little to offer sometimes, and most refrained from taking a pill. They just felt sad awhile, knowing it was a passing mood. We've become too pleasure-oriented on a constant basis. If one is forced to come down from his elevated frame of mind, he wonders why. Why can't he stay on top of his mountain? It's really a part of being human.

This world isn't our permanent home. We always will be restless until we find peace in God. Regardless of how one tries to fill his void or cure his sadness, nothing else can work permanently. Once he thinks he has it all, he finds he's wrong. His real home lies beyond the sunset, within a place he's yet to visit.

You'll have bouts of happiness and contentment, but you'll only be genuinely gratified when you're dwelling in the spiritual realm. The Catholic Catechism (27) says, "God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for." St. Augustine reiterates with, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You." (The Confessions)

Ellen Shuck holds degrees in psychology, religious education and spiritual direction and provides spiritual direction to people at her office.