Is Your HappyLite On?

As we head into the dark of winter, many of us will grab for a full-spectrum fluorescent lamp to give us a balanced, glare-free bright light, thereby cheering us during those long winter days. Not a bad idea. Most of us, like Job, could use a little more light in our lives.

It was a dark day for Job.

So black, in fact, that this unhappy old man sat right down on a heap of dung — a mound of manure.

Job’s losses were painful and depressing. His entire family was lost, and all his animals, all his tents, all his wealth and worldly goods, even his health, were lost — all gone.

He was caught unaccountably, unexpectedly, in a snare of despair, despondency and desolation.

We’ve all been there, to some degree. We’ve felt a similar loneliness, a comparable isolation and a certain lack of motivation. And we ask the same question that Job asked — “Why me?”

There are no doubt times when we, too, feel as though the bulb of happiness has burnt out. When this happens, people who know about such things tell us to exercise more, out-of-doors if possible, indoors if necessary.

We should also allow more light into our lives at work and at home, we’re told. Open the windows and doors, pull back the curtains, raise the shades. In classrooms, restaurants, at home or the office,...