--Baltasar Gracian

Having things to look forward to is a major source of happiness, and most of us receive more gratification from the anticipation of things than we do from actually acquiring them.  Once we achieve a long sought goal, instead of feeling satisfied, most of us turn our attention to the next item along our road of desire. Some people are obsessed with the desire to possess enough wealth and status to guarantee them happiness.  This is a foolish notion.  There is not enough wealth and status in the entire world to make even one person happy, if that person cannot be happy without it.  If we want to be happy we must accept the fact that happiness is a journey, not a destination. 

The journey through life has its ups and downs, and none of us can be happy all the time.  But, if we don't find at least some happiness on a regular basis, then it is unlikely that we will find happiness at the end of the journey.  We may think that, if we just had more possessions and status, or fewer problems, we would be happy.  But we wouldn't.  It is foolish to look forward to the day when we will have no major problems to make us unhappy, because that day will never arrive in most of our lives. 

Happiness is more of an attitude toward life than it is the result of acquisitions or accomplishments. Some of us think that we need to identify and eliminate the causes of our unhappiness.  But, no matter how many perceived causes of our unhappiness are eliminated, we will still be unhappy unless we change our attitude and begin trying to be happy no matter what happens to us.  Abraham Lincoln said, "People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Probably no true r words were ever spoken. Unless we make up our minds to be happy, no matter what the circumstances of our lives, we will probably never find happiness. 

The road to happiness is the same road that we travel in our day-to-day lives.  We don't need to search for some exotic special highway that will take us to happiness.  It is the way we think and act as we travel the road of life that determines whether or not we will be happy.  If we are not finding happiness during the early part of our journey, we need to change our attitude instead of pinning our hope on finding happiness farther down the road. .        

Copyright 2014 Allen W. Smith

TB-118—Posted 07/08/2014

NOTE:  Please feel free to download these essays and reproduce them for others.  If a particular essay seems to be especially helpful to you, please pass it on to as many people as possible.  Thank you!