Have you searched for and grasped at happiness and found it fleeting and inconsistent? Are you tired of the effort, disappointment and frustration? Perhaps you’ve already come to the same conclusion I have, that happiness is just not for you, that, indeed, it was never meant for you. Now, before you jump to conclusions here, keep reading to see what I mean.

We are all different, doing different things, living different lives, coming to this point in time, right now as you read these words from different trajectories with different backgrounds and circumstances. So why do we think we all need to do the same things, look the same way, act like everyone else and live the same lives? The obvious answer is that we don’t!

Have you heard of the parable of the long spoons? It goes something like this: A man was once taken on a tour of hell and was surprised by what he saw …

True spirituality cannot be developed in a vacuum. It cannot be exercised in isolation. To me, spirituality is connecting with the divine and letting that connection change us inside, so that we become something different than we were before the connection.

It’s perfectly fine to want more income or less weight, a higher degree or lower blood pressure, to overcome a habit or start a new one. But when we start stacking one accomplishment on top another on a foundation of sand, life becomes off-centered, unstable, and eventually comes tumbling down. All it takes is one good storm and we’re belly-up on the beach. This is when a firmer foundation is important.

Happiness is the byproduct of other things. It is the natural effect of the way we live, the way we think, the way we act and believe. Come take the Happiness Pledge as a commitment to those characteristics that add to happiness and start the process of living with more joy than ever before.

Are you happy? Really happy? Do you want to be? Most of us have at least had moments of happiness, fleeting or infrequent. We’ve experienced joy in spurts, like a whisper or a puff of smoke. Others seem to almost always to be happy. What’s the difference? Come see and begin today to improve the quality of your life.

Do you have a hero? Heroes provide us with embodied examples of the virtues we care about. They play a powerful role in our lives to inspire us to climb higher, reach further and live better lives as we see them face extreme circumstances with dignity, courage and decency. 9/11 introduced us to modern heroism. Are we inspired to live heroic lives ourselves?

Pain is Life’s great master-teacher. It is the refiner’s fire, the heat that destroys the bacteria of life. It can burn off impurities, or it can consume and destroy. Our attitude, however, determines the outcome. But what do the trials and adversities of life teach us? What lessons are we to learn? What impurities does the heat of trial and tribulation burn off?

The 16th President of the Unites States saved the Union and emancipated the slaves. He also had some wise things to say that apply to our collective pursuit of happiness: “Most folks,” for example, “are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”