Truly grateful people are the happiest amongst us. But what are the truly grateful thankful for? Well, for everything. Deeply happy people are even thankful for the trials and tragedies they pass through. Come see why you too can be grateful for the most challenging parts of life.

There are silent killers attacking your body this very moment. We know them as toxins, free radicals, germs, and viruses. There are moral and psychological killers attacking your happiness and quality of life as well. You have an immune system that prevents most of the internal enemies from wreaking much damage to your body most of the time. There is also a powerful emotional immune system, a kind of psychological antibiotic that can destroy the emotional viruses that sicken your soul and rob you of happiness and joy. Come see what it is…

It seems there are about as many definitions of happiness as there are people who spend any time talking about it. But some of the definitions leave us wondering whether we would even recognize the thing if it were to hit us between the eyes in broad daylight. So what is it? When we know what it is (and isn’t), we will better know how to find it and how to keep it.

Have you ever felt frustrated that you weren’t as happy as you thought you should be, that you were stuck on some evil treadmill of unhappiness or that every time you thought you were feeling happy, something pulled the rug out from under your feet? Learning what to stop doing to be happy is as valuable as learning what to do. Come see if you agree…

Gratitude is not reflected in what happens to us, or how others treat us, or in the good deed someone does for us. It is something we carry with us into every moment of life. It’s an attitude, a way of looking at the world and interpreting events and interacting with others. Here are ways to grow your gratitude today.

Motherhood is a profession worthy of a 7-figure celebration. In fact, Motherhood is the highest paying job on the market. What other position pays in the currency of so profound and deep a love as a Mothers’ love?

People will disappoint you. Be happy anyway. Life will throw you off your plans. Be happy anyway. Others will lie and lead you astray. Be happy anyway.

Why do we wait for anniversaries to celebrate marriage? Why do we wait for birthdays to celebrate births? And why do we wait for funerals to celebrate life? Why wait for the day of the event or the end of a life to celebrate what we could be celebrating daily?

When so many worry about the rising generation, inundated with sex and violence, self-indulgent, seemingly concerned too much with what doesn’t matter, impatient, disrespectful, vulgar and ungrateful, its heartening to get a glimpse into their hearts and see that our impressions of modern youth culture may not be so bad as we thought.

Some people go through life complaining about the weather, complaining about the economy, complaining about the neighborhood, even complaining when there’s isn’t enough to complain about! They moan and groan about anything and everything and nothing at all. Their complaints quickly become the sound of nails on chalk boards, their voices shrill with the whine of helplessness. It can be raining gold coins in their backyard and they’ll complain about the flowers crushed by the falling wealth. Stop it!

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.

This Thursday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States. The very first nationwide proclamation of a day of Prayer and Thanksgiving was made by George Washington in 1789. Since then, Thanksgiving has morphed into a different kind of observance, one punctuated by football, turkey and day-after mega sales. Here are 5 ways to add fun and meaning to your holiday observances.

Gratitude, it turns out, is no small issue. It can be life-changing, radically altering the way we see and interpret life. Gratitude is the electricity that ignites happiness. It is the breeze that lifts it. It is the context that allows it. This post is my attempt at enlarging the list of things we are grateful for, at reducing what we habitually take for granted and thereby providing some lift and electricity to our happiness. So take a look below at some atypical, unconventional things on my gratitude list.

Gratitude, like other attitudinal traits, takes practice. It requires consistent reprogramming of your brain until it becomes a natural, automatic response to life’s circumstances. It is at that point that gratitude ceases to be a thing practiced, and starts to be a natural expression of an inner condition of the soul.

Today’s post is very different from my usual writing. This is a letter written directly to you, my reader. I want you to know how I feel about you, that I’m proud of you, believe in you, appreciate you and believe you can become just about anything you decide to become. You are important and beautiful. You were meant to be happy and amazing, after all. Thank you all for the honor and trust and interest you’ve given to the principles and ideas I share here at Meant to be Happy.

We are all thankful for things like family, friends, health, freedom, happiness and the like. But what of the more ordinary and mundane? Do we think of such things when we count our blessings? The more we fill our awareness with gratitude, the happier life will be.

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?

When nothing stands between you and the mirror of life, you will recognize the importance of four basic components of life: 1) Your thoughts, 2) Your beliefs, 3) Your relationships and experiences, and 4) Your character. Each is crucial to your happiness. Corrupt any one of the four components and your happiness will be compromised. Period. End of story. This post explores the importance of character to a happy life.

Welcome to my first post in a 3-post series that will now be a regular feature here at M2bH. We bloggers like to quote people like Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi for their wisdom and eloquence. But I’ve found many “ordinary” bloggers to be incredibly wise and eloquent too. I use their quotes as springboards into the topic, in this series, on happiness.

Do you spend much time doing things that make you feel good and laugh or feel inspired and happy inside? The more we can fill our lives with joyous moments, the happier our lives will be. It’s the little things that really often count the most. See if any of mine resonate with you.