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…

It’s my birthday today and was going to post another installment of “Things you don’t know about me” when I decided on a whim to share my personal happiness story with you instead. Here are 22 reasons I’m happy.

A well-known motivational guru was once challenged about the very idea of motivation. His antagonist complained that motivation doesn’t work because it doesn’t last. It wears off, so can’t be all the guru suggested it was …

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.

I have a confession to make. I don’t live a minimalist life of decluttered simplicity. I have too much unused stuff packed in too many boxes stacked on too many shelves. And while I could do better in this respect, there are other cluttered parts of our lives in need of some spring-cleaning as well. Too many of us suffer from our own cluttered emotional closets stuffed with messy habits of thought and crowded feelings we’ve clung to for far too long. Perhaps it’s time we practiced a little emotional minimalism as well.

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.

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.

Are you an optimist? Do you see silver linings and half-full cups? Optimism is an essential quality for happiness at its potential. The pessimists refrain that “I don’t think things will work out for me” is hardly the recipe for happiness, after all. But what are the basic beliefs of the optimist? Click on in to read my take on the Optimist Creed!

Ideas matter. They have consequences. They lead to great civilizations doing great things or to human depravity on monumental scales. They also change us on a personal level as we discover what they are and apply them to how we live, how we think, what we do, what and how we believe. The following ideas are some of those that can change your life. Forever.

We are what we think. And what we think and how we think it plays a significant role in the happiness we enjoy or in its elusiveness. Do you want more happiness? Come see what ways of thinking will automatically add more joy to your life. Learn to be possibility, long-term, and solution oriented. Think positively and learn to choose the thoughts that fill your mind.

Growing up with negative pessimists will likely leave an emotional and attitudinal imprint of negativity and pessimism. Growing up around praise and positive attitudes of optimism

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every Read More.

People who reflexively look at life and see hope and opportunity and beauty and noble Read More.

Life is experienced differently – even radically differently – by those who generally see the Read More.

Unhappiness is much easier to acquire than happiness. Happiness may create an easier life, but Read More.