Happiness isn’t much like most other goals we pursue. You can aim directly at losing weight, for example, or learning Chinese. But not so much with happiness because happiness is the natural byproduct of other traits that can be more directly targeted. So what is happiness? What are the characteristics that compose it? Come read and see how much of its parts are a part of you.

Every action we take creates a ripple that undulates out into the larger currents of life. Each of the hundreds of daily decisions we sometimes only half-consciously make is the equivalent to the act of tossing pebbles in a pond. They splash and start ripples that quiver across the pools of life in ever-enlarging circles of influence. What kind of ripples are you making in life’s pond?