There are a lot of different opinions about how to lead a happy life. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this topic and I’m currently reading two books that both skirt the issue – Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith and Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
My initial thoughts about how to lead a happy life focused on things that make me happy: family, friends, success at work, social success, etc…. I worked hard to think of all the different ways to center my life around the things that are capable of making me happy. It seemed to me, at first, that this was the best way for me to lead a life of happiness.
The more I thought about it – the more I discovered that relying on external things for happiness was an unrealistic approach to finding happiness. In actuality, the world is a volatile and unpredictable place. Things happen all the time that can affect and change the things around us. However, there is one thing that we can always control – that is the way we respond to these events.
The secret to being happy does not lie in external things that can make us happy – it lies within us and the way we choose to respond to eternal things.
Be happy – that’s the secret.