Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

“The only good thing about evil is that it can be purified.”

what can other people’s happiness possibly deprive us of? Nothing, of course. Only the ego can be wounded by it and feel it as pain.

If a sailor looses the tiller and lets the sails flap in the wind and the boat drift wherever the currents take it, it is not called freedom — it is called drifting.

In daily life this freedom allows us to be open and patient with others while remaining committed to the direction we have chosen to take in life.

the anxiety that some people feel likewise comes from a lack of direction in their lives, from having failed to grasp their own inner potential for change.

Understanding that we are neither perfect nor completely happy is not a weakness. It is a very healthy acknowledgment that has nothing to do with self-pity, pessimism, or a lack of self-confidence.

“What’s the point of worrying about things that no longer exist and things that do not yet exist?”

People who are married or cohabiting are, in general, significantly happier than singles, widows and widowers, or the divorced or separated living alone. As for the children of divided parents, they are twice as likely to experience a variety of social, psychological, or academic problems.

Vacations have a positive effect on well-being, calm, and health.

watching television, as popular as it is, leads to only a minimal increase in well-being. As for those who watch a lot, they are on average less happy.

it appears clearly that beyond a relatively low threshold of wealth, the level of satisfaction remains unchanged even as income continues to rise.

“We have more food, more clothes, more cars, bigger houses, more central heating, more foreign holidays, a shorter working week, nice work, and, above all, better health. Yet we are not happier.

One of the main sources of people’s discontent comes from comparing themselves with others in their family, at their work-place, and among their acquaintances. As Layard explains, “There are many cases

Repeatedly comparing our situation with that of others is a kind of sickness of the mind that brings much unnecessary discontent and frustration. When we have a new source of enjoyment or a new car, we get excited and feel that we are at the top of our game. But we soon get used to it and our excitement subsides; when a new model comes out we become unhappy with the one we have and feel that we can only be satisfied if we get the new one, especially if other people around us have it.

Buddhism would add that it is also surely due to the tireless dedication of most of our time to external activities and goals, instead of learning to enjoy the present moment, the company of those we love, the peace of natural environments, and, above all, the flowering of inner peace that gives every second of life a new and different quality.

the children of mothers who are less engaged with their children may be predisposed to problems such as aggressive behavior and attention deficit disorder.

They believe that an individual can exert control over herself and her life, while unhappy people tend to believe themselves to be destiny’s playthings.

an individual is capable of controlling her environment, the happier she is.

are we happy because we have a lot of friends or do we have a lot of friends because we’re happy?

for claiming to be happy, they cited as major contributing factors their family, friends, a good job, an easy life, good health, the freedom to travel, participation in social life, access to culture, information, and entertainment, and so on.