Happiness is a state of mind that has little to do with material or social success. “Anyone who desires it, who wills it, and who learns and applies the right formula may become a happy person.” That is the advice from the “father of positive thinking”, Norman Vincent Peale.
There is simplicity in such a statement that makes most people fail to appreciate its significance and truth. We want some complicated formula to a lot of our problems when the answers are with us all the time. The answer to the riddle of how to be happy is simply that you make the decision to be happy. That is as plain and simple as I can make it.
Always remember that there will always be things that go wrong at times and things that upset you or try to frustrate you. But the secret is to decide that no matter what goes wrong and no matter how rough things get, you will not let it get you down. There is one thing that is always in your control. That is you. You decide how you react to any situation.
Norman Peale goes on to say that most people, as much as perhaps four out of five, manufacture their own unhappiness. They do so by thinking unhappy thoughts and having the wrong attitudes towards life. Resentment, ill-will, hate, fear and worry are identified as some of the ingredients of the unhappiness-producing process.