“When you decide to make your happiness the chief organizing principal of your life, everything else will fall into place and you’ll never make another mistake.”   –  Brian Tracy

Those words from Brian Tracy make it seem so easy to have a fulfilling life. All you need to do (!) is to make happiness your primary focus.

Happiness is one of those abstract concepts that have had philosophers, authors and even politicians stumped for many hundreds of years. Everyone seems able to agree that they want happiness. But no one seems to quite agree on exactly what that means or exactly how to achieve it.

The Dalai Lama tells us that “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama.html

Let’s make that requirement #1:  Happiness requires action on the receiver’s part

Denis Waitley tells us:

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”
Let’s make that requirement #2:  Happiness is living every moment with love, grace and gratitude

And from Albert Schweitzer:

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

Let’s make that requirement #3:  Happiness must be a priority over success.

Success cannot bring happiness, but happiness can bring success.

That’s probably enough to chew on for now. This blog is Chapter 1 in our quest for happiness.  Please comment below.  What do you think about happiness? How do you think it is achieved?

Next time we’ll look at how you can “hang on” to happiness, if, in fact, that is possible!