If you want to be happy, you need to stop chasing happiness. Happiness is a byproduct of doing things that are challenging, meaningful, beautiful, and worthwhile. It is wiser to spend a life chasing knowledge, or the ability to think clearly and with more dimension, than it is to just chase what "feels good." It is wiser to chase the kind of discomfort that only comes with doing something so profound and life-altering that you are knocked off your orbit. It is wiser to tip the scales over rather balance things you don't like only because you believe balance will make you "happy." It is wiser to do things that are hard and make you feel vulnerable and raw than it is to avoid them because comfort makes you feel temporarily, fleetingly good.
Happy people are not people who 'feel good' all the time; they are the people who are able to be guided by their negative emotions rather than paralyzed by them.
“Coveting, pouting, or tearing others down does not elevate your standing, nor does demeaning someone else improve your self-image. So be kind, and be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live.”
People are unreasonable and self-centered. FORGIVE THEM ANYWAY. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. BE KIND ANYWAY. If you are honest, people may cheat you. BE HONEST ANYWAY. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. BE HAPPY ANYWAY. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. DO GOOD ANYWAY. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. GIVE YOUR BEST ANYWAY. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. IT WAS NEVER BETWEEN YOU AND THEM ANYWAY.