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I agree with the guru that kindness and following the golden rule is an important part of a happy life, as is love and friendship, but my happiness also needs something else.
Nathaniel Branden said,
The secret of happiness is to ask yourself every day: What’s good about my life? What needs to be done?
I amended it to
The secret of happiness is to ask yourself every day:
(1) What’s good about my life?
(2) What needs to be done?
(3) How can I get this done and enjoy the process?
The third item is similar to
This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.
—Alan Watts
And I would add Bertand Russell’s,
The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
What do you think? What works for you?
January 12, 2026
…some of the best thing are simple, but we seem to want to make them complex.
Yes.
Yay!!! I love this.
🙂
I need to define happiness before I can answer this question.
my life is full of Needs to be done and they are all work and no play…most of the time
Of course, you are way overloaded. Sometimes we just have to hang in there.
I sure admire each of these quotes and I truly do try everyday to find the good in myself as well as the good in others. We learn so much from others and sadly, I have a friend who is always so negative. My goal is to never allow people to see the negativity in me (that we all have from time to time.) I want to be a person who lifts other up as well as myself. Enjoyed this post.
Thank you. 🙂
I see it somewhat differently. I think mostly it is contentment that we seek. Happiness is a moment. Your dog greeting with with exuberance when you come home. Hearing from someone you haven’t heard from for a long time (if you like them). I can find contentment and happiness does find me.
Thank you. 🙂
I think you were also talking about gratitude.
Yes. That’s a big one for me. You will probably like tomorrow’s post. 🙂
Well, after kindness and love, I am thinking the most important is being totally in the moment. Time passes so swiftly and being partly in the future or past robs us of so much of our time.
You will probably like tomorrow’s post. 🙂
Coping with life might be a good secret
You will probably like tomorrow’s post. 🙂
Yes, those are all most important!
🙂
What I get from that cartoon is that people are looking for a complex answer to the secret to happiness. If they could only realize how simple it really is.
🙂
I can relate — both to yours and Brandon’s. Given my current circumstances, not so much #3. Play? Perhaps someday.
You will probably like tomorrow’s post. 🙂
Living in the moment is so important, because we just never know when our last moment will be.
Yes! 🙂