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    “‘Happy in spite of’ entails a choice to be happy; it acknowledges problems but doesn’t put them in the way of contentment.  ‘Happy if only’ pins happiness on outside circumstances: if only I had more money, less pain, a nicer spouse or house, I’d be happy as a clam.  ‘Happy if only’ feeds millions of dollars into lotteries or impulse purchases, which provide nothing of the sort.  Ping, by contrast, didn’t expect her hardships to pass, so didn’t pin her happiness on their doing so.  When she was younger, she said, she thought moving to America would solve her problems; she found that it just replaced them with others.  The lesson was to find happiness not in the absence of pain and loss, but in their acceptance.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 135)

      “How to be happy?  Here was a start.  Accept whatever kindnesses people offer you, and repay with what you can.  Let a friend buy you lunch, then do her a solid in return.  You’ll benefit from the favors you receive, but even more from the ones you perform.  Don’t begrudge the people who need you; thank them for letting you help them.  Give up the obsession with self-reliance; it’s a myth, anyway.  None of these comes naturally to me, and even as I write them now, they seem too pat.  But in Helen and Howie I saw them in action, again and again, and here is what I saw: they worked.  They weren’t genius; they were wisdom.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 62)

        “Happiness to me is what’s happening now. Not the next world; it’s not the dance you’re going to tonight.  If you’re not happy at the present time, then you’re not happy.  Some people say, I get that new fur coat for the winter, or get myself a new automobile, I’ll be happy then.  But you don’t know what’s going to happen by that time.  Right now are you happy?  Like me.  I have health problems, but it’s been going on a long time, so it’s secondary.” ~ Fred Jones, via Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 29)

          “When I asked him what was the happiest period of his life, he did not hesitate.  ‘Right now,’ he said.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 8)

          Happiness Is a Choice You Make [Book]

            Happiness Is a Choice You Make by John Leland

            By: John Leland

            From this Book: 43 Quotes

            Book Overview:  In 2015, when the award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America’s fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction. Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment. The reality Leland encountered upended contemporary notions of aging, revealing the late stages of life as unexpectedly rich and the elderly as incomparably wise.  Happiness Is a Choice You Make is an enduring collection of lessons that emphasizes, above all, the extraordinary influence we wield over the quality of our lives. With humility, heart, and wit, Leland has crafted a sophisticated and necessary reflection on how to “live better”―informed by those who have mastered the art.

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            Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

              “The past is fixed, but the future—it could be better.  It could be better, some precise amount—the amount that can be achieved, perhaps, in a day, with some minimal engagement.  The present is eternally flawed.  But where you start might not be as important as the direction you are heading.  Perhaps happiness is always to be found in the journey uphill, and not in the fleeting sense of satisfaction awaiting at the next peak.  Much of happiness is hope, no matter how deep the underworld in which that hope was conceived.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 94)

                “To treat yourself as if you were someone you are responsible for helping is what would be truly good for you.  This is not ‘what you want.’  It is also not ‘what would make you happy.’  Every time you give a child something sweet, you make that child happy.  That does not mean that you should do nothing for children except feed them candy.  ‘Happy’ is by no means synonymous with ‘good.’  You must get children to brush their teeth.  They must put on their snowsuits when they go outside in the cold, even though they might object strenuously.  You must help a child become a virtuous, responsible, awake being, capable of full reciprocity—able to take care of himself and others, and to thrive while doing so.  Why would you think it acceptable to do anything less for yourself?” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 62)

                  “Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.” ~ Robert Fulghum