It turns out that the process of working toward a goal, participating in a valued and challenging activity, is as important to well-being as its attainment.

People prone to joyful anticipation, skilled at obtaining pleasure from looking forward and imagining future happy events, are especially likely to be optimistic and to experience intense emotions.

All that is required to become an optimist is to have the goal and to practice it. The more you rehearse optimistic thoughts, the more 'natural' and 'ingrained' they will become. With time they will be part of you, and you will have made yourself into an altogether different person.

It is equally important to investigate wellness as it is to study misery.

In a nutshell, the fountain of happiness can be found in how you behave, what you think, and what goals you set every day of your life.

No one in our society needs to be told that exercise is good for us. Whether you are overweight or have a chronic illness or are a slim couch potato, you've probably heard or read this dictum countless times throughout your life. But has anyone told you-indeed, guaranteed you-that regular physical activity will make you happier? I swear by it.

Exercise may very well be the most effective instant happiness booster of all activities.

I use the term happiness to refer to the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well-being, combined with a sense that one's life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.

Every day you have to renew your commitment. Some of the strategies should become habitual over time and not a huge effort.

...The more a person is inclined to gratitude, the less likely he or she is to be depressed, anxious, lonely, envious, or neurotic.

Last but not least, the happiest people do have their share of stresses, crises, and even tragedies. They may become just as distressed and emotional in such circumstances as you or I, but their secret weapon is the poise and strength they show in coping in the face of challenge.

The practice of gratitude is incompatible with negative emotions and may actually diminish or deter such feelings as anger, bitterness, and greed.

Forgiving people are less likely to be hateful, depressed, hostile, anxious, angry, and neurotic.

Happiness is not out there for us to find. The reason that it's not out there is that it's inside us.

Find a happy person, and you will find a project.