Summary
Orison Swett Marden: The Joy of Living - How to Find and Keep Happiness in Your Life
We were created to be happy.
It is a strong motive of every man. From childhood onwards, the desire for play, fun, celebrations and lasting joys is very strong in each of us. If the people of the world were asked to name their three greatest desires, most would seek health, wealth and happiness. And if they were then asked to choose their greatest desire in life, most would seek happiness. But how few of us ever find true happiness, and we don't have it because of the way we look for it: like looking for a needle in a haystack, most of us not only don't know where to look for happiness, we don't even know how to start looking for it.
And that's how we came up with the concept of lucky hunting. However, happiness is not acquired that way. It cannot be found by hunting, because hunters hunt wild animals. No one ever found happiness by chasing it around the world. It is not in our food, it is not in our drink, it is not in our clothing or material possessions; nor is it in excitement or a constant dose of fun and "good times". Nor is it in the stimulation of the nervous system. It does not come from the satisfaction of desires or from the acquisition of property. Yet somehow most people think that happiness can be found just like people find gold - and that being lucky is important.
The world is full of people trying to get something that someone else has, and they think it would increase their happiness if they could get their hands on it. However, piling things around, no matter how high they are, can never make you happy.
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True happiness does not come from an external search, but from listening within. It comes from the realization that, in fact, ultimately, our deepest longings are focused on the simplest, quietest and most unpretentious things in the world: sunsets, friendships, quiet walks, flowers, moonlight, small kindnesses, kind words, helping someone in passing, giving a little encouragement, love and affection.
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