Choice
If you have your needs met and are in good health - physical and mental - you have control over how you feel.
It is impossible to always be happy, but in most situations, you have a choice between victimizing yourself and moving on/making a change. Take responsibility.
This is what is meant by “happiness is a choice”. It doesn’t mean anyone can be happy in any situation, but everyone can choose to try - to stop wallowing in pain, to make a change, to try to find joy instead of moping around forever.
It’s not toxic positivity. It’s the courage to face discomfort and rise above it. It’s not delusion or turning a blind eye to suffering. It’s acceptance and equanimity.
It’s the simple shift of attention from the bad and the ugly to the good and the sublime.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.
— Marcus Aurelius
Perspective
Obstacles are not a nuisance. They are your life.
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
— Alfred D. Souza
Happiness has little correlation with success. You can be happy right now, right where you are.
Don’t defer happiness. You can have it now. Your life is now.
Achieving your goal won’t bring you happiness. It will only bring temporary satisfaction. The pursuit of the goal itself is what fulfills you.
You don’t need to achieve anything to be happy. Happily achieve.