The sum of the following qualities is happiness. Not all of these qualities must be present for happiness to exist, and they don't all have to be there in equal amounts. Most of them, however, must be abundant." Dan Baker, PhD, author of What Happy People Know
1. Love: This is the wellspring of happiness. "Love is the polar opposite of fear, emotionally and neurologically." It is the first step toward happiness.
2. Optimism: "Every hurtful event holds lessons, and the more it hurts, the more you learn. Optimism is realizing that the more painful the event, the more profound the lesson." Really accepting this enables us to see events as possibilities, instead of just bad events.
3. Courage: This is the strongest weapon against fear, and fear is what keeps people unhappy. We are genetically wired for both fear and courage, and we have the consciousness to choose courage over fear.
4. A sense of freedom: Freedom is choice. Unhappy people do not realize that they have choice. A wise therapist once told me that to be emotionally healthy, a person needs to come up with 3 options for any situation, and then choose from among the three.
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