Abraham Lincoln once said that “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”  Which seems to suggest that we can just make the choice to be happy, but is it that simple?  Below are some quotations that I have compiled to help reflect upon happiness and what it means to you.

1. “Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives. And if things don’t work out, take another shot.” Author unknown

2. “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” Elizabeth Gilbert

3. “Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.” Author Unknown

4. “I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” Carl Jung

5. “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” – Wayne Dyer

6.  “You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.” Isak Dinesen

7. “You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.” Author unknow

8. “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” Dalai Lama

9. “Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won’t have to hunt for happiness.” William E. Gladstone

10. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi

11. “Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.” Thomas Jefferson

12. “True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

13. “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude. “Dale Carnegie

14. “Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.” Robert Green Ingersoll

15. “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Epictetus

16. “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I have come across five simple rules to happiness and here they are: 1. Free your heart from hatred – 2. Free your mind from worries – 3. Live simple – 4. Give more – 5. expect less.

Question: Do you believe that happiness is a choice? You can leave a comment by clicking here.