“The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular reason for being so except that they are so.”
—William Ralph Inge
Happiness is related far more to attitude than it is to material wealth or the number of problems we have in life. Although some people have fewer troubles than others and some people have more money than others, neither of these factors seems to be strongly linked to happiness. There are poor people who are just as happy as the happiest of the super rich, and there are people who have had more than their share of pain in life who are happier than some who have had very privileged lives. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
This is not to say that unhappy people can instantly turn themselves into happy people just by changing their attitude. Happiness is an emotion, and our emotions are determined by our thought patterns. The only way to change the way we feel about something is to consciously and consistently work at changing the way we think about life. Habitually unhappy people will never be happy unless they make a determined effort to change their way of thinking, because changes in their circumstances almost never bring them permanent happiness.
We must, however, make it clear that all of us will have periods of unhappiness in our lives. When any person has just gone through a traumatic experience such as the loss of a loved one, the diagnosis of a serious illness, the loss of a job or any other major loss, that person cannot possibly be happy in the short term. In such cases, it is absolutely essential to grieve over the loss in the short term in order to be able to once again find happiness in the future.
We all suffer tragic losses at least a few times during our lifetime, but, fortunately, most of us experience long periods of time between such major crises. It is during these periods between major crises that we can all be happy if we choose to do so. We must recognize that none of us will ever have a totally problem-free period in our lives. We suffer minor disappointments and inconveniences on a regular and ongoing basis, but we must learn to see these “minor” losses for what they are and not exaggerate their significance. People who are waiting for a time when they will have no problems must wake up and come to grips with the fact that the only people without any problems are those who are already dead.
Most of us can be happy most of the time if we train ourselves to look at life more objectively, and also learn that happiness requires us to enjoy the simple things in life, to think freely, to take some risks and to feel needed. If we learn how to do these things, we can be happy during much of our lifetime.
Think about it.
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Copyright 2026
Allen W. Smith
