Instead of being critical of people in authority over you and envious of their position, be happy you're not responsible for everything they have to do. Instead of piling on complaints, thank them for what they do. Overwhelm them with encouragement and appreciation!

A lot of times, people make other people responsible for their joy: 'You're not making me happy, you're not doing this, you're not doing that.'

The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have.

If someone decides they're not going to be happy, it's not your problem. You don't have to spend your time and energy trying to cheer up someone who has already decided to stay in a bad mood. Believe it or not, you can actually hurt people by playing into their self-pity.

Feeling sorry for ourselves is the most useless waste of energy on the planet. It does absolutely no good. We can't let our circumstances or what others do or don't do control us. We can decide to be happy regardless.

What's real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.