#happiness

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit. ↗

— Gretchen Rubin

#giving #happiness #selfishness #selflessness #acting

All who joy would win Must share it -- Happiness was born a twin. ↗

— George Gordon Byron

#happiness #twin #winning

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities. ↗

— Aldous Huxley

#achievement

I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. 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. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't you will eat away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments. ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#happiness #love

Sometimes we must undergo hardships, breakups, and narcissistic wounds, which shatter the flattering image that we had of ourselves, in order to discover two truths: that we are not who we thought we were; and that the loss of a cherished pleasure is not necessarily the loss of true happiness and well-being. (109) ↗

— Jean-Yves Leloup

#emotional-wounds #happiness #hardships #self-image #suffering

Only the development of compassion and understanding for others can bring us the tranquility and happiness we all seek. ↗

— Dalai Lama XIV

#happiness #tranquility #understanding #development

The exaltation and happiness of any community, goes hand in hand with the knowledge possessed by the people, when applied to laudable ends; whereupon we can exclaim like the wise man; righteousness exalteth a nation; for righteousness embraces knowledge and knowledge is power. ↗

— Joseph Smith Jr.

#inspiriational #knowledge #lds #mormon #religion

Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out. In Paradise there are no stories, because there are no journeys. It's loss and regret and misery and yearning that drive the story forward, along its twisted road. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#story #unhappiness #conflict

The intention that man should be happy is not in the plan of Creation. ↗

— Sigmund Freud

#happiness #creation

I believe that being happy is the only important thing. Happiness. Simple as a glass of chocolate or torturous as the heart. Bitter. Sweet. Alive. ↗

— Joanne Harris

#happiness #joanne-harris #torture