What Makes People Happy

As healthy as you are happy: The body follows the brain in the sense that if you’re unhappy, that will translate into physical ailments, and if you’re happy, your body will get the message to keep going.

Not the pursuit: There’s a problem with “the pursuit of happiness,” as it’s stated in the Declaration of Independence, because if you’re pursuing happiness, it means you don’t have it.

Gratitude is voluntary: The one thing that every individual has control over that triggers happiness is gratitude. If you’re grateful, there’s immediately a pump of happy thoughts because it’s voluntary; nobody forces you to be grateful and appreciative, and it isn’t a function of your circumstances.

No value: How grateful can you be for something that had no cost to you, that took no effort, and that never had a price attached to it? Until you’ve had the struggle, it can be hard to build gratitude and happiness.

American goal: Many people who immigrated to America had the goal of becoming an American. These people are generally grateful to come to the U.S., and entrepreneurship is something that resonates with them. On the flip side, a lot of people who were born in the States take living there for granted.

Uneven fight: The fight continually occurring is an uneven one, because the targets that people on the left have are completely different ones than the people on the right have.

What you’re worth: The marketplace determines the value of what you’re selling.

Rising to the occasion: If somebody puts a spotlight on what they appreciate about us, we grow in the area.

Freedom, not free stuff: Free stuff brings temporary pleasure, but it doesn’t bring lifetime happiness. Expanding freedom brings lifetime happiness.