Imagine a person who has “everything”: a loving family, good friends, health, wealth, power, or even fame. Yet this person lacks one thing: inner peace. Their mind is constantly occupied by negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, and sadness; they do not like themselves or trust others, and they take a grim view of everything. Is there any way we can call this person happy?
This little thought experiment reveals the central role that our minds play in our happiness. No matter how perfect everything may look from the outside, the source of happiness is within our minds. Indeed, decades of psychological research show that our happiness is primarily determined by the way our minds work. The exception is those who live a harsh life, where they struggle to meet their most basic needs. For most of us, our happiness is determined, for the most part, by our habits of thinking, feeling, and perceiving the world.
