We all know people who have had a relatively easy life yet are essentially unhappy. And we know people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy. The first secret is gratitude. All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it's truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy. The second secret is realizing that happiness is a byproduct of something else. The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives purpose—anything from studying insects to playing baseball. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience. Finally, the belief that something permanent transcends us and that our existence has some larger meaning can help us be happier. We need a spirit ual faith, of a philosophy of life. Whatever your philosophy, it should include this truism：if you choose to fnd the positive in virtually every situation, you will be blessed, and if you choose to fnd the awful, you will be cursed. As with happiness itself, this is largely your decision to make.