"We become happy by learning to appreciate what we have as well as to achieve what we want.
"We become happy by cultivating the highest levels of human response in ourselves — in the arts, culture, creativity, understanding, productivity, and purpose.
"We become happy by concentrating on the gifts of life rather than obsessing over its possible pitfalls. As Ezra Taft Benson said, 'The more we express our gratitude to God for our blessings, the more God will give to our mind other blessings. The more we are aware to be grateful for, the happier we will become.'
"We become happy by refusing to allow externals to be the measure of the acme of our souls. 'Those who have cattle,' the Kenyans teach us, 'have care.'
"We become happy by refusing to be beguiled by accumulation or power or pure utilitarianism, by power or excess or withdrawal from the great encounters with life. For it is the happy life that asks more of us than we realize we have and then surprises us by enabling it in us.
"We become happy by defining a purpose in life and pursuing it with all the heart that is in us, with all the energy we have. Then we, all of us — those around me and I myself — may know ourselves at the end to have lived well and done well, to have known the tide of a general, pervasive, deep, and overwhelming sense of well-being, to have been born for a purpose and to have achieved it.
"Finally, we must learn to keep our eye on happiness rather than simply on pleasure. It is the confusion of the two that endangers the goal.
"The Desert Monastics tell a story about a young monk.
" 'One day a young monk asked one of the elders why it is that so many people came out to the desert to seek God and yet most of them gave up after a short time and returned to their lives in the city.
" 'And the old monastic responded:
" ' "Last evening my dog saw a rabbit running for cover among the bushes of the desert and he began to chase the rabbit, barking loudly. Soon other dogs joined the chase, barking and running. They ran a great distance and alerted many other dogs. Soon the wilderness was echoing the sounds of their pursuit, but the chase went on into the night.
" ' "After a little while, many of the dogs grew tired and dropped out. A few chased the rabbit until the night was nearly spent. By morning, only my dog continued the hunt.
" ' "Do you understand," the old man said, "what I have told you?"
" ' "No," replied the young monastic, "I don't."
" ' "It is simple," said the desert father. "My dog saw the rabbit!" '
"The process of redefining happiness for ourselves lies in learning to keep our eyes on the real thing. Once you know what that really is, you will never stop pursuing it."
