It is common to think about happiness in terms of something that happens to us, as in: “What makes you happy?” But what happens to you is the least common, least valuable, and least enduring source of joy. Joy need not be limited to what happens to you. Joy can come from you.
The greatest joy comes when your circumstances within and without are aimed at what has the greatest value. While you can do a great deal to influence what happens external to you, you can’t fully control it. While your actions will have a limited effect on your external situation, your internal perception and interpretation of your external situation are fully within your control. You can choose to let go of what lies outside of your control, and that choice is easier to make the more you focus on what is within your control. You can have joy within you, no matter what happens around you. The joy that comes to you because of who you are inside cannot be affected by what happens to you on the outside.
Part of the joy that comes from the inside is due to the character qualities you develop and live according to. Outward outcomes are not the most important metric of the value of past choices. Who you are as a result of your choices is the most important outcome. You determine what qualities you embody through what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. The only way to feel good as often as possible is to seek out and correct all deviations from what is best in yourself and your life.