My personal philosophy is that happiness is mainly about choice ... I choose to be happy and so I'm happy. But I think it ties in strongly for most people with another positive emotion .... gratitude. I choose to look for good and positive aspects in people and in situations, and in the process I express appreciation often to others and to my "higher power". Because of that, even though there have been times of grieving in my life or turmoil and such, at least most of my adult life I've also had an underlying sense of happiness in even the worst moments. I adopted a personal motto several years ago ... "Life's an adventure!" So, when I look at my difficult moments, I just remind myself that this is an adventure, and there will be things to be enjoyed and learned if I follow the path with the right attitude. It's taken years to get this so it is an almost involuntary response, but it is well worth it to me!! ... I guess I could have also said ... "What WI said!"

And yes, the happiness of people I care about matters a great deal to me and I will do what I can to help them find that for themselves - and/or give something/time, etc. to aid them in the process they need to go through to get there.