I was persistently unhappy for a very long time. This started to turn around when I picked up a book by Ken Keyes Jr.: How to Enjoy Your Life In Spite of it All.

This is not a conventional self-help book; rather it is a set of maxims to memorize and then use every simgle time you are unhappy to diagnose which of twelve unwise ways of thinking you are employing.

The maxims are not merely stated as gospel, but explained in simple rational terms to demonstrate their superior wisdom over their opposites.

I was amazed to find that about 98% of the time I was able to locate a specific error I was making, and in thinking through the error I was able to resolve the unhappiness.

It took many years to thoroughly turn my thinking around, but in each of these years more good things started to come to me as I made fewer mental errors and exhibited more happiness: a lovely wife, a beautiful son, an improved career, restored health. And these things cycled in with my continued review of the twelve “pathways to happiness” presented by Keyes so that my growth in happiness accellerated. So I recommend his book to those who are open minded and really want to enjoy life fully.

Keyes descended from the famous Florida real estate empire with that name, but broke from his family because of their religious intolerance. He suffered from polio in his youth and lived after that time as a quadrapeligic. When it came to suffering and the means for overcoming it he spoke from personal expeirnce. He devoted much of his life to helping other people live more wisely, and passed away at age 77 some years ago.

I never thought about it but you’re right.