Rabbi Harold Kushner is known for his bestselling book When Bad Things Happen To Good People but the book he wrote that I value above all is titled When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough.

In it, he suggests that finding happiness is like a butterfly.

The more you pursue it, the more it eludes you.

That’s why we cannot write “be happier” on a list of things to do because happiness is a byproduct of doing something else.

Recently in Glendale, AZ two teenagers killed themselves on the campus of their high school in what was reported to be a murder/suicide pact. They had so much to live for in their young lives and they have left their friends and families devastated.

We have so much in this world and yet somehow it feels so empty to many of us. We are always searching for a life that matters.

The pursuit of happiness does not produce happiness.

It does not make problems go away.

There is no known formula to be a happier person other than this.

Gratitude, meaning to be grateful for even the aches and pains of life not just all the benefits.

Compassion, meaning trying to understand the feelings of others even when they disagree with us or hurt us.

The pursuit of gratitude and compassion gives happiness.

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