Stop Letting Things Push You Around

The best cure I have found for this sort of thing is to use unhappiness' own weapon—self-esteem. "Have you ever been to a TV show and seen the master of cere­monies manipulate the audience?" I asked a patient. "He brings out a sign which says 'applause' and everyone applauds. He brings out another which says 'laughter' and everyone laughs. They act like sheep—as if they were slaves, and meekly react as they are told to react. You are acting the same way. You are letting outward events and other people dictate to you how you shall feel and how you shall react. You are acting as an obedient slave and obeying promptly when some event or circumstance signals to you—'Be angry'—'Get upset'—or 'Now is the time to feel unhappy.' "

Learning the happiness habit, you become a master instead of a slave, or as Robert Louis Stevenson said, "The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward condi­tions."