Happiness Does Not Lie in the Future but the Present

"We are never living, but only hoping to live; and looking forward always to being happy, it is inevitable that we never are so," said Pascal.
I have found that one of the commonest causes of un-happiness among my patients is that they are attempting to live their lives on the deferred payment plan. They do not live, nor enjoy life now, but wait for some future event or occurrence. They will be happy when they g e t married, when they get a better job, when they get the house paid for, when they get the children through col­lege, when they have completed some task or won some victory. Invariably, they are disappointed. Happiness is a mental habit, a mental attitude, and if it is not learned' and practiced in the present it is never experienced. It cannot be made contingent upon solving some external problem. When one problem is solved another appears to take its place. Life is a series of problems. If you are to be happy at all, you must be happy—period! not happy "because of."
"I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace," said the Caliph Abdelraham, "beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear] to have been wanting to my felicity. In this situation, I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot; they amount to fourteen."