Thoughts on Happiness

By William Cottringer

This is no ordinary book about happiness. In writing Thoughts on Happiness, Dr. Bill Cottringer collected his most meaningful digital photos of animals, flowers, and still scenes from his collection of over 140,000. This hobby started in 1962 when he bought his first camera, a Canon F-1, in Japan while in the US Air Force. During the last half century, he has also been a hobby writer of books and self-help articles, and so he decided to merge talents into this book of outstanding, telling pictures and clever, common-sense sayings about happiness for readers' enjoyment. The introduction to the book has a short poem that pretty much summarizes the author's thoughts on happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781640032217

Book preview

Introduction

Happiness

What is happiness?

Something everyone wants

But different for us all?

Hard to define

But easy to know;

Sometimes money,

Sometimes stuff,

Sometimes fame,

Sometimes power,

Sometimes success,

Sometimes recognition,

And sometimes good health.

Other times much more—

Being madly in love,

Having your first child,

Being close to God,

Enjoying peace of mind,

Remembering fun times,

Reading the Bible,

Or having good friends.

Other times much less—

A perfect tee shot in golf,

Passing a school exam,

A puppy’s breath and licks,

Camping out in nature,

Meeting an old friend,

Being part of a winning team,

Or having a grandchild in your lap.

Even somewhere in between—

A beautiful sunset on the water,

A field of colorful flowers,

Two children playing together,

A whale waving its tail,

The warmth of the sunshine,

Raking fall leaves,

Or walking in the snow.

But always one thing—

Doing what matters most,

For you and for God.

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions (Dalai Lama).

Happiness is the endgame goal of living. Whatever it is you are doing, it is to secure happiness. In a paradoxical way, how you define happiness determines how much or how little of it you have. One of the easiest and best