The document provides 30 short insights and quotes on cultivating happiness. It encourages the reader to choose happiness each day by focusing on the positive aspects of life and declining to accept negativity from others. Overall, the insights suggest that happiness comes from appreciating life's small pleasures, living with purpose and integrity, helping others, and maintaining a positive outlook.

1. Just imagine how it would be if you got up every single day, bursting with energy and joy about the way your life is! That you had so much happiness! That you would not want to change a thing! Awesome, isn’t it? It’s possible. Really….. It is. The secret to being happy is really very simple. Just choose to be happy. Regardless of what’s going around you, over which you have no control, choose a response which will gladden your heart rather than sadden it. It’s a pleasure to present to you this bouquet of 30 select Insights from “ Insight of the week” . For you to see one Insight, each day. And in doing so, remind yourself of your intent to be happy, powerful, successful, loving, caring and full of life, just for that day. Do this every day and see your life transform!

2. On an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry. The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, “If someone gives a gift to another person, who then choose to decline it, tell me, who would then own the gift?” “ The Giver”, said the group after a little thought. “ Whenever a person tries to abuse us, or to unload their anger on us, we can each choose to decline or to accept the abuse: whether to make it ours or not. By our personal response to the abuse from another, we can choose who owns and keeps the bad feelings,” said the Buddha. ~ Anonymous You can choose….. Today I choose to be responsible for my own feelings

3. If I feel depressed I will sing. If I feel sad I will laugh. If I feel ill I will double my labour. If I feel fear I will plunge ahead. If I feel inferior I will wear new garments. If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice. If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come. If I feel incompetent I will think of past success. If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals. Today I will be the master of my emotions. ~ Og Mandino, ‘The Greatest Salesman in the world’ Today I choose to master my emotions How do I change?

4. Today I choose to unleash my potential The Eagle who thought he was chicken A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was the same. He scratched the earth for worms and insect. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents. With scarcely a beat of its string golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who is that?” he asked. “ That’s the eagle, the king of the birds, “ said the neighbour. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth – we’re chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was. ~Author unknown

5. Today I choose the highest qualities that life can offer me There is no force more potent than love.Take away love and your world is a tomb. Your life echoes emptiness without love. With it, your life will vibrate with warmth and meaning. Even during hardship, love will shine through. As you look back upon the events in your life you will find that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of love. If you hate it, you don’t need to have anything else, and if you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter what else you have. Therefore, search for love. Once you have learned to love, you will have learned to live. Love is the most important ingredient to your success. ~Author unknown Life In Abundance Comes Only Through Great Love

6. All men and women are born, live , suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about…. We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live. ~Joseph Epstein What we choose…… Today I choose to live a prosperous life

7. One day an old man boarded a bus. As he was going up the steps, one of his shoes slipped off. The door closed and the bus moved off so he was unable to retrieve it. The old man calmly took off his other shoe and threw it out of the window. A young man on the bus saw what happened, and could not help going up to the old man and asking, “I noticed what you did, sir. why did you throw out your other shoe?” The old man promptly replied, “So that whoever finds them will be able to use them.” The old man in the story understood a fundamental philosophy for life- do not hold on to something simply for the sake of possessing it or because you do not wish others to have it. ~Author unknown The Old Man and his Shoe Today I choose to give freely and receive freely

8. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace from that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do is play on the one string that we have and this string is, Attitude. I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. And so it is with you….we are in charge of our Attitudes. ~ Author unknown Our Attitudes….. Today I choose to take complete charge of everything happening in my life

9. In order to be a leader a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence, the supreme quality for a leader is unquestionable integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office. If a man’s associated find him guilty of being phony, if they find that he lacks forthright integrity, he will fail. His teachings and actions must square with each other. The first great need, therefore is integrity and high purpose. ~Dwight D Eisenhower Unquestionable integrity…. Today I choose to respect myself & act with integrity

10. Ultimately, happiness rests on how you establish a solid sense of self or being. Happiness does not lie in outward appearance nor in vanity. It is a matter of what you feel inside, it is a deep resonance in your life. To be filled each day with a rewarding sense of exhilaration and purpose, a sense of tasks accomplished and deep fulfillment-people who feel this way are happy. Those who have this sense of satisfaction even if they are extremely busy are much happier than those who have time on their hands but feel empty inside. ~Author Unknown Happiness…. Today I choose to be happy

11. The world is primarily constituted on the basis of harmony. Everything works in cooperation with something else. Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows. Put yourself in another’s place. Only then will you know why they think and do certain things. Once you understand how quickly people will grant your requests when those requests appeal to their self interest, you can have practically anything you go after. It’s through cooperation not conflict, that you will achieve your greatest success. ~Max Steingart Success Depends On using, Not Opposing Today I choose to be filled with energy to accomplish anything I want

12. Teacher said “I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn’t have to be something you see. It could be a scent- perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches the autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the “stuff” of life. The little things we are put here on the earth to enjoy. The things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them, for at any time…..it can all be taken away.” The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had, that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook. Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did, that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~Author Unknown ‘ The Teacher’ Today I choose to cherish each moment of my life

13. Look to this day: For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course Lie all the verities and realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, The glory of action, The splendor of achievement Are but experiences of time. For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision; And today well-lived, makes Yesterday a dream of happiness And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day; Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn! ~The Sufi, 1200 BC Today I choose to make the most of every moment Look to this day…..

14. Happiness lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The human spirit needs to accomplish, to achieve, to triumph to be happy. Happiness does not come from doing easy work, but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demands your best. Your personal growth itself contains the seed of happiness. You cannot pursue happiness by itself. There is no happiness by itself. There is no happiness except in the realization that you have accomplished something. Happiness thrives in activity. It’s a running river, not a stagnant pond. ~Author Unknown Happiness Is A By-Product of Activity Today I choose to have beautiful things happening in my life

15. You’ll never achieve real success unless you like what you’re doing. No one has ever succeeded in a line of endeavor which they did not like. Your chances of success are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do. If you’re in a job you hate, face the fact squarely and get out. It’s better to be a failure in something you love, than attempting to be a success in something you don’t. Don’t set compensation as a goal. Find the work you love, and the compensation will follow. The more you love what you are doing, the more successful it will be for you. ~Anonymous Love what you do or do something else…… Today I choose to live my life to the fullest; I am precious

16. A samurai, a very proud warrior, came to see a Zen master one day. The samurai was very famous, but looking at the beauty of the Master and the Grace of the moment, he suddenly felt inferior. He said to the Master, “ Why am I feeling inferior? Just moment ago everything was okay. As I entered your court suddenly I felt inferior. I have never felt any fear—why am I now feeling frightened?” The Master said, “Wait. When everyone else has gone, I will answer.” At the end of the day the Master said, “Come outside.” And he said, “ Look at these trees. This tree is high in the sky and this small one beside it. They both have existed beside my window for years, and there has never been any problem. The smaller tree has never said to the big tree, ‘why do I feel inferior before you?’ This tree is small, and that tree is big – why have I never heard a whisper of it?” The samurai said,” Because they can’t compare.” The Master replied, “Then you need not ask me. You know the answer.” ~Author Unknown A Samurai and a Zen Master…… Today I choose to be free

17. Often we can achieve an even better result when we stumble yet are willing to start over, when we don’t give up after a mistake, when something doesn’t come easily but we throw ourselves into trying, when we are not afraid to appear less than perfectly polishes. By prizing heartfulness, we may reap more from our effort because we are more likely to be changed by it. We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it. ~ Sharon Salzberg Often we can….. Today I choose to develop myself in a positive manner

18. What happens to us when we call ourselves names like “failure” or “dummy”? We feel we’re no good and never will be. We want to stop trying because we think we’ll flub up again. But what if we begin to use different words to describe the same results? It won’t change the results, but it will change us. And it will change the way we see our actions and ourselves. Just by changing the words we use we can feel better about ourselves. Saying, “I have failed three times,” means we will try again and again and again until we succeed. It means we know God doesnot make any failures or dummies. It means God is always with us, loving us and helping us, when trying seems difficult. ~Hazelden Meditations Notice the difference Today I choose to embrace and create positive change in my life

19. The power to hold on in spite of everything, to endure, this is the quality of a winner. Your greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time you fail. It’s your constant and determined effort that will eventually break down all resistance and sweep all the barriers before you. Persistence means taking pains to overcome every obstacle, to do all that’s necessary to reach your goal. All great achievements require time. Endurance is the crowing quality of success. ~Anonymous It’s never over until you say it’s over Today I choose to be winner

20. Many of us unconsciously believe that we’re unworthy or defective. We adopted this belief very early in our lives when the people we looked up to disapproved of our demands, wishes and behaviours. We concluded that we had to learn to be good. Unfortunately, ‘being good’ usually meant giving up our own differences or uniqueness. We learned that we might get the love we wanted if we acted and felt like others wanted us to. If we seek true joy and connection with life, we now need to remove these artificial masks and express our deep authentic nature. “ For all those years you’ve protected the seed. It’s time to become the beautiful flower.” ~Stehen C Paul Time to blossom Today I choose to live life in joy !

21. “ People call it an ECHO, but really it is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life. Life will give you back everything you have given to it.” YOUR LIFE IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.IT’S A REFLECTION OF YOU! ~Anonymous ECHO Today I choose to attract abundance and blessings by giving the same

22. There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honour and prizes. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learnt something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “ How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbours when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked. “Why sir”, said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbours grow inferior, sub standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn.” “If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbours grow good corn.” The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbours’ corn also improves. So it is in the other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbours and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well. The value of life is measured by the lives it touches. ~Author Unknown Success doesn’t happen in Isolation…… Today I choose to touch the lives of people around me

23. “ Life’s not about expecting, hoping and wishing, it’s about doing, being and becoming. It’s about the choices you’ve just made, and the ones you’re about to make, it’s about the things you choose to say- today. It’s about what you’re going to do after you finish reading this.” ~Michael Dooley The choices you make…….. Today I choose to make the right decisions in my life

24. As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fat that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well”, he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. as they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? ~Anonymous Barriers exist in the mind Today I choose to expect more from myself than anyone can ever imagine

25. Responsibility begins with the willingness to be cause in the matter of one’s life. Ultimately, it is a context from which one chooses to live. Responsibility is not burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt. In responsibility, there is no evaluation of good or bad, right or wrong. There is simply what’s so, and your stand. Being responsible starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from the view of life that you have and what you are. That is not the truth. It is a place to stand. No one can make you responsible, nor can you impose responsibility to another. It is a grace you give yourself- an empowering context that leaved you with a say in the matter of life. ~Werner Erhard Responsibility…… Today I choose to be grateful for the abundance that is now in life

26. We begin life with the world presenting itself to us as it is. Someone- our parents, teachers, analysts –hypnotizes us to “see” the world and construe it in the right “right” way. These others label the world, attach names and give voices to the beings and events in it, so that thereafter, we cannot read the world in any other language or hear it saying other things to us. The task is to break the hypnotic spell, so that we become undeaf, unblind and multilingual, thereby letting the world speak to us in new voices and write all its possible meanings in the new book of our existence. Be careful in your choice of hypnotists. ~Sidney Jourard As it is…… Today I choose to welcome flows into my life to teach me

27. “ Whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps its wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more, and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you’re sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it’s much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new; the whole world becomes that much richer.” ~Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth Whatever we learn……. Today I choose to make this world much richer

28. Don’t strew me with roses after I am dead. When Death claims the light of my brow, no flowers of life will cheer me; instead you may give me my roses now! Today I choose to have all my wants,needs and desires easily met

29. “ Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.” ~Anonymous Commitment Today I choose to take actions in the direction of my thoughts

30. “ Thanks for stopping by,” he said with a big, gap-toothed smile. I smiled back and continued on my way. How could that old flower-cart owner be so cheerful? All I ever did was stop and look at his flowers during my rush to work. I had been passing his cart for over a year now and still hadn’t bought a single flower. Yet, everyday I got that same cheerful smile and simple thank you. The next day I decided I’d finally buy a bunch of carnations for my desk and see how the man treated me after a purchase. “Thanks for stopping by,” was his sole response, along with that big gap-toothed smile. I couldn’t any longer and asked him, “Why do you thank me for stopping every day when I never make a purchase?” He looked at me for a moment and said, “Everybosy that stops and admires my flowers makes me glad of what I do. I try to bring some cheer into this busy world and when someone stops to look, I feel I’ve done a good job.” “Thanks for being here,” was my smiling response as I hurried on to work. ~Author Unknown Gratitude…… Today I choose to be grateful for all my abilities

31. Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn’t cross the river. The big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk." How can big disciple brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" thought the little monk. But he kept quite. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. At a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk, “How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite. “The big monk looked surprised and said,” I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?” ~Author Unknown The Monks….. Today I choose to let go