365 Days With Self-Discipline: 365 Life-Altering Thoughts on Self-Control, Mental Resilience, and Success

Day 333: On Happiness as a Dut y

It is our duty to be happy.

Why? Because our moods and happiness or unhappiness are catching.

They  inevitably  infect  other  people.  When  we  are  happy  we  make  other

people  happy,  especially  the  people  closest  to  us,  physically,  at  home,  at

work,  socially;  and  even  people  we  speak  to  on  the  phone,  online,  or  by

email.

And, vitally important, there is the multiplier effect. I am happy, I make

you happier, you make them happier, they make yet other people — whom

you may never know — happier. The effect is incalculable, and it is always

large. The same is true in reverse when you are miserable.

So time spent being miserable is antisocial. Stop it now! Relax, change

your mood, be happy, and make the world hum rather than shudder.