Can you imagine someone experiencing cancer not once, but twice,
not to mention personal obstacles, financial struggles,
and yet still being truly happy?

Well, that’s me! I’ve experienced some pretty big tragedies in life. I was abandoned by my mother at age eight, and I spent the rest of my youth with my father and a stepmother who didn’t like me very much. At twenty-nine, I was diagnosed with cancer. I survived, but just seven years later, I was diagnosed with another form of cancer. It was a tough road.

Still, even through all of that, I was able to put together a nice life for myself. I figured if I lived a good life and did the right things, I would be rewarded with happiness. From the outside, it looked like the ideal life. I had a great family and wife, nice home, good job and appeared satisfied and content with what I had accomplished.

However, despite how things looked on the outside, on the inside, I lived with the overwhelming feeling that no matter how I measured my life, I was failing. Something was always wrong. I was not making the salary I wanted nor did I have the position at work I had expected, my children were straying from the values I had taught them, my wife was struggling with severe depression, while at the same time my employer was threatening significant downsizing, and my job of 22 years was in jeopardy.

I began to believe that happiness was meant for everyone else but me.

Finally, one night while I was away on business, I spilled my prescription sleeping pills into my hand and fought with all my strength to resist the urge to swallow them and be done with my miserable life. Luckily, I was able to resist.

The very next day, a colleague noticed my despair. Despite my protestations, this colleague sat me down and said something that I would never forget:

Your problems will be solved from the inside out.

He was right. Finally, instead of blaming others for all my problems and dissatisfaction I began to look inward for the solution. Though it was, at times, painful, I persevered and found that happiness is obtainable even when things go wrong.

Can you imagine finding true, deep, and lasting happiness,
without changing anything outside of yourself?

Let me tell you something important: here’s what I didn’t do to find happiness:

• I didn’t move.
• I didn’t get divorced.
• I didn't buy a new Corvette!
• I didn’t send my kids to boarding school.
• I didn’t get a promotion or change my salary.

I didn’t have to do any of these things. My life and my circumstances remained the same.

And yet, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

Happiness does not just happen, it is created. You create it!

With newfound determination, intense study of a literally hundreds of sources, and a desire to help others who were struggling in the same way I had, I learned how to be happy regardless of my circumstances. Learning to be happy does not need to be as hard for you as it was for me! In The Happiness Factor, I share that insight in a practical and easy-to-remember set of principles that you can apply immediately. You will be happy after the first page and be happy no matter what!