I think people need to choose between an interesting life or happy life.
People with interesting lives do not get offended that they cannot be happy. Happy people are offended that they cannot have interesting lives.
I’ve always preferred, ‘In all your getting, get understanding’.
Adam Phillips at the Guardian offers a bright essay on various myth of happiness.
We all want to be happy, we want our children to be happy, and there are countless books advising us how to achieve happiness. But is this really what we should be aiming for?
A people who conceive life to be the pursuit of happiness must be chronically unhappy. —Marshall Sahlins