QUOTE : What makes you happy or unhappy is not the world and the people around you, but the thinking in your head. Might as well search for an eagle’s nest on the bed of an ocean—a search for happiness in the world outside you will be just as successful. If it is happiness that you seek, you can stop wasting your energy trying to cure your baldness, building up an attractive body, or changing your residence, your job, your community, your lifestyle, or even your personality. Do you realize that you could change every one of these things—you could have the finest looks, the most charming personality, and the most pleasant of surroundings—and still be unhappy? Deep down, you know this is true. But still you waste your effort and energy trying to get what you know cannot make you happy. Another false belief: If all of your desires are fulfilled, you will finally be happy. Not true. In fact, it is these very desires and attachments that make you tense, frustrated, nervous, insecure, and fearful. Look at your list of your attachments and desires and to each of them, say these words: “Deep down in my heart, I know that even after I have gotten you, I will not get happiness.” Ponder the truth of these words. The fulfillment of desire can, at the most, bring flashes of pleasure and excitement. Don’t mistake them for happiness.