Hey sweetheart! All very true stuff, happiness many times is a choice. Actually my step son said something the other day, "I'm the anomaly of the family, I chose pretty things over happiness." What he means is that he trades his time doing something he's not overjoyed about for money to buy things, most of which he's overjoyed about fleetingly. My husband and I long ago decided life is too short not to do the things you love, or to do things you hate for things you think you want. It's not possible to be happy a hundred percent of the time, but it is possible to be happy a great deal. It's a decision and perspective. I can go to my parents house and choose to gripe about something and not even see the beautiful lake spread out before me, or I can look at the beautiful lake and forget what it was I had to gripe about.

You mentioned cliche, well another is the glass half full/half empty one. But it is so true. Say if you wanted to buy a house and it cost a hundred thousand and you have fifty thousand in the bank. You could either be upset that you are only halfway there or you can be happy that you are already halfway there. It's just a matter of perspective, the circumstance hasn't changed only the way you see it.