Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk who was found to be “The World’s Happiest Man” by our own UW-Madison Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, had this to say in Robert Chalmer’s interview for The Independent:

…ultimately, it’s how your mind relates to the world that determines whether you’re miserable or not. You have to ask yourself: is my happiness dependent on other people?“

This isn’t a new idea, but it’s as easy to forget as it is to grasp. It helps me to be reminded of it every now and then.