Book Epilogue

Epilog from  You Can Choose To Be Happy,  Tom G. Stevens PhD
Go to book Contents   Go to Dr. Stevens' Home Page

EPILOGUE

Our mental structures have the power
to create choice where
no choice previously existed
(when we were ruled by biological and environmental forces beyond mental control).
These mental structures are the keys to controlling
our lives and our emotions.
Making happiness for self and others
an ultimate concern;
valuing love, truth, harmony, beauty, and other metavalues 
above transient events and objects;
developing our Happiness IQ;
learning many internal and external routes
to happiness; and
getting mental control of the CHUG-OF conditions
(Choice, Harmony, Understanding,
Goal-challenge, Optimism and Focus)
give us the power
to rise above anxiety, anger, and depression and
to choose to be happy.

My Personal Experience

When I was an infant I couldn't choose to be happy,
I didn't have the cognitive structures required
to make a conscious choice.
I didn't even know the word "happy."
I depended on my environment to make me happy;
my parents provided my food, care, and much of my stimulation.
Once I learned what the word "happy" meant, I had more choices.
I tried to make myself happy, but I had little knowledge of how to do it.
I was often happy, but it was because I was lucky--
I had a pretty good environment.
It was not because I knew much about how to make myself happy.
One day I decided to make happiness my top goal.
Over the years, I learned a lot more about how to make myself happy and developed my skills.
Creating those mental structures (my Higher Self) increased
my happiness IQ and my happiness power.
Now, I can choose to be happy, and I have
a good chance of being successful.
I have had a happy life for which I am very grateful.
Without knowledge, we have little choice and little power.
With knowledge, we can transcend our environment and
even our own biology to soar to new levels of living.
I hope this book has contributed to your journey to self-actualization.
I hope it has strengthened your Higher Self, so that

you can choose to be happy.

I wish you a happy life!

For daily reminders of how to live a happy life,
use The Choose To Be Happy Checklist in Appendix A (see below).

GO TO CHAPTER 10: BOOK AND RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS

For many new happiness ideas and free self-help manuals,
visit my website: http://www.csulb.edu/~tstevens 

To take my Success and Happiness Questionnaire (free),
go to my companion web site at: http://www.csulb.edu/~tstevens/success

Go to Appendix A: The Choose To Be Happy Checklist to read next section of book.

Self-Help and other resources on this website (and site map)