How much happiness can you handle?  How much joy can you express before some reflex snatches it right out of your clutches and dangles it just out of reach in front of you?  

Is happiness a function of the personality or the soul?  And, can our happiness quotient be found in our astrological make-up?

Stop looking outward and look inward

The imminent and masterfully inspirational, Dr. Wayne Dyer, has this to say about happiness:

"Stop chasing your tail looking for happiness—it will find you when you love who you are."

In Wayne's video, he delightfully narrates a brief, brilliant and beautiful story that illustrates this philosophy and how to be happy, through the unlikely wisdom of two cats, who tell us that happiness will chase us as we simply go about our business of living.

Are there happy Signs and Signs of unhappiness?

Astrology considers happiness from the free will perspective:  your will is your life.  If you want to be happy, be happy; no one is going to stop us from being unhappy, if that's what we want – and, sadly enough, it's often more popular.

In, Astrology, A Cosmic Science, Isabel says:

"The horoscope is a blueprint of our character and character is destiny.  There is nothing static in this universe in which we dwell.  We can change by changing our attitudes and patterns of behavior.  In doing so, we change our destiny.  

Yes, the blueprint or birth chart shows your character and your personality patterns – your human nature, but you are spirit, too.  The stars impel but do not compel.  An understanding of planetary influences allows you to take your life into your own hands and intelligently utilize the planetary influences that will help you in your evolution if you but will."

Yes, Capricorn's can be grumpy, Virgo's can be critical, Leo's are intolerant, Cancerian's are moody,  Taurean's are argumentative, Arian's get temperamental, Gemini can be cynical, Libra can be uncooperative, Scorpio's are beyond sarcastic, Aquarius can brood, Piscean's get negative, and even cheery ol' Sagittarian's lose their cool.  Doesn't mean they aren't happy!

Don't worry if you're not happy  

There was a study done several years ago on octogenarians (can’t remember the source).  The study wanted to determine why some people lived a long life and why others didn't.  Was it health factors?  Lifestyle?  Environment?  Religion? Culture?  DNA?  Attitude?

The study concluded that people who lived well into their nineties and beyond had one common denominator:  they felt the same on the inside as they were acting on the outside.  There was no split or duality between how they were feeling and how they acted; they didn't apologize for who they were.  If they were feeling cranky, they acted cranky; if they were feeling generous, they acted generous.

Astrology teaches us that we each have both positive and negative personality traits.  

Our personality is the track on which our soul's journey rides.  The positive traits contain our gifts we have to give and express in this life; the negative traits are what we have to transform and change so that our destiny can complete our oneness.

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Abraham Lincoln

My birthday is the day before Lincoln's.  I always wanted to be a Lincoln baby because I so admired him for his egalitarian approach to government, his altruistic and very Aquarian perspectives toward humanity, and, his wit.  

The next time you feel like giving up

The next time you feel the walls of failure closing in, or, the dragging, nagging signs of despair creeping in, or the voices (your own or others) of imminent doom clamoring and preying on your faithful hopes for success, think about Abraham Lincoln's road to the White House:

Failed in business in 1831.

Defeated for Legislature 1832.

Second failure in business in 1833.

Suffered nervous breakdown in 1836.

Defeated for Speaker in 1838.

Defeated for Elector in 1840.

Defeated for Congress in both 1843 and 1848.

Defeated for Senate in 1855 and 1858.

Defeated for Vice President in 1856.

Elected President in 1860.

The wheel of hope and disappointment is a dangerous ride

When something happens in our life that we like, we are happy and we feel good.  

When something happens in our life that we don't like, we feel unhappy and bad.  

This wheel of hope and disappointment, and waiting for circumstances and people to line up according to our agendas, is not happiness.  It's just a tug-o-war between desires....and it's exhausting.  

“We should strive to go on in fortune and misfortune like a clock during a thunderstorm."  Robert Louis Stevenson

Psychology Today's writer Carlin Flora, writes:

Both the happiness and anti-happiness forces actually agree on something important—that we Americans tend to grab superficial quick fixes such as extravagant purchases and fatty foods to subdue any negative feelings that overcome us.

 Such measures seem to hinge on a belief that constant happiness is somehow our birthright. Indeed, a body of research shows instant indulgences do calm us down—for a few moments. But they leave us poorer, physically unhealthy, and generally more miserable in the long run—and lacking in the real skills to get us out of our rut.

Happiness is not about smiling all of the time. It’s not about eliminating bad moods, or trading your Tolstoy-inspired nuance and ambivalence toward people and situations for cheery pronouncements devoid of critical judgment.

While the veritable experts lie in different camps and sometimes challenge one another, over the past decade they’ve together assembled big chunks of the happiness puzzle.

What is happiness? The most useful definition—and it’s one agreed upon by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, behavioral economists, positive psychologists, and Buddhist monks—is more like satisfied or content than “happy” in its strict bursting-with-glee sense. It has depth and deliberation to it. It encompasses living a meaningful life, utilizing your gifts and your time, living with thought and purpose.

It’s maximized when you also feel part of a community; and when you confront annoyances and crises with grace. It involves a willingness to learn and stretch and grow, which sometimes involves discomfort. It requires acting on life, not merely taking it in. It’s not joy, a temporary exhilaration, or even pleasure, that sensual rush—though a steady supply of those feelings course through those who seize each day.

Where's the bridge from unhappiness to happiness?

It's in our thinking.  The pivotal point from feeling disappointment, discouragement, defeat or dissatisfaction is all in our mind.  But how do we cross over?

Do the work and trust the process:  be willing to be happy – even if you don't know how right now, just be willing.  Think of just one good thing in your life.  God/Universe/Spirit/Life will do the rest.

A Course in Miracles (and Hindu scripture, and others) states that all that's required of us is to take one step forward on behalf of our good and God will take the final step for us.  What a great system!