Trying to find happiness?

I colleague I work with shared this thought last week that I thought was worth sharing with others..

Shawn Achor, a researcher at Harvard University, has determined that our external environment only accounts for 10 percent of our long-term happiness. This leaves 90 percent to be predicted by the way we view the world. But one very important element that Professor Achor found in his research is the trap of equating happiness with success. Every time we have success we then end up changing the goalpost of what success looks like.  If our happiness is always on the opposite side of success, then we never truly get there. 

But if we can cultivate genuine happiness in our lives our intelligence, creativity, and energy levels will rise. Professor Achor has determined that there are 5 specific activities that help us generate meaningful happiness. It may come as no surprise that each of the activities are core elements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

1. Be Grateful. Write down three new things that you're grateful for each day. ---President Hinckley has said, “When you walk with gratitude…you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.”
2. Be Positive. Journal about one positive experience each day. ---President Kimball stated, "What could you do better…than to record…your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved?."
3. Be Healthy. Exercise teaches our brain that our behavior matters. ---In Doctrine & Covenants section 89 it says, "And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, [the Word of Wisdom] …shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge."
4. Meditate. Meditation allows our brain to get over the cultural ADHD of multitasking and learn to focus. ---In Doctrine & Covenants section 76 Joseph Smith said, "And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about."
5. Serve. Perform random acts of kindness such as write one positive email thanking someone for something they did for you. ---King Benjamin in the 2nd chapter of Mosiah declares, "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."