Here's an idea. Find a question about happiness that if it's true, you're always happy.

For me, this question is, "Do I like where am I going?" If the answer is yes, I should be happy. If I'm unhappy and I still answer yes, that doesn't make sense, and I would doubt whether I'm truly unhappy.

I woke up in a really terrible mood today. They're doing renovations around my place, and it's like sitting in the dentist's office (I work from home). I had a thought, "I'm depressed, I'm depressed!" And then I said, "okay, maybe you are. But do you like where you're going?" I replied, "Yes." And then my shoulders relaxed, my back untensed, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, that's odd. Nah, you're not depressed."

That question is my "One Question." I made it based on this principle:

So, barring things like being in abusive relationship, or being deep into poverty, or being in prison, I should be able to be happy simply by facing the right direction.

And even in the exceptions I mentioned above, you can find happiness with the right orientation. For example, those in poverty who resolve to pick up Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and are determined to get the discipline necessary to lift themselves out, are going to be happy about that part of their life from that day going forward.

That may sound un-PC, but put me in the Empowerment camp of self-help. Or maybe the Empowerment-with-conditions camp. Almost anybody can be happy today. But there's no free lunch.

I sometimes like to call my philosophy on-the-way-ism: