Trying to make everyone happy?
I think the key lies in the word "make". Just as we are responsible for our own happiness, so is everybody else. We can be kind to others, helpful where we can, as loving as possible... but in the end we can not 'make' them happy. Sometimes, though, I think if we discover the happiness within ourselves it is reflected back at them. Then they may begin to find it for themselves.
I find comfort in knowing that many, many wiser, more enlightened folks than I have sought to understand the meaning of happiness. If you Google "find happiness" there are gazillions of quotes on the topic:
It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
--Agnes Repplier
Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. --Abraham Lincoln
Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them.
— Count Leo Tolstoy
I think I began learning long ago that those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.— Booker T. Washington
Happiness is not in our circumstance but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are. --John B. Sheerin
If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness. –Andy Rooney
