You have the right words within you to make every day a happy one.

Here’s what you need to say and why:

1. “Today is going to be a great day.”

If you’re reading this right now, SMILE, you’re alive. The possibilities ahead of you are infinite, it’s true. Think about this and let it inspire you.

A good life begins right now with a choice. It’s going to be fun, finger-snapping kind of day if you want it to be. Choose wisely and indulge in the goodness. Enjoy the sights and sounds, watch the clouds, stare at the stars, and imagine yourself dancing among them.

Your life is for smiling, imagining, exploring, learning, hugging, sharing, caring, helping, and healing. Choose to do these things. Choose to make the most of the gift you’ve been given. Wake up every morning in such a way that the negativity committee lingering in the back of your mind says, “Oh crap, not another happy day!”

2. “I’m looking forward to it.”

William James once said, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” Everything you do is only as big as you are, and you grow by taking action and working hard. But even more importantly, remember that hard work is only ‘hard to do’ only when it has no meaning to you.

If your daily work is becoming uninteresting, so is your life and so are you. Your work is going to fill a large percentage of your time on Earth, so the only way to make the majority of it lively and interesting is by enthusiastically injecting yourself into work that aligns with your purpose.

That’s the key. Find work that means something to you, or connect your work to a goal that has meaning, and then persist at it. Read The Success Principles .

3. “I’ll give it another try.”

Forget failure, or any other outcome whatsoever. If you try something – to improve yourself, to eliminate debt, to lose weight, to make a relationship work, to make the world a better place, etc. – you have already achieved something brilliant regardless of the end result. Trying is always enough.

If things don’t work out the way you had hoped, hold your head up and be proud that you gave it your best shot. Then try again. Ultimately, each mistake teaches you something new about your goal and yourself. There is no failure except in never trying again. It is always the courage to continue that counts in the end.

4. “Hello.”

Life is a choir made up of many voices, including your own. Join in and sing your part. Let the harmony ring. It may sound silly to you now, but sometimes all you need in life is for someone to sing beside you.

One day you’re going to look back on smiles and songs you shared with others and smile and sing some more. Because it’s sincere human connections – the sharing of a moment – that gives life it’s best music. Sometimes it happens when you reach out and help someone sing their verse, and other times it’s allowing another to reach out and help you sing yours.

5. “Thank you.”

Gratitude leads to greatness. It can literally turn what we have into more than enough, jobs into joy, chaos into order, uncertainty into clarity, and bring peace to an otherwise chaotic day.

The greatest way to make your blessings count is to count your blessings. Acknowledging the good things you already have in your life is of the essence, because whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will grow stronger in your life. Read The How of Happiness .

6. “I’m OK.”

How you respond to life’s little tragedies is what shapes your character. Crap happens sometimes, you’ve got to deal with it and move on. Don’t hide from it. If your dreams are out in the world somewhere and you’re inside hiding, the only new things that will gather in your mind are anxiety and bitterness. Eventually that anxiety and bitterness will eat away at you and leave nothing behind but an unhappy shell of your former self.

So when the crap hits the fan, as it sometimes will, stop and say it out loud: “I’m OK.”

Besides, the ones who fall and get up are so much stronger than the ones who never fell. Often it’s the deepest difficulties which empower human beings to rise and grow into their highest, happiest selves. The ones who win the race in the long run are usually not the quickest or luckiest, but the ones who have endured the most. Read Feel the Fear… and Do It Anyway .

7. “It was a busy day.”

Happiness is a quest – a journey of magnitude. It’s a something you feel – a longing that pulls your thoughts and efforts in a specific direction. You strive for it daily, persisting in your pursuit against the odds, and sometimes find yourself traveling to faraway lands to get closer to it.

The happiest moments will be the unexpected breakthroughs on this lifelong journey, as you participate relentlessly in exploring and manifesting your own blessings. Happiness will never be something you hold at the end, but something you DO to get there.

Once you find yourself in this state of happiness, it means you have found the right rhythm. Don’t stop. Maintain your efforts. Enjoy yourself. Keep journeying onward and upward.