We cannot try to be happy. In this endeavour, trying is failing. What we can do is investigate why we are unhappy, to see how our dream of happiness depends on some person, situation or circumstance. Dependency is misery. True happiness comes from within. It already is.
Is there anything more dispiriting than the attempt to rekindle romance?
Trying is failing.
And love is not personal.
I used to be religious and was, for a time, a minister. Once, during a visit, a lapsed parishioner told me he was going to try to get to church.
Imagine that—a well-off, scratch golfer trying to get to church.
Trying is failing. Do what you feel like doing.
Disappointment, resentment, frustration—these are personal failings. They originate with me; I sustain them. I am responsible for me. If I am hurt, I hurt myself. If I am helped, I help myself.
Men's Work 