Look at the Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching is a book of Chinese philosophy that teaches one how to be happy. The book is not structured in the classical type of writing. It is prepared more like a book of poetry.

The key theme the book teaches on how to achieve happiness is through moderation. Too much or not enough of a good thing can be bad for you. There are many examples of this in life. You can overeat and get a stomachache or become ill, or become malnourished from lack of food. Plenty of rest may boost the productivity of a student while too much or not enough may cause the student to miss class. Even possessions like love and money can be overwhelming in large or minute quantities. Too much money may cause excess worry and stress or even distrust. Too much love may cause jealousy or resentment- even over dependence. To come into a lot of money may not make you physically ill, but it could make you paranoid, distrustful and preoccupied, keeping you from true happiness. I guess to define a truly happy person would be one who is content. I feel the Tao Te Ching defines happiness this way too. Happiness, Lao Tzu, argues is best obtained by moderation and discipline. You should be happy with what you have and not always wanting and yearning for more - that wanting and yearning will only make you restless, which is not contentment.

One of the ways to being successful in practicing moderation and being happy is to attain those things in which are not out of your reach. It does not teach self -denial, but it does teach that you should strive for what you can attain, not worry about what another person may have. To practice moderation in order to be happy seems to makes sense, since not having enough and having too much both have varying degrees of problems associated with them. Therefore to obtain extremes of happiness should always be avoided.