The American essayist, poet, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) once said, "You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." Put simply, Thoreau meant that life is short, and we ought to make the most of every moment. He is also been credited for saying, "Our life is frittered away by detail...simplify, simplify." (In case you haven't read up on Thoreau, he lived in a cabin at Walden Pond for over two years. His purpose? To "live deliberately.") If Thoreau were alive today, he'd be aghast at how so many people in the country -- and the world as a whole -- have fallen pray to consumerism . Rather than finding ways to simplify their lives, people seem to be doing the exact opposite, saturating them with more stuff, more people, more noise. When Thoreau exhorts us to live in the present and launch ourselves on every wave, he isn't saying we should set out on shopping spree...

People needn't search far and wide to find happiness, for it is found in the simplest of things. Unfortunately, many people equate happiness with money and material possessions. While such "stuff" can give us a boost, it is only temporary. When it's time for us to pass on, will we be thinking about all the money we've spent or have saved in our bank account? No. Our thoughts will center on the legacy we'll be leaving behind, on the wonderful moments spent with loved ones, on the little things that made this life well worth living. Happiness can be found: in love in friendship in a smile in a laugh in having good health in reading in knowledge and learning in music in gratitude  in a good meal or cup of coffee in a kept promise in an achieved goal in a fond memory in nature in silence in the comfort of one's room If people actually stopped to appreciate all the wonderful things that greatly enrich their lives, they would be fa...