Certain people just aren't worth stressing about. I speak of those who are impossible to please. The ones who always have something to complain about. The type who seem disenchanted all the time, their primary goal being to have that misery rub off on us. No, thanks. We don't need such people in our lives. The more we can steer clear of them, the more peace of mind and less negativity we will have in our lives. Unfortunately, however, sometimes we have no choice but to stomach them as best as we can. Perhaps you work with a toxic boss or co-worker, but you don't feel now is the time to switch jobs. Or, your meddling in-laws are really testing your patience, but you don't want to say anything to land in hot water with them. That we will come across people we don't get along with is a certainty in life. But as I've said before, life is more about how you react to situations than the situations themselves. It's about how you adapt to circumstances...

If you can't change a person or situation, change how you feel about that person or situation . This notion brings to mind another of my favorite axioms: "Life isn't about what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you." Let's face it: People are hard to change. Trying to change someone's tendencies, beliefs, or attitudes is often an exercise in futility. People get stuck in routines, and old habits die hard. I wish my wife were more organized and into sports and exercising. As much as I may entreat her to do these things, she will never ever be a neat freak or fitness enthusiast. At times, she makes half-hearted attempts to put in a workout or watch a baseball game, but it's obvious -- from the bored look on her face and her clear lack of enthusiasm -- that she's only doing it to appease me.  It can be frustrating to have to almost beg someone to do something, So what's my only option? To change how I feel about the situat...

A lot of people think unhappiness stems only from things that happen to us. In reality, though, unhappiness comes not from external events, but from our internal response to those events. That explains why we may grow bored of jobs of relationships we once found exciting. While a raise at work or bouquet of flowers from our partner may have been sufficient at one point to bring us ample joy, that may not be the case any longer. It's not the event itself -- but the way we react to it -- that predicts how happy or unhappy we'll be. Let me give you another example. Have you noticed how some people might laugh at a joke, while others take it out of context and end up angry as a result? A job that one person might find fulfilling can get on someone else's nerves. The same goes for relationships. As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. It's not the job or relationship that causes us to be unhappy. It's the way we react to and per...