Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

Circumstance sets the stage, and little else. The steadier sources of contentment are ordinary ones: being able to look at your own conduct without flinching, reasonable health, work that occupies you, and room to move toward what you want. Some of that is luck. Still, it explains why a better position often changes less than you hoped, and why a plain life can be a full one.

Of those four, find the one you have neglected rather than the one out of reach, and give it an hour this week. If health or freedom is the part outside your hands now, tend what is left without calling it a consolation.