When people are happy, most people are content with their lives. Of course, there are circumstances in life that can’t be changed, and some of those factors lead to unhappiness. There is no way that you can control every aspect of your life. Nevertheless, you can control how you react to it. There are certain strategies one can take to develop control over the way you respond to the trials of everyday life.

Always count the positive things you have going for you.

Psychologist Martin Seligman and his colleges came up with a list of exercises to help people get a sense of well-being by focusing on the positives of one’s experience. One of the exercises is called “Three Good Things.” In this exercise, you keep a journal of where you write down three good things that happen each day. Many people reported feeling better after the first week just by simply writing down their blessings.

Throw out those rose-colored glasses.

The French expression: voire la vie en rose (“to see life in pink,”) basically means to see things better than what it really is. Sometimes we make decisions that we think will make our lives better. For example, the belief that moving out of state will make us happy, and then you go through the hectic experience of moving. The belief that buying new a new car, clothes, jewelry, will bring you happiness. However, once you have it, you still end up the feeling the same going back to your original state of mind. The best thing is to see things for what they truly are.

Be a busy bee doing the things you love.

You will feel happier when you are a busy bee. Being active in something you can engage your skills in keeps your mind distracted from the things in life that you can't control, and aren't content with. Thus when you keep busy you create positive feelings instead of negative ones by forgetting about the negative situations that life hands out.

Here are 12 quotes that you will discover in your quest to happiness:

1. “Only do what your heart tells you.” – Princess Diana

2. “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein

3. “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” – Audrey Hepburn

4. “Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

5. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” - Mary Oliver

6. “Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?” - Friedrich Nietzsche

7. “Go into the world and do well. More importantly, go into the world and do good.” – Minor Myers

8. “A light heart lives long.” – William Shakespeare

9. “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” – Sarah Williams

10. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. “The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” – Wilma Rudolph

12. “One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: 'To rise above the little things.'” – John Burroughs