People pursue [happiness] in such different ways. In a Las Vegas casino, vacant-eyed men and women spend hours pulling the handles of slot machines. Half a world away in an Indian hospital, a young volunteer holds in her arms and murmurs loving words to a dying old man. Each is seeking happiness. Some seek happiness in drugs or liquor, others in tuning the body and spirit for the highest enjoyment of this wondrous world. Some relentlessly pursue wealth and the big boys' toys that go with it; others devote their lives to family and service. Some struggle in hopes of achieving happiness at some future time; others are wise enough to know that the only time happiness can be grasped is here and now. "So the search goes on. In this volume is distilled much of what I have learned in my own personal search." So writes author William B. Smart. In Messages for a Happier Life he describes how happiness has little to do with what happens to us; it is a state of mind. Our happiness depends on how we react to what happens to us. And we are happiest when we reach out to others and up to God. Messages for a Happier Life is filled with stories, true-life experiences, and observations about life and about people who have found happiness in their families, in the gospel, in service, and in love. These essays were written for the Church News and are now collected in one volume— a perfect reference book for talks, lessons, and family gatherings.