Br. Patrick Bubel
Crushed into near despair by a particularly nasty cold, a man reaches blindly into his pocket searching for relief. He grasps a cough drop—the sole salve for his burning throat—and unwraps it. Something catches his eye. He finds printed on the wrapper lines such as “Impress yourself,” “Bet on yourself,” and “Elicit a few ‘wows’ today.” His cough drop wrapper is giving him a pep talk. His happiness at these well-wishes, however, is fleeting. Try as he may to be positive, his cold oppresses him, his throat aches him, and his sorrow remains in him.
Inspirational quotes encourage us to make ourselves happy. They are in the same family as self-help books, which encourage us to overcome difficulties. Both are extremely popular, which is no surprise in a nation experiencing a mental health crisis. It is admirable to remain positive in the face of difficulties, and self-help books as well as inspirational quotes attempt to do just that.
Yet after reading them, more often than not we’re right where we left off. We can try all we want to be happy, but it is not as simple as it seems. If we could be happy, we would.
If we want advice on happiness, we should turn to the happiest people alive—the saints. Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Although the Common Doctor of the Church is not known for his self-help books, he possesses a deep knowledge of the human heart. Writing centuries ago, Aquinas recognized a sobering, perennial truth:
Happiness is something belonging to the soul; but that which constitutes happiness is something outside the soul. (ST I-II q. 2 a. 7)
This one sentence completely captures the tension we all experience in life. We can be happy, yet our happiness always remains just outside our precise control. » Read More
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2025/02/you-cannot-make-yourself-happy-patrick-bubel.html