Finding Happiness and Joy

I'm reading a preview of a book on happiness in which Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence." Epicurus continues, "We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it."

Obviously, these words have stood the test of time. What isn't so obvious is that, as with so many aspects of fulfilled life, when we look inside to find the way to happiness, we discover that it comes from nothing external. At the very centre of our being we are filled with joy and Love. When we connect with this, the happiness flows out of us like a flower in bloom - and we seek nothing else. We learn that the experience of joy, or happiness, is central to feeling fulfilled. And we learn too that the joy emerges from inside. Once found it becomes an eternal spring.