Success and happiness, psychologists and surveys tell us, are what people want most out of life. But what if people had to choose between the two, happiness and success?--Happiness would win, hands down! After all, what good is success if it doesn't make you happy? It's also a proven fact that the things we consider most important, we pursue the most earnestly. Why, then, do so few people say they feel truly happy and fulfilled? Why don't they find what they're after? What's missing? Where do they go wrong?

The answer can usually be summed up in one word: people. When you stop and think about it, other people play an important part in any real happiness we experience. And if you will think about it some more, you will realize that our level of happiness is in part a reflection of how successful we are in our relationships with other people. So how do we succeed with people?--Someone has wisely said that success in marriage depends not so much on finding the right person as being the right person, and that's true of all interpersonal relationships. Learning to get along well with others is one of the keys to happiness.

This issue of Activated contains practical tips on how to improve your relations with others, but it all starts with and comes back to one simple principle known as the Golden Rule: Do to others as you would have them do to you (Matthew 7:12). If you want to be happy, make others happy. If you want love, give love. If you want friends, be a friend. If you want real success and fulfillment in life, get busy building up others and helping them succeed; the rewards will far surpass any monetary or material success you could ever dream of--and you can start today!

Keith Phillips
For the Activated Family