Lesson learned: make “enjoying the moment” a habit, or at least a regular practice! — you will thank yourself later (many times).

I am happy that you enjoyed the post.

Elona, yes, there are practices in Buddhism that have universal value. The Mind and Life Institute , http://www.mindandlife.org/, is sponsoring research on what happens in the brains of both novice and expert meditators, and the Dalai Lama is personally very involved.

Chris: I agree, our creativity and passion can be great legs for our journey. Thanks for the feedback, too.

I think of happiness or Eudaimonia, loosely the fullness of human life, as not only a goal but a way of being. That’s why Aristotle talked about a kind of excellence in life with respect to eudaimonia. Emotional states tend to be cyclical and fluctuating. However, eudaimonia is much more constant because it attempts to achieve its purpose without being tied solely to circumstance. That’s where your happiness formula which incorporates attitude and expectation comes in.

People can go through the same circumstances (such as 9/11) and respond to it in entirely different ways. Believing that we can change the world positively is the first step. The rest is the hard work of creating eudainomic communities. We now have the instantiation of the de Chardin’s noosphere through the internet — it is limited only by our creativity and passion.

(PS Having a preview and editing of comments would be helpful)