[lhnz]

There is a lot of good to be said about having a strong internal locus of control, yet a lot of what people were saying in this thread seems a little like self-deception: you can't always be positive about everything. You can try and be happy and you can help this by following stoic principles like negative visualisation, reducing your desires and keeping internal goals instead of externals ones.

But this doesn't seem right. Your life is a story and it will have troughs as well as peaks. It's more honest to accept this and learn to experience everything that it offers fully. If somebody you love dies you should feel sad, and maybe you'll cry. There's nothing wrong with this.

I think there is great strength in allowing yourself to be vulnerable and accepting things as they happen. Do whatever you can to make life enjoyable for yourself but you're going to have to give a little!