One of the greatest abilities one can develop in life is learning how to embrace, accept and appreciate reality. Then one discovers what is good and beautiful in even the most trying or most humdrum situation. This will make you superlatively happy no matter what and will situate your happiness firmly within your own control. There are many ways to step more and more into reality. All need some effort, unfortunately. One way is becoming aware of your emotions whenever they change. Another is seeing the people you live and work with as gifts, not burdens. Another is getting out and getting in touch with nature. Another is avoiding overindulging in anything that would dull the perception of reality. Whenever my “artist” friends ask me why I don’t smoke weed, I tell them that I have spent my entire life trying to step into reality: why on earth would I now try and escape from it?