Author and speaker Brian Tracy had this to say about success: “Success is not necessarily determined by material possessions or accomplishments.

Taking a risk is one of the few “no lose” situations that life has to offer—if we succeed, we’re happy and excited, and if we fail, we have the opportunity to learn from the experience which makes it much more probable that we’ll succeed the next time around.

English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley (author of Brave New World written in 1932) was often asked, “What is the most effective technique for transforming my life (meaning what can I do to make changes leading to a noticeably better or more fulfilling version of myself).”

When it comes to impacting people’s lives, nothing is more powerful than kindness. As Albert Schweitzer once said: “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate.”

My friend Patricia shared the following story. On her way to work on the morning I saw her, she pulled up to a stop light alongside another car.

Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, posted the following personal story in the New York Times: “A patient of mine once shared with me a most unusual story. He had worked for years in the food industry with a modest salary and humble lifestyle.

A friend of mine gave me this advice when I was having a bad day. What she meant was, instead of whining or playing the victim when you’re having a bad day, step back, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, “I’m going to rewrite the rest of today’s script.”

You’ve all heard the saying, “What goes around, comes around.” It’s usually intended to mean that if you do something with the intent of hurting someone, negative consequences will someday come back to bite you. The same holds true when you are kind to someone.

One thing that scientific research is very clear on is that relationships—warm personal relationships—make us happier and healthier. Research further points out that the frequency and quality of our interactions with other people are the two major predictors of our happiness.