Hi DonnyD, I wonder if you’re trying to do too much, all at once, and looking for some sort of results? If the only result you’re looking for is happiness, then why try so hard with the self-improvement activities? Or is the result you’re looking for a self-improved person?

Long term happiness is an illusion – life always hands us ups and downs, and our journey of self-improvement is to react better to these ups and downs – you can’t get away from them!

However, you can follow joy. Joy is fleeting, in-the-moment, found in the tiniest of pauses, wonder in the wildest of things, magical in the simplest of incidents. You can practice following joy, looking for it in your everyday going around, and not try too hard. If you try too hard, it might slip away 🙂

Reminds me of an Anne Morrow Lindbergh quote – “For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair.”

I hope this helps!
-Saiisha