The irony is that your guide to happiness in life is basically exactly how it works. If you want to be happy, the solution is...become happy, and there's no other trick to it.

It doesn't work so well for money because there're at least some external constraints on wealth, but for happiness, it really is purely mental and your "guide" will work perfectly well for most people. Well, the ones who're willing to take enough of a leap to follow it.