Happiness Is Not a Destiny，It Is a Choice
In the past century two men in America are said to have had a“fortunate”idea。One was a Japanese immigrant who ran a tea house in San Francisco。In the year 1909 he started to give each guest a cookie with a fortune telling message at the end of the visit。This way，he thought，his guests would talk about the message and thus keep thinking of his teahouse。
The other man was an entrepreneur in Los Angeles，who started the production of such“fortune cookies”in the year 1918.Both claimed to have had the original idea。
Whether fortune cookies were born in San Francisco or Los Angeles，they were successful and came to be called“Chinese Fortune Cookies”by the West。
The search for good fortune is obviously universal。In Xi'an，at a famous dumpling restaurant we were served very special good fortune dumpling soup at the end of the meal。The more of the tiny dumplings we would find in our soup，the happier our future life，said the waitress。
In my home country，Austria，it is believed to be good luck if a chimney sweeper crosses your path，if you find a clover leave，put a horseshoe on the front of your cars，and offer pink marzipan pigs as presents for New Year。
Sure enough we all know that all those lucky charms have very little influence on our life。So what will really make us happy？
“Happiness arises and proceeds in our brain，if it is not there，then it is not anywhere”is a statement of the German Institute of the Science of Happiness in Munich。The institute also confirms what we experience in daily life：Happy people are more popular，more attractive，healthier and more successful。So why aren't we all just happy，if it has such good impact on our lives？