To prefer everything
The happiest people I know have few preferences.
They accept things aren't going to go their way. They don't let things not going their way disrupt their happiness. They know that happiness is an inside job. And the outside doesn't have to affect it.
The unhappiest people I know are the exact opposite.
If life doesn't go their way, they suffer.
They have extremely rigid ideas of how life should pan out. How each day should go. How people should speak to them. What the weather should be like. They create rigid guidelines for how they should be treated. Sensitive to anything that anyone says that doesn't sit right with them.
This is a recipe for disaster.
And can lead to emotional outbursts that hold those people back from reaching their full potential.
I've seen many of these people explode into a rage whenever someone treats them "wrong" or says something they don't want to hear.
As Ricky Gervais wisely said: "just because you're offended, it doesn't mean you're right."
So what's their solution?
To slowly, one by one, remove their preferences.
Or, better yet, learn to prefer everything. Learn to love the mundane. Learn to love what you once considered painful. Learn to love every aspect of life. No matter how small. No matter how "insignificant".
Michael Singer once said if we're lucky enough to live for 90 years, our lifespan is less than a grain of sand in the ocean on a planet that's been here for 4.5 Billion.
Often a change in perspective is all that's required.