Kim-Prieto et al. (2005) concluded that “while life circumstances can influence reports of well-being, reactions to most life circum-stances vary so substantially that there is on average only a modest relation between these circumstances and subjective well-being” (p. 271) from a very different (Buddhist) starting point. The Dalai Lama and Cutler (2003) proposed that “happiness is determined more by stances, or events-at least once one’s basic survival needs are met” (p.1). The poet William Cowper (1731-1800) expressed this well in lines 246-247 of “Table Talk.” published in 1782: