Simply believing that something will occur greatly increases the likelihood of it happening. Some call it faith, others call it the secret. In psychology, we call it the roots of positive psychology; which, put simply, suggests that the happier and more satisfied you are with life, the more likely you are to experience positivity.

What does it mean to be happy? We all know the old adage that money cannot buy happiness. So if you cannot buy it, how do you get it? Positive psychologist provide an interesting answer to this question. In fact, their response is somewhat paradoxical. That is, happy people seek risk.

Generally speaking, there are two types of people, those who avoid stress and those who accept and cope with the uncomfortable feelings of the unknown. Stress, defined here, is the discomfort (not psychopathological) one feels when there is a mismatch between one's ideal self and one's true self. While this happens naturally -- when an unemployed person (real self) wants to be employed (ideal self) -- it can also happen intentionally. For example, when a person decides he wants to start his own business. The disparity between the true self and this new ideal self creates a great deal of stress, but is a tool for self-improvement.

People who avoid stress tend to live a relatively comfortable life. There are no challenges, no uncertainties. They revel in the comfort of conformity. Whenever possible, they avoid major changes and tend to live an uneventful, albeit somewhat boring, life.

Others seek challenges. They look for the opportunity to be more. Not just for the sake of more, but for the sake of improving the human condition. Instead of seeing stress as a negative life event, they see stress as an opportunity to learn and grow. We tend to look back at extreme versions and call them risk-takers.

Take Einstein, as an example. The innovations and new ways of thinking he introduced were not passive ideas. Rather, he challenged old theories and found a completely new set of perspectives. Those discoveries never would have happened if Einstein was content with what was known, what was comfortable.

A friend of mine and I often refer to each other as risk-takers. We encourage each other to push the limits, to challenge conventional thought, and to not hesitate to consider sensational ideas.

For many of us, safe is comfortable. We avoid taking chances, for fear that failure will be irrecoverable. I encourage you to challenge that notion. That is not to say that you should be impulsive, dangerous, or rash. After all, I am not suggesting you take risks without preparation. Instead, take calculated risks. Do your homework and make a plan. Then, when you have all of the information, just do it. Be a risk taker.

[ Dr. Berney is a licensed psychologist with Kindelan, McDanal and Associates in Lakeland. Readers are invited to submit questions and comments to DrBerney@thementalbreakdown.com. ]