While I may not agree with her statement that you have not made the commitment to happiness, I do think that happiness does involve some measure of "realization" or at least an openess to the really good things in your life.

The horrible thing about depression is that it can block, or at least severely impair that openess. It's almost as though you can look at things and think "I am very happy/grateful/honored about that" but it doesn't sink in.

I wonder if that's what she means that you haven't made a commitment. It does require some effort to break through that barrier.

I know for sure that my therapist spent a lot of time in what I called his "pollyanna" phase. During this time he would constantly point out a whole lot of stuff that was good in my life. I would immediately counter with "but...". I just couldn't break through.

I did begin to finish every day with a list of things that I was very grateful for, or something that gave me a tinge of glad.

It did help. It also made me stop and think about being happy right then maybe not 10 minutes from then, but right then.

It helped.