I played a bit with the title so forgive me if timely do not refer to appropriately but to time.
The temporal cornerstone of happiness would also be wordplay, but at least it works out a bit better.
To be happy you need to look after your body as we discussed before, but you also have to mind your history.
Psychology's old affliction with your childhood is part of this, but it isn't all there is so don't worry too much about it.
The fact is that happiness can only come to you if you deal with the past, hold onto the present, and plan for the future.

1. Conquer the past

There is nothing that destroys happiness like holding on to past injuries.
Unforgiving people make themselves ill with negative thoughts about the past.
I have seen clients who were molested by their fathers when they were five years old.
I have seen a few of them in their sixties and seventies.
They hold onto that hate for decades, while the villain is dead and buried.
Who are they hurting by holding onto the hate? You've guessed it - they only hurt themselves.
I always ask them how long their fathers molested them.
Then I will say something like: so he destroyed 7 years of your life and you gave him another 50 more years to destroy as well.
The longer you hold on to hate; the longer you give it the power to make you unhappy.
Forget the past, get over it, and go on with your life.
If you hate another person it makes you ill, and the person you hate isn't feeling a thing.
Don't give such a person the satisfaction of knowing that he/she is still destroying you.
In the lives of gay people there is much to hate about.
Sometimes they can not forgive their parents for rejecting them, they can not forgive people who bullied them, or they can not forgive those who discriminated against them.
The silly truth is that you give them power by remembering what they did to you.

2. Hold on to the present

No dinner is as tasteful as the one you are eating.
Yesterday's dinner is but a memory, and tomorrow's dinner might never be.
Enjoy every day as if it were your last and stop thinking about what was, or what might be.
Since they were little my kids always said stuff like we can't wait for the holidays, and I always replied with don't wish your life to an end.
"I can't wait for tomorrow" only means that you are missing out on today.
To be happy means you are enjoying what is, not what was, or what might have been.
Roger Whitaker's song about a guy who had a dream since he was twenty, that he met when the guy was eighty-one, comes to mind.
Happiness is always now, never yesterday, and never tomorrow.
If you can not see how much you have to enjoy, chances are fairly well that you won't see it when you have more.
Someone once said that God gave some people everything but the ability to enjoy it.
What a waste.
We all have something to enjoy, but you have to be able to enjoy it.
Where I live there are a lot of people who do not have water or electricity in their houses, and yet most of them are happy.
I have it all and sometimes I feel unhappy.
Then I go out and look at the people who have nothing compared to me, and I realise once again that true happiness isn't in the things you have; it is in your ability to enjoy them.
Many gay people can't wait to get married, can't wait to meet the right person, can't wait to live an out and proud life.
Enjoy today and you will see that your chances of getting all those things will be better.

3. Rethink the future

Where are you going? Do you have a plan or a goal? Someone once said that the road to happiness is paved with goals.
Take time to set goals and enjoy it if you reach them.
I have clients who are depressed because they feel their lives are unsuccessful.
If I ask them what would have been a successful life they say they do not know.
Why is that? You feel unsuccessful because you can't see what you have accomplished, but how can you accomplish anything if you did not set a goal to get there? Decide what you would like to accomplish, plan to get there, plan how you are going to get there, set goals on your way, and feel the happiness of success every time you reach a goal.
Many straight people ask themselves these same questions and more often than not they will refer to their kids as something good they have achieved.
That is not right because you should not measure your own success by looking at another person, but at least they can say they helped their kids along the way.
Gay people tend to sleep, party, work, wine & dine, sleep, work, party on and on and on without end.
I can just imagine that a life filled with that must feel unfulfilled.
For that very reason we should be more careful than straight people if we set our goals.
Don't make it money, don't make it your social standing, and don't make it your career, because they always tend to disappoint.
Make it for the good of the community and for the benefit of others and it will never disappoint.
That is the secret of straight people's happiness - they do it for their kids, they do it for others.
Time is an important cornerstone of happiness, and if you ignore it, it tends to ignore you.
An unsuccessful and unhappy old-age is what it looks like if time ignored you.