I would say the one thing human seek all their lives is acceptance. Being accepted by someone or something. It is this urge to being accepted that we go to through our religious ho-hah. We believe by doing the 'right' things, we can have a ticket straight up to happyvalle.
Well, not saying that you are any of the beings up above that you pray to, you yourself can get yourself up to happyvalle. Right now. Yes. And it doesn't involve drugs or pain or complex actions or thinking.

And no you don't have to die.

All you have to do is to be happy. Easy right? But not quite.

Being happy means 3 things.
1. Knowing what makes you happy and what makes you unhappy.
Ice cream makes me happy. Dancing makes me happy. Cheerful songs make me happy. Unhappy people makes me unhappy. Whenever I'm unhappy, I make other people unhappy, which will make me more unhappy. And so I should not be unhappy.
Having a goal and pursuing it makes me happy. Achieving it makes me happier.
Making enemies of the whole world makes me unhappy. And so I will not agitate others or cause harm to others, as that will make more unhappy and angry people, which will make me unhappy.

2. Staying away from things that makes you unhappy.
Drugs make me happy. For now. But then later I would be unhappy from the withdrawal symptoms and heavy money drain. Short term happiness is not as happy as long term happiness. And so I do not do drugs.
I do not smoke. Though it relieves me from my current problems for a short time, it does not solve my problems in the long run, and it causes me to spend money on it, possibly more and more each time. And it harms my health. As such, it will make me unhappy. And so I avoid it.
Unhappy people makes everyone around them unhappy. As such, we must avoid them. Or we channel our happiness into them, in hopes we make them happy. When they are happy, we are also affected by their happiness, and thus be happy.
I do not get near people who are chronically disastrous, or people with a terrible evil habit. These people will harm me, either mentally, physically, or both. As such I must avoid them. They may spread their evil habits to you, which will cause you to be unhappy. So they must be avoided. Avoid the depressed who never wants to pick themselves up. Avoid the loser who want to fight back. Avoid the smoker thinks he is right. Avoid the bully if you don't want to get hurt. As they say, 'Don't get near the fire if you don't want to get burnt.' If you want happiness, be smart.
I do not harm my family members, because that will make me unhappy, directly or indirectly. I do not betray my friends, because it will make me unhappy, directly or indirectly.

3. Doing what makes you happy.
Doing things that I like makes me happy. Being with the people I love makes me happy. And so I do them. I make time for these happy things, so that I can be happy. And I carry this happiness with me wherever I go, so that others can be happy as well.

If you follow these 3 mantras in this order, you'll definitely be happy.

But then, there are some grey areas to this theory.
For example, what about volunteerism? We help others, and they are happy. We should be happy... right?
Well, for some people, this might not be the case. For example, me. I will not gain immediate happiness, or any long term gratification from helping people, like giving to the elderly, or helping the disabled. I, however, gain happiness when I teach orphans ABC, the meaning of life, and why balloons float in the air and why submarines can sink and float at will. The reason why I am happy at the latter is because I am imparting my knowledge to the next generation, which will be useful in the future for the society. As such I am being useful to the society. Which means I'm doing something favoured and accepted by the society. Which makes me really happy. I'm also happy when people learn new things, not just me, anyone whom I've teached. Makes me feel accomplished, learned. Which, of course, makes me happy.
I, however do not derive joy from giving biscuits to old folks or doing things like performing for mentally-inclined people. Because I find it a waste of time and effort. I can, say, eat ice cream and be happy during that time. And no, making them happy does not make me happy in this case. As such, I avoid such scenarios (which is the main reason why I did not join the committee for NP soleil). As you can see, option 2 is acted upon first before action 3. Unhappiness spreads more easily then happiness. When within your body they spread even faster. So make sure they do not take root.

This is all about being happy. But then, you'll soon realise that you'll have to think again. You'll have to think and conceptualise your definition of happy. Is is smiling and laughing all day long? (Nutcase) Is it having an appreciation of all things that makes you feel lighter than usual? Is it that feeling where you feel that you are appreciative that you are alive?
Well, thats alot to think about. So to this 3 mantras, I add a 4th one, the most important one.

4. Describe your definition of happiness.
This will definitely take some time. Do not use events, like, 'oh, when I get the car/girl/condo of my dreams' but instead talk about feelings, like 'the light feeling I get', the 'intense satisfaction' the 'feeling I can do anything' things like that.

Your happiness is not a wish, but a birthright. Be happy, because you deserve it.