Appreciation is one effective route to happiness, and one great technique for heightened appreciation is temporary deprivation. In an earlier post I mentioned that simply making a list of things you're thankful for can increase your happiness. Once you've compiled your list, consider going without each one, one at a time, for whatever period you think is appropriate. Admittedly this attempt to recalibrate your appreciation is "working within the system" rather than "breaking from free the system" (that is, changing external circumstances rather than internal interpretations of those circumstances), but I've found that such temporary deprivation can be an effective technique for cultivating appreciation when it doesn't come naturally.