The discrepancy between happiness and external achievement

I remember not too long ago asking my mother at a small concert whether she was happy or not. She seemed confused by my question and answered yes. I asked if she felt that way perpetually and she seemed to grasp what I was asking. "Some days I'm happy some days i'm miserable, I just try to keep it above the baseline as much as possible". I asked her how she went about to do that and she instructed me to find happiness in the little things. While I saw the logic in her reasoning, i felt dissatisfied with her answer. Happiness can't merely be achieved by mowing the lawn and cleaning my room…