My father would always tell me a story about a warrior who decided to leave during the battle and hide in a cave in the Himalayan mountains. He felt tired and hungry from fighting vigorously. Since he did not have anything to do, he became curious and began to look around at the dark weary walls. He then saw an ant carrying a grain of rice to the other side of the wall. However, the grain of rice would fall. The ant crawled back to where the grain of rice had fallen and picked it up to embark on its journey to the opposite wall. The determined ant did this over again for thirty times. The warrior learned an important lesson that when we face challenges, we need to try our best and never lose hope. The courageous warrior went back to the battle feeling undaunted and diligent towards winning the battle. …show more content…
This short story is analogous to Daniel Gilbert’s idea that we will feel happier when we are “appropriately challenged” in The Science Behind the Smile article written by Gardiner Morse (HBR 87). Gilbert also explains that when we are “appropriately challenged”, we can achieve goals that are difficult, yet within our reach (HBR 87). Gilbert then describes that if there is a reward, then it will serve as a motivational factor to achieve a goal. Lastly, Gilbert states that frequent positive experiences lead to happiness because those positive experiences will add up over time. Ultimately, we will have more positive experiences than negative experiences, as a result, we will feel happier (HBR 88). I agree with Gilbert that through appropriate challenges such as taking AP classes in high school, I learned how to develop better studying habits which helped me succeed in my challenging courses at CRC. Through my success, I feel happy because I am going in the right direction of achieving my goal to transfer to UC Davis next
Stephen M. Schuller and Acacia C. Parks research shows that circumstantial factors do not adequately explain different level of happiness. Positive reactions will contribute to everyone’s happiness just as well as negative reactions do. I agree with Schuller and Parks when it comes down to where your happiness comes from. I believe your happiness comes from how you react to every situation in your life and how you let it affect your happiness. Therefore, I do not agree with Newman and Larsen due to him believing your happiness is out of your control. Newman and Larsen state that most of what influences your long-term happiness is not in your control. Most circumstances that happen in your
As shown in Alfie Kohn’s How not to get into college; the preoccupation with preparation, and in Heron Jones’s Somnambulist, society is pursuing extrinsic motivators and extrinsic happiness, although many feel as though extrinsic motivators are important and essential to be happy, intrinsic motivators are what will truly make one happy for a prolonged period of time. In society’s pursuit of extrinsic rewards, society is losing sight of intrinsic happiness and thus, feeling unfulfilled and lacking intrinsic
Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. "On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of
If everyone thinks that without struggle, it is easy to obtain their goals that is entirely false. Struggle comes from the progress of our success and achievement. It is an indication that we poured all of our time and patience into the things we pursue. Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass Castle, explain her struggles. She survives by finding foods from the trash can and earns money by babysitting, exchanging scrap metal, finding jobs, and from her parents. As a graduating student from high school, receiving my diploma is an indication that I ...
In the essay Why Happiness, Why Now? Sara Ahmed talks about how one’s goal in life is to find happiness. Ahmed begins her essay with skepticism and her disbeliefs in happiness. She shows her interest in how happiness is linked to a person’s life choices. Ahmed also tries to dig deeper, and instead of asking an unanswerable question, “what is Happiness?” she asks questions about the role of happiness in one’s life.
Fredrickson, Barbara L. and Michael F. Losada. "Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing." American Psychologist 60.7 (2005): 678-686. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
MLA: Wallis, Claudia, et al. “The New Science of Happiness.” Time. 17 Jan. 2005. Academic Search Premier. Yale University Library. 11 Jan. 2006.
We know that the mind clings to the negative — but research also shows us that 3 times more positive things happen to us than negative things every day. At any given time, a lot of things are going right in our lives. Either in our career or in our personal lives. It could be that you enjoy what you do at work, are grateful for the paycheck, or appreciate your organization’s values or benefits. It could be the joy you derive from your family, hobbies, sports, or community service. When we savor our experiences, we derive more pleasure and satisfaction from them. Spending time enjoying and feeling grateful for what is going right in your life will help you weather the rest. Caroline spent hours every week devoted to a community service activity from which she derived the joy and strength with which to face her other
Yet, happiness is not a condition, a gift or a talent, though some people appear to have a natural knack for happiness than others. They seem to have no particular reason for being happy except that they are so. Sometimes it may lie in one’s genetic disposition to be happier than others in identical circumstances; they have inherent aptitude for happiness. They are born with it: born happy. It is the genetic factor. But, it is also a skill that can be acquired, practiced into habit. Typically, a man tends to count his misfortunes more than his fortunes. But if he counts his fortunes at the same time with the same sensitivity, he would see that for every misfortune there are so many fortunes, for every pain there are so many pleasures. If he counts it right, he will be very happy. It is a hard arithmetic, but to be master with the math, we need to welcome these blessings and recount ourselves to be happy every day, every time. We need to reconcile, recognize and appreciate what we have (good health) and what we do not have (cancer). The talent of being happy is an understanding. Intelligence starts here. It is not a huge effort; it is possible and achievable. It is some form of
"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner was published in September of 2003. It is an essay that discusses the difference between how happy we believe we will be with a particular outcome or decision, and how happy we actually are with the outcome. The essay is based on experiments done by two professors: Daniel Gilbert and George Loewenstein. The experiments show that humans are never as happy as we think we will be with an outcome because affective forecasting and miswanting cause false excitement and disappointment in our search for true happiness.
...le gains in happiness: Change your actions, not your circumstances. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7(1), 55-86. doi:10.1007/s10902-005-0868-8
Only in recent years have psychologists begun to appreciate the benefits of happiness and positive emotion — benefits that include everything from enhanced creativity to improved immune-system function. Dr. Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina, a leader in the field of positive psychology, posed the question, “What good are positive emotions?” and came up with the following possibilities.
What would happen if you were to reach a big goal that you set for yourself? Would you feel elated? For how many seconds, minutes, hours, or even days will you feel happy for? For a majority of us, the euphoric feeling isn’t going to last very long. Perhaps, the longest we will stay happy for is a month or sometimes more. It’s not like your goal has lost its meaning, but the mere fact that you were happy because the joy of achieving your goal and the feeling of being happy has subsided. Once the feeling fades, the next goal and the next achievement are in motion. Humans rarely ever feel completely content with where they are in life and when they feel that they’re happy when a certain situation happens, it doesn’t last too long it’s because people are always going to look for the next goal to pursue. Thi...
Happiness is how something is viewed as opposed to a physical thing. However, happiness is not only a perspective but also a choice. Success and happiness are frequently linked to contentment but happiness should not be dependent on success. In spite of not succeeding in my chosen sport of horse riding the enjoyment it provided for me far outweighed any d...
This short essay engages in a close reading of a passage of Emmanuel Levinas’s ‘The Face’ drawing on the concepts of identity and relational logics. Questions concerning the assumptions employed by Levinas about time, space and form of being will be asked of the text in order to create a dialogue with its meaning. The potential implications of these assumptions will also be explored through the consideration of hinge words and pivotal phrases. Tangible conclusions will not be drawn; however arguments will unfold which demonstrate the possibilities of this passage in regards to the creation of knowledge and the understanding of everyday ways of being.