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An essay about happiness
Philosophy of happiness essay
An essay about happiness
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Happiness has been and will be debatable topic that will carry on decades from now. It seems to be not one definite definition based on people’s perception of what it really means to be happy or what bring about happiness. Most people may believe it is just an end goal while others take it as the foundation to further greatness. People seem to usually draw happiness from a vast number of things. Generally, happiness comprises of an emotional and psychological state of well-being that can be characterized through pleasing and positive emotions such as joy contentment. Still, happiness has been researched and defined differently on the basis of religious views, biological views, philosophical and psychological views. In this essay, I will clarify …show more content…
Studies show that people confuses material things or momentary joy to be happiness. In both articles, Sex Makes People Happy and Happiness Study: Money, Sex, and Alcohol Are the Keys After All by William Smith, explains how people believes money, sex and alcohol makes them happy. All people are not alike, so what might bring happiness to someone might not be the same for another. College Students Who Binge Drink Say They're Happier by Alan Mozes, recounts how college student binge drink believes they are happier but in truth they are not. The article also states that even college students are supposed to be “happier”, they drink to fit in socially and receive higher status. Which proves Deepak Chopra article, Why You Don’t Want to Be Happy correct. Individuals tend to minimize their own happiness by pursuing short term joy. Most people may believe that they can be happy even with material wealth. But then again, not all wealthy individuals are happy. Not all drunks are happy, they are in fact mostly miserable. Therefore, happiness is definitely more than what we think it is. It’s not just an end goal. But, something that is unceasing and is originated on beliefs that go beyond having pleasure and attaining tangible things that we want than …show more content…
Everything I Know About Life I Learned from Groundhog Day by Tracy Moore, recounts the life of Phil and his quest to find and be happy. Phil never truly found happiness until he started to create relationships with people instead of trying to fake his way through life. Tracy Moore wrote “but it isn't until he taps into something authentic an actual, honest to god appreciation for his fellow man/woman — that he stands a chance in hell at being happy”. Happiness is a psychological well-being that brings inner fulfilment and not necessarily with the existence of substantial things. Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin recounts C.G. Jung’s five keys to happiness are good health, good relationships, having the ability to cope with life, the ability to notice the art and beauty in nature and being a hard working. Happiness is not something you seek but something that takes effort in connecting with oneself, people and the beauty of the world. Happiness is pleasing but most importantly, it includes engaging and discovering the meaning of life. Individuals can choose to be happy when everything around them is not perfect or where they will expect to accomplish in life. Never try to seek happiness, C.G. Jung believes “the more you are not to find
In Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project”, the idea of happiness is explored in great detail based on many different factors that may influence one’s own happiness. In Rubin’s case, she chose eleven concepts and ideas that she felt needed the most attention in her life and would dedicate one month out of the year to each individual concept; then, in December, she would reflect on all that she has learned and live the new lifestyle she had maintained for an entire year. Rubin started the book with a brief introduction that explained why she ultimately began on a year-long journey to find happiness and the steps she took along the way. Rubin explains that she felt that she first got the idea while sitting on a bus and pondering if she was wasting her life. Once she came to the realization that she would like to live a more eventful and peaceful life, Rubin set out to improve her own life without relying on anyone else. First, she wrote down everything that she had planned to improve upon over the course of the year in time for New Year’s Day and read many articles about happiness written by famous philosophers such as Plato to gain a further understanding of the overall concept of happiness. In addition to this, Gretchen Rubin also made a list of her Twelve Commandments and her Secrets to Adulthood, short statements that all individuals should live by to make his or her daily life much
The studies given as examples and discussion focuses on teenagers and young adults, but includes anyone is struggling to find happiness. Evidence to Support Thesis: Point 1: The level of well-being is emphasized as more people continue to lose track of what makes them happy. Shawn Anchor is reminding people to capture the essence of simple contentment and asking his audience to think about what they value. Anchor’s book provides seven principles that involve having an open mind to becoming happier. Anchor includes other research studies as evidence to his claims throughout the book.
Happiness plays an important and necessary role in the lives of people around the world. In America, happiness has been engrained in our national consciousness since Thomas Jefferson penned these famous words in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson). Since then, Americans have been engaged in that act: pursuing happiness. The problem however, as Ray Bradbury demonstrates in his novel Fahrenheit 451, is that those things which make us happy initially may eventually lead to our downfall. By examining Guy Montag, the protagonist in Fahrenheit 451, and the world he lives in we can gain valuable insights to direct us in our own pursuit of happiness. From Montag and other characters we will learn how physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness can drastically affect our lives. We must ask ourselves what our lives, words, and actions are worth. We should hope that our words are not meaningless, “as wind in dried grass” (Eliot).
What is Happiness? Well that’s a question that everyone asks to themselves. Happiness is not something that you can trade; it’s honestly what people find. They want happiness and want to know they will always be happy. But Happiness is like air and water it is a hard emotion to grab on to in one’s hand. How do you know you have happiness? Can you feel it? Does it just happen? These are questions everyone wants a answer to.
Now how does a person go about being happy, well let us examine one of the most common questions in reference to happiness, “can money buy happiness?” most people would say “yes.” The answer to this question will almost always be yes, because society and humans in general tend to be greedy creature always wanting more, from a better house to finer foods there is and always will be more to obtain. But is having these things what makes humans happy or is it the success of achieving your own...
Happiness is an inclination that everyone aims to fulfill yet only a few appear to be exposed to it. There is a constant developing issue within our reality which is despondency. It appears that people tend to experience depression and desolation rather than contentment in relation to their lifestyles. This derives from seeking happiness in the wrong things or formulating a sense of dissatisfaction by comparing one’s lifestyle to another. Happiness does not derive from an experience of joy and pleasure. In fact, two essentials in discovering genuine happiness are self-acceptance and solidarity. Throughout the Happy Movie directed by Roko Belic, there were various examples regarding the happiness and unhappiness of people in our society. The
But in this debate, one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life, but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant, but having it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties, but to attend a party with honor.
“The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living” is a collaboration by His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., who identify many possible components that could lead to a happy and satisfying life. Their approach combines and integrates the thoughts of East and West; Buddhist principles and practices on one hand and Western science and psychology on the other. Many everyday difficulties are highlighted in this book, and Dalai Lama and Dr. Cutler attempts to help the readers find appropriate solutions in order to find a balanced and lasting happiness. Dalai Lama’s understanding of the factors that ultimately lead to happiness is based on a lifetime of methodically observing his own mind, exploring the nature of the human condition, and investigating these things within a framework first established by The
Happiness is a feeling that humans naturally desire. Without it, one feels incomplete. In this generation, happiness has taken on a definition by how we are presented to one another. It is measured by how much money we have, how famous we are, or the things we possess. When in reality, none of these things guarantee a happy life. Happiness is something that cannot be bought with money, but rather, it must be found, earned, sought after. Each and every one of us has our own list of things that we consider to make us happy. However, happiness shines brightest through the relationships we create, and the goals we make for ourselves to strive after. Along with these two essential sources, we then can mix and match those things in life that we enjoy to create our own unique formula for happiness.
From the survey psychologists made, it seems that what makes us happy may not always bring more meaning, and vice versa. Feeling happy was strongly correlated with seeing life as easy, pleasant and free from difficult or troubling events, while none of these things were correlated with a greater sense of meaning. They also find that money is positively correlated with greater levels of happiness. However, having enough money seems to make little difference in life’s sense of meaning. Therefore, perhaps instead of saying that “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” we ought to say that “Money doesn’t buy meaning.” Additionally, in Baumeister’s study, “givers” reported higher levels of meaning in their lives compared to the “takers”. The researchers also point out
Everybody wants to be happy. Parents want their children to have a happy childhood and a happy life, people wish newlyweds a happy married life, and when someone passes on, they say, “S/he had a happy life,” as if that is comforting to those who are already missing the person and who are very unhappy. Why is happiness so important to people? Perhaps it is because humans are competitive by nature and one person exaggerates his/her happiness so that others are envious. Maybe it is because humans like to be distracted by a story and if they can believe someone actually achieves perfect happiness, then they can hold out hope for themselves. What is happiness exactly? No one knows because everyone defines it differently. In general though, happiness is an overall feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. If that is the case, then happiness seems easy enough to achieve, but whether humans are actually capable of realizing they are in the state of happiness though is another issue.
When we are young children, we are introduced to the concept of "living happily ever after". This is a fairy-tale emotional state of absolute happiness, where nothing really happens, and nothing even seems to matter. It is a state of feeling good all the time. In fairy tales, this feeling is usually found in fulfilling marriages, royal castles, singing birds and laughing children. In real life, an even-keeled mood is more psychologically healthy than a mood in which you frequently achieve great heights of happiness. Furthermore, when you ask people what makes their lives worth living, they rarely mention their mood. They are more likely to talk about what they find meaningful, such as their work or relationships. Research suggests that if you focus too much on trying to feel good all the time, you’ll actually undermine your ability to ever feel good because no amount of feeling good will be satisfying to you. If feeling good all the time were the only requirement for happiness, then a person who uses cocaine every day would be extremely happy. In our endless struggle for more money, more love and more security, we have forgotten the most fundamental fact: happiness is not caused by possessions or social positions, and can in fact be experienced in any daily activity. We have made happiness a utopia: expensive, complicated, and unreachable.
For example, for one person, happiness is a sense of satisfaction from success in a career, whereas for others, it may be a feeling of being loved by other people. Meanwhile, philosophers indicate that happiness has two senses. The first one is psychological sense related to a state of mind (Haybron). The other sense is “a value term, synonymous with well-being” (Haybron). First observation may be in our daily lives.
I believe that happiness is the key to living a good and prosperous life. Through all of the sadness and hate in the world, happiness gives me hope. It gives not only me, but others hope and joy. Happiness gives us something to hold onto, therefore we cherish it as much as we can.
In “Happiness and Success”, Laura Huckabee-Jennings explains how achieving success and materialistic possessions have nothing to do with happiness. People may be able to accomplish a goal and be successful, they become happy, but that is not happiness. The moment when people become happy about the goal they just overcame, they will be feeling temporary happiness, therefore they won’t be happy for long. People will begin to look for more goals to overcome in order to feel the euphoria. Happiness is an ongoing state of mind according to Huckabee-Jennings, one creates the state of mind and anyone can create happiness in any kind of situation good or bad. Achievements and success will only be an addiction for over-achievers and they’ll continue to look for goals in order to feel happy. Until people make achievements part of their core-values, happiness will be built into peoples achievements.Anyone who naturally attracts people can attract success because of their happiness.