Analysis Of The Happiness Factor

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What is happiness and how do we get it? In “The Happiness Factor,” David Brooks gives evidence that what people think will make them happy are not really the things that actually do. There is a belief that people with money are happier than the less privileged, and it is true to a point. People living in poverty or paycheck-to-paycheck have reported lower levels of personal satisfaction. However, when they reach middle-income status, their happiness is determined more by personal relationships than by their economic situation. Studies done by Carol Graham of the Brookings Institute have shown that countries with a fast-growing economy prove to be slightly less happy that countries with slower growth. However, first-world countries such as the …show more content…

According to researchers, the everyday activities most said to bring happiness are sex, socializing, and having meals with friends and loved ones. Marital happiness is more important for determining personal contentment than any number of career achievements. The author says that the government is more concerned with having people being productive in the workplace than they are in having people learn how to be a good member of society. The government has an entire system in place to keep track of material things, but the system falls apart when it has to deal with the citizen’s moral and social needs. For the author, happiness might be the awareness that money is not the source of personal satisfaction, but the need for interpersonal relationships. My own belief is that happiness lies in knowing oneself and things that make you a better person. The things to contribute me being a better person are nature and the world around me, my love of books, and the enjoyment that I get out of …show more content…

I was a shy, introverted child. My main outlet was the books that I had at school and home. Books gave me a feeling of freedom and the ability to travel places and meet people that I would never know otherwise. I was a voracious reader, and I read everything. My mother said that I would read the phone book if I had nothing else at hand. The escapism given by books became a necessary part of my life. No matter how bad things might be at home, I knew that if I had a book that I had a way out of the current situation. I have always had an insatiable need to know everything. I watch documentaries about anything and everything, mainly history, science, and the paranormal. I am a master of trivia and can talk about the most obscure topics. I know a bit about everything. The freedom that books and learning offered me as a child and still gives as an adult is an integral part of my soul. I am never happy without something to read and learn

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