Camille Noe Pagan's Real Secret To Happiness

Throughout the readings several theories are found on how to individuals achieve the genuine definition of happiness. With the hypotheses of many, it seems almost impossible to define happiness. Is it the thoughtful acts for others? Does it depend on an individual’s mindset? Michael Wiederman, Holy Schiffrin, S. Nelson, and Camille Noe Pagan, all provide many plausible theories of how to find the truth behind individuals’ happiness in their writings.

Camille Noe Pagan’s “Real Secret to Happiness” has the point of view that helping others is what makes people happy. By quoting Stefanie Ziev who is a life coach “helping others makes you feel better about yourself and the world around you” The article goes onto to say that our “bodies prime us

Nelson’s “Stressed and Happy” there are several different opinions of the true definition of happiness, which makes it quite difficult to define what makes an individual genuinely happy. By combining theories of many, the question is can one be happy without stress in their lives, or is stress a necessity for true happiness. One of the many included theories of their writing was Diener, which believed that there are three factors in individual’s lives that have to do with their happiness; their life satisfactions, positive emotions, as well as their negative emotions. Behind Diener’s theory it added that the three components create an overall observation of individuals’ happiness. With Schiffrin and Nelson’s article they tie stress to happiness, with Fredrickson and Levenson’s hypothesis they found that positive emotions have been known to have a factor in undoing of negative emotions. Unlike Diener, Seligman believed that for one to be genuinely happy, people need to have positive things in their lives and not negative. Seligman’s definition, which consists of three factors, the pleasant life, engaged life, and a meaningful life. With the philosophy that the most “satisfied” individuals try to pursue all three to find their own “pathway” of

Step one, don’t put all emphasis on goals. Step two, make time for helping others, similar to Pagan’s theory that helping others brings happiness to individuals. Step three, moderate the use of things that make individuals happy. Wiederman used a favorite meal for an example, if an individual were to eat their favorite meal quite often, it eventually wouldn’t be their favorite as much. Things that tend to individuals happy tend to ware of, that being because of the constant urge to want to find something new and better. In the movie “Happy” it discusses the Hedonic Treadmill, how no matter what we gain we will always want more. With materialistic items us as individuals there is always something new and fresh around the corner, so finding satisfaction with items is only temporary. Step four, being content or satisfied, which kind of ties with moderation, by keeping things average. Instead of seeing someone else with something and wanting it, being content with what an individual has makes most be more appreciative of what they already have. It can be difficult to see others with something and not to feel jealously. When individuals are content with what they have they of a chance to have negativity in their lives. Which ties together with Seligman’s theory that individuals are happier with life when they have no negativity. Step five, go with the flow. By not putting pressure on making sure things go