Our society today seems to be very focused on finding true happiness, just look at the number of self-help books on the market. While this desire for happiness may seem more idealized than ever, people have been focused on achieving the good life since the beginning of mankind. For me, the good life is one where I feel inner peace, and am connected with the people around me. Saint Anselm’s Proslogion, Never Let Me Go, The Desert Fathers, and The Consolation of Philosophy have all shown me that to achieve my good life and truly be happy, I must spend time away from my stressful environment and practice self-reflection so I can focus on what values are most important to me, and elicit a positive change in myself and others. Like people’s desire …show more content…
He did not choose to go to prison because he thought it would be a nice way to reconnect with himself, but he was still able to use this time alone to discover what happiness meant to him and come to peace with his future death. At first he is completely miserable in his prison cell, but after taking time to think about this misery he is able to realize that he is “wasting away in pining and longing for [his] former good fortune” (Boethius, 22). Reflecting on his life shows him that he had been valuing the wrong things. He sees that the things he has valued for so long, like his reputation or his office, are fleeting things that cannot bring him the happiness he searches for. Instead, he realizes that he needs to be thankful for the things that he has been taking for granted, like his family. He continues to try and discover what happiness is and finds that in his good life “true happiness is to be found in the supreme God” (Boethius, 69). While Boethius did not deserve to be in jail, his time alone proved to be very important for him. If he had not had this time, it is possible he would have been wasting his life away trying to find happiness in the fleeting things Lady Fortune governs and would in the end never have been able to find the true happiness he so desperately wanted. His realizations from his reflective time in prison prove that a person does not necessarily have to be in a peaceful environment to find inner peace, but rather they just have to take time to reflect on their
Society pressure themselves to be happy; they often ask questions like, “does that make you happy?” What they fail to understand is that sometimes doing the right thing, for the moment, might not seem to bring happiness in one’s life, but after trekking the ups and downs of life, happiness might be waiting on the other side. From time to time people also judge good and bad through happiness. “If something is good, we feel good. If something is
Happiness is a reprise from the many trials and turmoil of life, and so it is natural that we should actively seek it. Ironically though, in our naïve belief that we can somehow augment the amount of happiness in our world, we are actually making our world more depressing to live in. Both John F. Schumaker, in The Happiness Conspiracy, and Ray Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451, argue that our myopic pursuit of happiness is actually counterproductive. The two authors attempt to persuade the reader that happiness is, and should be, an almost-serendipitous byproduct of a truly fulfilling life, and therefore should not be an explicit objective.
“Be happy… not because everything is good, but because you can see the good in everything” is a quote that is used quite often when referring to happiness. This quote fits in really well with the literature that we have been reading, especially when reading Until They Bring The Streetcars Back by Stanley Gordon West, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and lastly Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck. The reason this quote fits in well is because The literature of our course suggests that one may experience more happiness by helping others, rather than themselves.
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
In the world, people are wired to hunt for happiness, but what they are really deeming for is satisfaction. Happiness and satisfaction are similar, but not the completely the same. Satisfaction is the content feeling you get after a big meal or taking a long nap on a Sunday afternoon, while happiness is a chosen factor that can only be achieved through willpower. Many try and search the external world for the happiness that lies within. Clarisse asks Montag if he is happy, and when he realizes he is not, he turns to knowledge to find it (Bradbury 10).
Happiness can come in many different ways for people. For me, my Pursuit of Happiness is doing what you love and living your life to your expectations. Over this unit of American Literature we have studied The Great Gatsby the characters looked to others for their happiness. In Of Mice and Men The characters did what made others happy instead of themselves and also looked to simple things for happiness. Although in Ain't I a Woman Sojourner Truth did what made her happy even if everyone was against her. If you are doing
In book III of The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius establishes the fact that God is the world's helmsman, the divine reason, the supreme good, the origin of all things. He demonstrates that God is omnipotent and omniscient. Nothing more superior can even be conceived of. Through the concept of unity, through which things basically become good, Boethius shows that God and happiness are one, the divine goodness. He concludes, "God is the essence of happiness." (70)
Boethius was wrongfully accused of treason and imprisoned, leading him to question as to why God would allow bad things to happen to good people and how you can not be completely happy and there is never true happiness. The fear of losing happiness destroys happiness. "No man is so completely happy that something somewhere does not clash with his condition. It is the nature of human affairs to be fraught with anxiety; they never prosper perfectly and they never remain constant" Boethius (30). This quote represents the fear of losing happiness destroys happiness in my
Happiness is a feeling that everyone tries to accomplish, yet some people sometimes only capture portions of it. In Brian Doyle essay, “Irreconcilable Dissonance,” he explains that divorce is becoming common among many couples today. Most couples are putting less effort into making a relationship/marriage work. There are many couples who get married, and most of them know that if the marriage does not work that divorce is always an option. With divorce in their back of their mind they lack the true meaning of having a happy marriage. In Eduardo Porter essay, “What Is Happiness,” Porter states that happiness is determined by people’s qualities in their life. People who experience a positive viewpoint on life and about others are overall to
Happiness has always been a desirable goal throughout our lives, but each actions we take might just affect the happiness of others. When humans seek happiness, we always seek for things that make us feel alive, or things that brings us the greatest comfort. Our contentment comes with the act of selfishness since we choose to prioritize our happiness above all other. We willingly classify happiness in two different types of meaning, both physical and mental happiness. People ought not be in title to happiness because it is classified in general as a physical desire by many people. Contentment is always known to be a physical satisfaction in life instead of a self-inducing satisfaction for life.
Boethius places an increased emphasis on God’s eternal goodness to prove He can neither causes nor condone wickedness, intending to provide comfort for the virtuous affected by injustice. Boethius’s belief concerning the interaction of evil and justice in the Consolation of Philosophy intends to comfort the virtuous from the seemingly wicked world. Lady Philosophy, representing reason, soothes Boethius’s initial concerns by explaining how evil, the absence of good, can never defeat justice, and that the wicked will receive their punishment when Providence sees fit. Boethius also places an increased emphasis on God’s eternal goodness to clarify the role of Providence in the natural plan of the world. Boethius advises the reader that true happiness can only be found in the stability of the self and a virtuous lifestyle.
I awoke, frightened and alone, with a monster standing beside my bed. Although my body was paralyzed with fear, my mind was awake, trying to figure out how this hideous creature could have found me. As I gazed into the hypnotizing, dark eyes of this giant, the room altered, and I found myself, once again, in the basement of my father’s house. Surrounded with medical equipment, a rush of adrenaline pulsed through my tired body, forcing it awake. The monster walked slowly through the room, dragging his long, boney finger along the table. I remembered this basement very well, as I spent a great deal of time occupying it; however, there was something different, something was missing, something had changed. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Before I could spot the difference, an odd aroma began filling the air, making it somewhat difficult to breathe. Once again I found myself spinning, falling through a dark tunnel with no sense of direction or time, I closed my eyes tightly. Whenever the spinning sensation concluded, I opened my eyes. The aroma was stronger here, forcing tears out of my eyes and my dinner back up my throat. I knew exactly where I was…
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.
Happiness, what is it, and why do we strive to achieve it so persistently? Happiness in some points of view is portrayed as the state that is derived from self-awareness of a benefiting action or moment taking place. What of the moments that are not beneficial? Can a person still find moments of happiness and success in discord, a little glimmer of light shining from the deep recesses of our own consciousness? Plucking it from a mere moment, achieved from money, or is it so much more, happiness is the precipice that all strive to gain to better perceive their success. As a person lives, they are in a constant struggle to be happy. For instance, even the United States Constitution makes reference to the idea that every person has the inalienable right to pursue happiness. This was the resulting outcome of the enlightenment from France, spilling out into the rest of the world from 1650 through 1800. This revolutionized the idea that every single person has the inalienable right to happiness or in different views the right to succeed. As to how one peruses or conjures their happiness that is an entirely different concept and completely up to their preferred preference, but it is something that a person needs to find on their own for true success.
Finding meaning in who you are and what you do is vital to having happiness. “Leading a happy life… is associated with being a "taker" while leading a meaningful life corresponds with being a “giver””(Smith 2013). The idea of giving if often thought of one that brings happiness, but it doesn’t, it brings about meaning. Happiness is a selfish thing, and while to a point we must be selfish in out pursuit to live a happy life, we must not forget to be kind to one another and be humble. Being happy and having meaning go much together, finding a balance is what is hard. Happiness doesn’t last forever and will fluctuate with moods and situations, but meaning doesn’t. Meaning connects all of the aspects of your life, past, present, and future, together. This connection allows one to look inward and focus on who they are, and while those who report more meaning are slightly less happy in the present they tend to be happier overall (Smith