The “good life” is a subjective ideal, and no two people will hold the same beliefs as to what the “good life” entails. As I was thinking about what the “good life” is, money came across my mind. Wealth may not create happiness alone, but wealth can purchase items that can create happiness. Money can buy a puppy to be my companion and provide me with love and affection, usefulness, and fun experiences. But, then I thought having a puppy would make my happiness depend on the puppy. Why not just have love, usefulness, and experiences in general so that it can span many different avenues. The “good life” is a life in which I can be truly happy, and although money can be beneficial, the three core values that sum what would make me happy in order of importance are: love/affection, usefulness/purpose, and experiences/adventures. …show more content…
People need a reason to get out of bed each morning and this need can be satisfied through a professional career, hobbies, random acts, or a relationship. The way to think about this, is if I were to randomly disappear today, at this precise moment, whose lives would it change dramatically? If I were to answer this question, it would be a fairly short list, but if a professor, like Professor Dave Rogers of Widener University were to disappear, it would affect his significant other, his children, his students, and probably many more. The more people that depend on the individual, the more usefulness or purpose they have. I may not have a lot of use/purpose as compared to Professor Rogers, but by attending college and striving for a degree in which I will get a job that will depend on my work and efficiency. For now, this is plenty to satisfy the need of purpose. Purpose is an important aspect of achieving the “good life”, but life is also about enjoying oneself through
They say if you love something, let it go. Yeah, I had a hard time believing those few words, for almost five years now.I met the first guy I fell in love with and whom I believed I was destined to spend my whole life with. I remember reading a quote or something like that by Plato, saying, “According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.” And I had sworn that I was sure he was my other half, that it was meant to be. Sucks though, when reality hits
While for some, a good life resumes in living in an expensive home, and drive expensive cars; for others, a good life is hiking a mountain or rafting in a river.
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...
When none of us has ever come across such words and formulas, none of the great personalities has ever mentioned it, then who the hell has instilled it in our minds that money brings happiness. But among 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 to have it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties but to attend a party with honor.
Do you desire to be more successful in life than you are? Most people do, as it provides an inspiration to wake up each day. To believe you have the potential to improve your life is imperative for being motivated to excel and optimistic about your future. If you do not believe in your potential to be a better you, why get out of bed?
According to Webster dictionary the word Happiness in defined as Enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy. People when they think of happiness, they think about having to good feeling inside. There are many types of happiness, which are expressed in many ways. Happiness is something that you can't just get it comes form your soul. Happiness is can be changed through many things that happen in our every day live.
For our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five-year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress.
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
What exactly is happiness anyway? Happiness is when you feel complete and satisfied. It is when you’re content with where you are and what you have. It is the joy of doing something you love, or spending time with someone you love. It is an emotion and the best one yet. Money can easily make a person temporarily happy with the possessions it can buy, but true happiness is more than that. People can have everything material wise and still not be happy. Sure it can buy you many things, but the happiness from it is only temporary and limited. There’s only so much happiness you can buy with money. Money can easily buy you food, a clock, a house, education, make-up or medication; however it can’t buy you nutrition, time, a home, knowledge, beauty or health. It can buy you infatuation, but not love, acquaintances but not friendship and hierarchy but not respect. People spend their entire lives trying to make more and more money thinking that it means success. They neglect family and friends, don’t care about who they take down to reach their ...
The journey to achieve the good life on a personal level has defined human life across all cultures and time periods. Although we human beings have this similar goal in life, what we consider to be the “good life” differs from person to person. The Hindu people, for example, believe that one reaches the good life or enlightenment when he/she finds and truly understands Atman, the inner self or soul. In my opinion the good life involves following one’s internal ideals and values. These values should allow him/her to enjoy the good life in spite of time progression and outside influences such as material wealth. However, this concept of the good life comes with costs that prevent those without a strong will to stray from their values. On the journey to find the good life people often come across social and political barriers much like the civil rights supporters of the 20th century. Still more people struggle with making the sacrifices needed to sustain and ensure the longevity their good life, which is illustrated by Aldo Leopold’s land ethic. The costs may seem overwhelming at first but they are only temporary and the long lasting, internal benefits eventually become dominant.
Money and Happiness are two things that we have all given a lot thought. We put lots of effort into these two things either trying to earn them or trying to increase them. The connection we make between money and happiness is strange because they are two very different concepts. Money is tangible, you can quantify it, and know exactly how much of it you have at any given time. Happiness, on the other hand, is subjective, elusive, has different meanings for different people and despite the efforts of behavioral scientist and psychologist alike, there is no definitive way to measure happiness. In other word, counting happiness is much more difficult than counting dollar bills. How can we possibly make this connection? Well, money, specifically in large quantity, allows for the freedom to do and have anything you want. And in simplest term, happiness can be thought of as life satisfaction and enjoyment. So wouldn’t it make sense that the ability to do everything you desire, result in greater satisfaction with your life.
From the time we are born till our death we are always seeking the good life, and for the billions of people on earth, good life can mean many different things.. There are also circumstances in our lives that makes us decide if we are living a good life. For many, having money gives them the greatest joy. While for others becoming educated and giving back to the society is the best life, and there are many more reasons. For me living a good life is about being moral, not pertain to evil and educate myself in order to gain respect from the people around me. However one thing that can be distinguished is that materialistic things like money, jewelry or being evil and hurting others is not a form of true happiness. It is temporary happiness that
However, after learning about the good life in the views of Aristotle, it is safe to say that the idea of happiness has entirely changed. Money, although helpful, only causes pain. It seems to me that once you start earning money, you will want more than what you need and you will grow to become greedy. I would rather live happily having a job that I love to do, wake up every morning to the same cup of cheap coffee, and read every day to my heart's content than to turn greedy for money. Moreover, money is not materialistic to me and cannot buy my happiness, so I will live by Aristotle's words and live my life with the intent of my actions leading to my happiness.
The first listed concept, the good life, has been repeatedly analyzed by practically every living person on earth in an attempt to dig up what it takes to achieve it. The good life, to some people, is solely based around the ideas of: love, family, success or sadly, money. But, one cannot fully live life with only one of those things, but not the others. That
The meaning of a “good life” can be interpreted in various ways. The term “good” can be seen as happiness and fulfilment because of personal achievements, but it can also be seen as in being a morally just person because you put others before yourself by giving back to your community. “Life” in its plainest meaning can be just living, but it can also be lifelong goals that give you a purpose for existing. Together the “good life” in this sense has two different meanings. It can be achieving fulfillment because of the actions you did to benefit yourself, but it can also be finding happiness in others through charity and turning that into your own happiness. Personally, the second interpretation of a “good life” is my position on this, but to fully understand the “good life,” it is important to see the opposite of that, a miserable life.