Happiness is basically defined as a state of being happy. However many people have a different definition of this basic necessity. As our days become more and more hectic with one daunting task after another our ideas of being happy start to dwindle away, leaving us searching for artificial forms of happiness. Happiness is our right and can be obtained through many different paths. As Americans we are entitled to our own happiness and it is even written in The Declaration of Independence which plainly states “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”(US 1776). As it states
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from the book Pursuing Happiness, he states, to answer this question, I'll start by reflecting on why material rewards, which people regard so highly, do not necessarily provide the happiness expected from them. The first reason is the well-documented escalation of expectations. If people strive for a certain level of affluence thinking that it will make them happy, they find that on reaching it, they become very quickly habituated, and at that point they start hankering for the next level of income, property, or good health”(145). What Csikszentmihalyi is saying with this is that no matter how much an individual has or obtained, it is never enough, and in the end it always leaves them wanting, needing, or searching for …show more content…
Spirituality is defined as having a sense of connectedness to others. People who feel their lives have meaning usually are very much happier than the rest of us. The Dalai Llama is a good example of someone with pure spiritual happiness and is featured in The Sources of Happiness and he states in this article, “There are certain key elements that we can eventually acknowledge as contributing to joy and happiness. For example, good health is considered to be one of the necessary factors for a happy life. Another factor that we regard as a source of happiness is material facilities, or the wealth that we accumulate. An additional factor is to have a friendship with companions. We all recognize that in order to enjoy a fulfilled life, we need a circle of friends with whom we can relate to emotionally and trust”(24). What the Dalai Llama is referring to is that all these things do contribute to your happiness, it is then when you recognize that you have an equal amount of all of these is when you have truly found what you have been looking for. Lastly, Gretchen Rubin says it best in the chapter December from The Happiness Project, when she stated, “ One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make others happy. One of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy myself”(285). Very simply but has a very powerful meaning Rubin is basically saying that you can’t expect those around you to be happy if
from the book Pursuing Happiness, he states, to answer this question, I'll start by reflecting on why material rewards, which people regard so highly, do not necessarily provide the happiness expected from them. The first reason is the well-documented escalation of expectations. If people strive for a certain level of affluence thinking that it will make them happy, they find that on reaching it, they become very quickly habituated, and at that point they start hankering for the next level of income, property, or good health”(145). What Csikszentmihalyi is saying with this is that no matter how much an individual has or obtained, it is never enough, and in the end it always leaves them wanting, needing, or searching for …show more content…
Spirituality is defined as having a sense of connectedness to others. People who feel their lives have meaning usually are very much happier than the rest of us. The Dalai Llama is a good example of someone with pure spiritual happiness and is featured in The Sources of Happiness and he states in this article, “There are certain key elements that we can eventually acknowledge as contributing to joy and happiness. For example, good health is considered to be one of the necessary factors for a happy life. Another factor that we regard as a source of happiness is material facilities, or the wealth that we accumulate. An additional factor is to have a friendship with companions. We all recognize that in order to enjoy a fulfilled life, we need a circle of friends with whom we can relate to emotionally and trust”(24). What the Dalai Llama is referring to is that all these things do contribute to your happiness, it is then when you recognize that you have an equal amount of all of these is when you have truly found what you have been looking for. Lastly, Gretchen Rubin says it best in the chapter December from The Happiness Project, when she stated, “ One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make others happy. One of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy myself”(285). Very simply but has a very powerful meaning Rubin is basically saying that you can’t expect those around you to be happy if