What is happiness? According to Dictionary.com, happiness is defined as, “the state of being happy”. That brings the immediate follow up question, what does happy mean. Once again, according to Dictionary.com, the word happy is defined as, “delighted, pleased, or glad over a particular thing; it is characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy; favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky.” While one first looks at this question it may seem simple enough to figure out what exactly happiness is, after looking at the definition of happiness, it does get a bit more complicated because happiness means so much more than a temporary state of being. Happiness is a way of life; it is the ultimate goal in life. What happiness means to
…show more content…
That means that no matter what situation one is in, one still has the power to be happy. People come from completely different walks of life and are surrounded by different environments and different kinds of people, but according to Epictetus that does not play a factor in happiness. One of the main ways that we can in fact achieve happiness for ourselves is by coming to a realization about what is in our power verses what is not in our power. “In our power are opinion, movement toward a thing, desire, aversion (turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever are our own acts.” (Epictetus 1). The reason that our own opinions are in our power is because we are in control over our opinions and others cannot change it without your consent. Movement towards a thing and desire is in our power because we have that option to try to go after something that is important to us. Aversion is in out power because just like we have the power to try to move towards something, we also have the power to move away from that same thing, or something different, if we so choose (Epictetus 1). When is comes down to it, whatever in your own control is in one’s own powers. “The things in our power are by nature free, meaning they are not subject to restraint nor hindrance” (Epictetus
That means that no matter what situation one is in, one still has the power to be happy. People come from completely different walks of life and are surrounded by different environments and different kinds of people, but according to Epictetus that does not play a factor in happiness. One of the main ways that we can in fact achieve happiness for ourselves is by coming to a realization about what is in our power verses what is not in our power. “In our power are opinion, movement toward a thing, desire, aversion (turning from a thing); and in a word, whatever are our own acts.” (Epictetus 1). The reason that our own opinions are in our power is because we are in control over our opinions and others cannot change it without your consent. Movement towards a thing and desire is in our power because we have that option to try to go after something that is important to us. Aversion is in out power because just like we have the power to try to move towards something, we also have the power to move away from that same thing, or something different, if we so choose (Epictetus 1). When is comes down to it, whatever in your own control is in one’s own powers. “The things in our power are by nature free, meaning they are not subject to restraint nor hindrance” (Epictetus