The article “Happiness is Other People” written by Ruth Whippman (2017) has proved her point by drawing her research to her personal experience, however it is lacking in telling the readers that as compared to the article “The Secret to Deeper Happiness Is Simpler Than You Might Think” by Ginny Graves (2017) showed a greater depth of research and will be able to reach out to a wider group of audiences as it is more generalise and backed up but different experts in the relevant fields pertaining to the topic of happiness with proper reference to the information she…
Are you living life, right? What if someone told you that you were doing this whole life thing wrong all along? In reading the writings of transcendentalist, ones perception of life may be completely altered. The comparing and contrasting of modern day Americans lives and how that should, can be eye-opening.…
It is impossible to lead a fulfilling life in a society with constant threats of attacks. Similarly, people who are sick in hospitals do not enjoy their lives irrespective of the amount of money that they have. To them, recovering from the sickness is what will enable them to achieve happiness. However, the poor are also not happy in life despite the fact that they are in good health or have close friends. Thus, I believe happiness encompasses a wide range of factors that make life…
What is “happiness” and how is it obtained? The word “happiness” is defined as ‘a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy’. The decisions people make on a day-to-day basis are to reach the ultimate goal of being happy. While everyone strives to obtain happiness, not everyone succeeds. In today’s society, happiness seems to be directly correlated with factors such as wealth or status.…
In Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World, one of the central ideas is the idea of eternal happiness. This is shown many times throughout the novel, and as the story progresses the idea goes from one that seems inherent to those inhabiting the world of the novel, to one that is clearly strictly enforced and required to keep. One time in which this requirement of happiness is shown is during John’s protest of the modern world and, particularly, of soma. When he begins throwing soma out of an open window into a congregation of Deltas, a small-scale riot forms, with Bernard agitating this through his panicked reaction. The police arrive to quell the riot, and do so through soma vapor and a Synthetic Music Box.…
A good life defines as a happy life. A life that has the presence of well-being, enjoyment, and value. Plus, in hedonism view, the only way to make life better is to pursuit of pleasure, and pleasure brings happiness. Hedonists claim that happiness is happiness, regardless of its source. However, critics would say that if the source of happiness plays in important factor determines how beneficial that happiness is.…
Every piece of literature has a protagonist and an antagonist. John Gardner's book “Grendel” takes the view of an antagonist one step further by making him look innocent and lost. Grendel runs into many different types of characters with different ideas of a perfect life. While Hrothgar and his Danes strive to include valuable ideas such as love, heroism, and loyalty into their lives, Grendel pursues a life of happiness and pleasure, which end up causing pain to the society surrounding him. Life for many has sizable amounts of hedonistic influences, which is why an ideal life for most includes pleasure and enjoyment.…
In, “The New Science of Happiness,” Claudia Wells discusses 3 great ways to become more happy. By getting more pleasure out of life, becoming more engaged in what you’re doing, and finding ways to make your life more meaningful, Wells explains these actions can greatly influence your happiness levels. Savoring each and every sensory drop from any given moment will increase your gratitude towards life's seemingly mundane interactions. Which brings us to the large topic of gratitude which Wells, in conjunction with studies by psychologist Robert Emmons, explains that “Gratitude exercises can do more than life one’s mood… they improve physical health, raise energy levels, and, for patients with neuromuscular disease, relieve pain and fatigue.”…
Happiness is something that everyone can experience but, in the novel Brave New World the only emotion that the citizens can feel is happiness. The characters take a drug called Soma, something to prevent the people from being unhappy. Soma was created for the citizens to be under control and live the “ideal” life, which is to be happy forever and instead of working people would just have sex or take drugs. However, the people are unaware of the fact that the government has taught them “being happy is good, everyone should be happy” this was engraved into their minds because if the citizens were happy, they would be oblivious to the crimes the government is committing. The author specifically depicts the effects of the drugs have on the people, “Swallowing half an hour before closing time, that second dose of soma had raised a quite impenetrable wall between the actual universe and their minds.”…
Everyone has their own individual definition of happiness. Richard Taylor describes happiness as “a state of being, not a mere feeling” (Taylor, 116), but how may one come to this total state of fulfillment? Vivien Sung who wrote Five-Fold Happiness and Richard Taylor who wrote a chapter on happiness in his book An Introduction to Virtue Ethics both agree that happiness is made up of many different parts. Because happiness is made up of different components, achieving prosperity, longevity, and wealth are three elements that can lead to being fully…
In his memoir, One More Theory About Happiness, Paul Guest seems to gain little to no personal fulfillment from his interactions with other disabled individuals in his life. Oftentimes it seems that Guest is simply trying to pave his way through life as an author, and, ultimately, he views other writers as the basis for a community he can actively participate in. Guest’s interactions with other disabled folk shines a light on this reluctance to associate with other disabled individuals on an intimate level, something that can particularly be seen during his run-in with Joni Eareckson Tada. Being forced into attending one of Tada’s events by his mother, Guest states that he “had no desire to go, [and no desire] to participate in or be defined…
There are certain choices that lead to happiness, and then there are others that lead to long lasting meaning. Many people agree that people’s…
“There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” is a journal article that was written by Emily Esfahani Smith. It was published on January 9, 2013. Its purpose is simply to explain to the audience that, ‘It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness’ (Smith 2013). I very much enjoyed this journal article because after reading it I felt that I had actually connected to it. For example, a big topic that she focused on while writing this article, was that being happy dealt with “taking”, while living a meaningful life, dealt with “giving” (Smith 2013).…
Martin Seligman is the pioneer of Positive Psychology not because he has a systematic theory about why happy people are happy, but because he uses the scientific method to explore it. Martin Seligman found that the most satisfied people were those who had discovered their unique combination of "signature strengths," such as humanity, temperance and persistence. His vision of happiness is combined with the virtue ethics of Confucius, Mencius and Aristotle with modern psychological theories of motivation. His conclusion is that happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life.…
In a largely money oriented society today, people are often times driven directly or indirectly by money to pursue goals because they see the potential to be happy. However, it is commonly held by psychologists that money cannot buy happiness. The debate on the relationship between money and happiness has been a highly contested one in part due to contradictory data results and evidence. On one end of the spectrum, a person’s circumstance such as economic well-being plays little in determining a person’s happiness. On the other end, happiness can be created through money.…