Sources Of Happiness By Howard Culter And The Dalai Lama

Happiness is what every single human being is seeking in the world. But the question is, what exactly is happiness And what would create it? Different people may have their own ideas of happiness \. For example, for some people happiness means having lots of money . In fact , it is a relative concept and can come from many different sources. Howard Culter and The Dalai Lama , the authors of " Sources of Happiness", have mentioned some of the these sources. According to their essay,some factors might affect the determination of happiness like comparing mind, inner content and inner world, which will be discussed more in this essay .
Spending your mental energy on comparing yourself to others can be motivated in some circumstances, but it …show more content…
Most people have this question in their mind that when they are in the midst of trouble , hard work or negative circumstances , how they can remain calm in their hearts and be happy. It is an important question that makes them to find a way to achieve inner contentment in spite of the situation they might be in. Culter points out, ''There are two methods to achieve inner contentment , one method is to obtain everything that we want and desire, ... Sooner or later we will run up against something that we want, but can't have it . The second , and more reliable method is not to have what we want but rather to want and appreciate what we have" ( 27 ). Summarizing , the co-author also presents , "If you have a strong sense of contentment , it doesn't matter whether you obtain the object or not ; either way , you are still content'' ( Dalai Lama 27 ) . However , I believe it is not easy to have inner contentment all the time, especially when you work so hard to achieve a goal and you fail. When I came to US a couple of years ago I applied for many jobs since I needed to work and support myself financially . I was just focusing on finding a job and didn'nt have diexperienced that whenever I am just focusing on the future to obtain success for 3 months . I was so disappointed and frustrated that I couldn't be in the moment and …show more content…
You probably already know that society places excessive value on the outward appearance of success , such as money , material possessions , physical appearance and so on .In contrast , little consideration is ever given to the true values of a person such as love , integrity , kindness and inner balance , when defining ones's success.You can imagine what happens if you lose your possessions or outlook or anything else that you value yourself based on it . Most people will end up feeling empty and worthless. The Dalai Lama explains if a person has another source of worth , another source that gives him or her a sense of dignity , another anchor , there is less chance of that person's becoming depressed if his or her future happens to disappear ( 29 ). Speaking about this , my husband has a tremendous inner worth that always amuses me ! It doesn't matter which situation he is dealing with , he never compares himself to others and always has a significant sense of dignity and inner respect and I believe he is one of the happiest people alive. As a matter of fact , Possessions ,outlook or other things like physical appearance are not reliable, and you can lose some or all of them suddenly or over time, so it's better to focus on true values that are stable and leads you to achieve