Some people say happiness is only temporary. Are those people right though? Is there such thing as an eternal happiness? In the words of Don Draper, “What is happiness? The moment before you need more happiness!” This statement evokes our minds to think of these questions and where we stand on the matter. I find it easy to agree with Mr. Draper, yet, I also cannot help but wonder if anyone can ever experience a happiness that has never faded. For people who believe in it, one could find unfailing happiness once they get to heaven to spend eternity in peace. However, do we really need to wait until we die for that? One could say maybe happiness is always with us, but we just forget about it because we tend to focus more on our oppression. Yet, I think that we confuse temporary happiness with true happiness. To me, there exists a common, impermanent elation and a rare, true happiness.
Happy people tend to be ambitious, humble, self-secure, and they do not let their fears limit or control them. Happiness is a central theme in some religious teachings such as Buddhism. In these teachings, the ultimate happiness is “only achieved by overcoming craving in all forms.” Buddhism encourages loving kindness, compassion, and joy for all beings. In other religious teachings like Catholicism, a “perfect happiness” is only reached in the afterlife. So according to these beliefs, our joy is limited no matter what we do. Is it even possible to “overcome craving in all forms?” I don’t think it is meaning we constantly have to work at finding contentment. As for the “perfect happiness,” I agree that there is no such thing here on Earth. Although, I do believe there is such thing as it being true as opposed to limited.
Thomas Jefferson so smartly ...
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...of time and the other type, more permanent and true. I think that both depend on us to reach them. The one that is limited only takes away the pain for a little while leaving us to await its return. We end up not feeling satisfied and are left going through this cycle of sad to happy. There is a happiness that can end this cycle though, but it relies on us finding it. It is something that once it happens, you know it; a type of joy that is rare and worth it. Like Thomas Jefferson wrote, it is a pursuit to happiness. True happiness will not get handed to you and it will not be easy, but I think that is the beauty of it. To find something greater than what you have ever known and to have something that will never let you down is the ultimate goal that people hope to reach one day. They just need to understand the difference between happiness being impermanent or rare.
This is seemingly the case in the time period prior to the collapse of society. For example, when a character named “[Jeevan] reached Allan Gardens Park… he found himself blindsided by an unexpected joy. Arthur died… there’s nothing to be happy about. But there was… now he was certain, absolutely certain that he wanted to be a paramedic” (11). When Jeevan finally realized what he wanted to be, his true calling, he was overwhelmed with joy. Even though somebody had just died, all he could feel was happiness because he found something within himself. When Arthur was beginning to reflect upon his life, “He stared at his crown and ran through a secret list of everything that was good… Dancing with Clark when he was eighteen… Tanya sipping wine, her smile… Riding in his father’s snowplow when he was nine, the time [he] told a joke and his father and his little brother couldn’t stop laughing, the sheer joy he’d felt at that moment” (327). All of these different things brought Arthur happiness and eventually sadness at some point in his life, showing that nothing can keep you happy forever. The meaning of happiness is ever-changing. Since happiness was based off of how much you had, people had the ability to manipulate it by obtaining more
Suppose I started this off automatically with a clear definition over what happiness really is. It would result in a highly unlikely answer simply because everyone’s perspective on happiness would be different and could not be accounted to be true for everyone. According to Jane Kenyon’s poem, Simon Critchley’s critique, Douglas Preston’s encounter with the famous religious and political figure Dalai Lama, and Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi’s theory, each hold a different view on what happiness really means and why it is such a concern to people.
Happiness has always been a desirable goal throughout our lives, but each actions we take might just affect the happiness of others. When humans seek happiness, we always seek for things that make us feel alive, or things that brings us the greatest comfort. Our contentment comes with the act of selfishness since we choose to prioritize our happiness above all other. We willingly classify happiness in two different types of meaning, both physical and mental happiness. People ought not be in title to happiness because it is classified in general as a physical desire by many people. Contentment is always known to be a physical satisfaction in life instead of a self-inducing satisfaction for life.
A lot of people wonder what true happiness really is if they will ever experience true happiness. If you ask a person, what is true happiness, everyone will have different happiness. True happiness is not only found in one place and it is not always found in the same place for everyone. In Fahrenheit 451 Montag thought that he was happy when in reality he was not even in love with Mildred and neither was he happy. This is proven when Clarisse puts the dandelion under his chin. True Happiness can be not worrying about anything and letting loose without a care in the world. It can also mean freedom, even spending time with loved ones and family.
The pursuit of happiness ultimately leads to disappointment and a lack of satisfaction because people’s cravings can never be entirely fulfilled. Dalai Lama once said “When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‘Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.’” This quote shows that having high expectations of anything leads to disappointment when the expectation is not met. Also, having anticipations for what happiness is makes attained happiness irrelevant and inadequate relative to what one wanted to get
There is a very commonly held belief that life is difficult. More to the point, life consists of a lot of suffering. It is common to hear comments such as, life is a constant struggle, life is an uphill battle, a never-ending fight. These comments raise many questions about the nature, or even the very existence of absolute happiness. Is it possible for a human being to ever achieve complete happiness? Answering this question completely is impossible because humans are very complex and each one of us has a different definition of happiness.
People experience emotions daily and is constantly changing due to their situation, even if the person may seem like a robot they still have the feeling of contempt which is still a basis of happiness. Before happiness became a modern way of living for us, we were told to show less emotion, more contempt if anything but throughout the years we began to change our focus. We in the past have had our focus on the economy and progression as a nation, however as explained in the article “The happiness effect” 246-47 By Alice Ghent, our economy might have been raising but our global sense of general well being has not. The effects of happiness vastly alters our lives in more ways than one. It can come in all shapes and sizes, it
Most would think say that happiness can be attained in many different ways, depending on a person. Some people can find happiness in doing what they love, some people can find happiness in every single penny they earn, and some people can find happiness in the simplest things, like seeing dogs. There's no right or wrong way, but then the kind of happiness people are often thinking about is just a temporary kind of happiness. So technically, when you talk about true and lifetime happiness, they're doing it all wrong. The human race believed that pain must be avoided at all times, like stress or any negative feeling. That is why when we face the struggles and hardships of life, we just couldn't handle it.
The pursuit of happiness is written in our Declaration of Independence as something that those who are citizens of America have the right to achieve. According to an youtube video of June Gruder a Yale psychologist, Gruder says there is an negative side to happiness. She describes that to much happiness can result in depression or mania. Valerie Alexander, author of Happiness as Second Language, compares happiness of Olympians to everyday happiness. Even though happiness is something that most people try to achieve, there could be consequences for overachieving these goals because of the heartache of failure.
It is said that happiness is a feeling that lies in the clarity of the soul, tranquility of the heart, and peace of the mind. However it is also said that happiness is the actual sense of fulfillment that arises from hard work and self-actualization. It is an intangible state of mind that all humans aim to conquer. Sometimes people tend to associate happiness with something familiar, with what they lack or fail to maintain, for if they fall ill, it would be health and if they were short of money, it would be wealth. If we considered these as particular goods or transitory moments of joy that are subject to change, then what defines the ultimate happiness? With all the different views on happiness, what makes some claim that there can only be one true meaning for man’s ultimate bliss, and all the rest of meanings are fallacious ones? Aristotle says “Our task is to become good men, or to achieve the highest human good. That good is happiness”. This paper aims to examine and evaluate the concept of happiness according to each of Al Farabi & Al Ghazali, whereby it sheds light on the elements of true happiness for each author, their mutual views, road of attaining it as well as their divergence of thought regarding that concept, taking into consideration the influence of Islamic theology.
I personally believe that real happiness not the 3 second happiness that fades away, it has anything to do with our possessions, our environment, or even our health; it comes from being happy with your life and expecting who you are and what you have in life.
Happiness is a psychological term that is hard to define since it is particular to each individual. However, we can define it as a psychological sense of life satisfaction, pleasure, and positive emotional condition. For some people, it is difficult to achieve happiness. In contrast, other people can find happiness in the simplest things. However, remember that happiness is in our hands. Just keep seeking it and we will finally be
Throughout my life, I have learned to see that happiness is not such an inaccessible dream. Although its notion varies from one person to another, happiness is often times only one inch away. Some people will experience happiness in the pursuit of it. Some will find it in sacrificing themselves for greater goals. Others will find it in people’s company, in lust or in drugs. There is no recipe for success or happiness, and it is only up to us to define what we want from life, and how we want to get it. The only certain thing is that it is never too late for anybody to achieve their dreams, to make peace with their feelings, and ultimately, to be happy.
Happiness, what is it, and why do we strive to achieve it so persistently? Happiness in some points of view is portrayed as the state that is derived from self-awareness of a benefiting action or moment taking place. What of the moments that are not beneficial? Can a person still find moments of happiness and success in discord, a little glimmer of light shining from the deep recesses of our own consciousness? Plucking it from a mere moment, achieved from money, or is it so much more, happiness is the precipice that all strive to gain to better perceive their success. As a person lives, they are in a constant struggle to be happy. For instance, even the United States Constitution makes reference to the idea that every person has the inalienable right to pursue happiness. This was the resulting outcome of the enlightenment from France, spilling out into the rest of the world from 1650 through 1800. This revolutionized the idea that every single person has the inalienable right to happiness or in different views the right to succeed. As to how one peruses or conjures their happiness that is an entirely different concept and completely up to their preferred preference, but it is something that a person needs to find on their own for true success.
Happiness is a state of mind. The dictionary definition is "feelings of joy and pleasure mingled together”. A feeling of happiness is more than just an experience of joy or pleasure. It is a state of mind where the individual feels that “life is good”. As Aristotle says, “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” I believe that everyone wants to be happy in life. One is abnormal if he prefers to be sad and alone.