Valuable Emotions
All of our emotions play a big role in our lives. Even though it does not feel like it at the moment, negative feelings can be a good thing.If we never become sad, angry, or scared we would not be able to appreciate the true value of happiness, we would only focus on ourselves and happiness, and we would become less alert to threats and dangerous situations around us.
First and foremost, being happy all of the time can cause us to miss out on the full value of happiness. Is being happy all of the time a good thing? According to the article Don’t Worry Be Gloomy, Susan David writes that “there are some positive things that sadness, anger, guilt, or fear can do” (David 126). She means that even though you are feeling bad something
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If we are too focused on ourselves we could miss out on opportunities to help others that are also facing tough situations. In the article Happiness: Enough Already, Sharon Begley quotes Eric Wilson by saying that “the happy man is a hollow man,” meaning that happy people only tend to care about themselves rather than others. This shows that “being happier is not always better” (Begley 455-456) because it is not good to just be happy and not have any other emotions or emotions towards others. When we are happy we are also quicker to jump to conclusions and stereotypes, which can hurt people's’ feelings but we do not care because we only are focused on ourselves and our own happiness.Begley also quotes Ed Diener by writing that “You need negative emotions, including sadness, to direct your thinking,” which shows that if you are just happy all of the time you will not be able to think efficiently. Begley quotes Wilson again by saying that “the blues [,or sadness,] can be a catalyst for a special kind of genius,” (Begley 456). A countless amount of great works have come from sad people such as Vincent Van Gogh, Emily DIckinson, and many other talented, very well respected, artistic geniuses. If they never would have experienced sadness or other emotions rather than just happiness they would not have achieved the great success that they …show more content…
If we become less alert this can bring harm to us without even trying to. Happiness can actually kill us if we do not pay attention. When you are happy you would probably engage yourself in riskier and more dangerous situations like drinking too much or using illegal drugs. You think nothing can go wrong in those situations because you are feeling on top of the world and think nothing can bring you down, when in reality this is when you can be harmed the most, because you are letting your guard down and not being alert to the harmful situations around you.
Ultimately being happy is not as great as it is talked up to be. Having too much happiness is not good. Being too happiness can cause us to miss the true value of happiness, only focus on ourselves, and it can cause us to be less alert to threats and dangerous situations around us. Being happy is a good thing but like all good things there are also some
What makes one person happy may not be enough to make someone else happy; everyone has different standards. For example a few extra dollars may mean rent for one person whereas a few extra dollars may not even make a difference to another person. There is no true definition on happiness. Mueller wrote “ happy ones who never raised their voice” which
People push being happy on society as a total must in life; sadness is not an option. However, the research that has conducted to the study of happiness speaks otherwise. In this essay Sharon Begley's article "Happiness: Enough Already" critiques and analyzes societies need to be happy and the motivational affects it has on life. Begley believes that individuals do not always have to be happy, and being sad is okay and even good for us. She brings in the research of other professionals to build her claim that extreme constant happiness is not good for people. I strongly agree that we need to experience sadness to build motivation in life and character all around.
Thomas Szasz states in his writing, “happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly often attributed to the living to the dead, now attributed by adults to children and children to adults.” I do not agree that happiness is an imaginary state of mind. Happiness is scientifically proven to in fact be a real and natural feeling produced by the body, but it is up to your brain to make you feel it. When you are in a pleasing situation, your brain responds to the pleasing stimuli and releases endorphins that spread through your body, making you feel good. We just call this feeling happiness.
I believe that individuals can be happy for short periods of time in society. For example, we do not have to constantly fight for our possessions because we have rights, and security makes us happy. Rousseau would agree with this because he says, “What he [man] gains [from the social contract] is civil liberty and the proprietary ownership of all he possesses” (Rousseau, 27). Unfortunately, security cannot make us happy at all times because it is not usually at the forefront of our mind. It leaves us with a sense of contentedness, and we, normally, only realize the happiness security gave us when we lose
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
A powerful influence over happiness is how people perceive situations and how they choose to engage with others. Life may change within an instant and have a spiraling spin of high and low points, but the positive state of mind and the value of social relationships determine the
sadness and happiness. The feeling that everyone probably wants to experience 100 percent of the time is happiness, never sadness. But, being 100 percent happy all the time is not good for one's health. Happiness is the key to a healthy, long life but is not required all of the time. Bad feelings, such as anger and sadness, play a beneficial role in human development, and positive psychology assumes sadness and anger can cause harm.
However, happiness also takes into account a wide range of other aspects of our lives, including our thoughts and actions, and even genetics. Therefore, happiness should be defined as the amalgamation of how we think and act, and how we interpret our experiences as positive or negative. What this means is that in order to become happier, we must simply force ourselves to become more optimistic. This is easier said than done, however. In order to have a noticeable increase in happiness, people must be willing to make lifestyle changes in addition to changing their mindset. However, the difference between optimism and delusion is a fine line, so people must be cautious to not exaggerate the positive parts of an experience or become overly optimistic. If we practice seeking out the positive views of our circumstances, with time we will find ourselves happier than
What it doesn't mean is that you're going to be happy all the time, but you will be more aware of the emotions you experience. You are able to deal healthily with both negative and positive emotions. People who are emotionally healthy tend to deal with issues more effectively, but they will still experience sadness, stress, and anger. The difference lies in their ability to manage those feelings and understand when a problem is too much to deal with alone, when to reach out for help, and when a doctor's advice is necessary.
Happiness is an inner state of well-being and fulfilment, and therefore it has to come from inside. Every individual has his or her own emotions and way of thinking and as a result of this no one can really say what happiness is and what happiness is not. However, universally, happiness is a by-product of a healthy attitude and viewpoint. Happiness exists in everyone whether they choose to acknowledge and believe it or not. It is not rare nor is it something only the elite have: everyone has it but not everyone recognizes it. Contentment is finding a light at the end of every dark tunnel and in order to experience this we must ignore the pessimism surrounding us and remind ourselves that happiness is not a materialistic object but a choice and frame of mind.
The variability within a short period of time can be specifically detrimental to functioning and psychological health. This will happen regardless of how seemingly happy the person is. Psychological health is damaged more from constantly changing lows and highs than simply lows. In fact, it is possible that it is best to focus on decreasing variability in positive emotions rather than simply increasing the intensity of the positive emotions. Even if a person consistently reaches a peak level of happiness, if they also consistently drop from that point , then they will experience negative psychological damage. It is better to stay at a lower mean positivity than a variable high
What does it mean to be happy? Happiness is a sensation that people want to have, and a lot of it. Above all else in the world, it’s what we seek and long for. Though this feeling can be found in many different places and at many different times, it isn’t easy to acquire. For some people, happiness might be found in exercise and sustaining good health. On the other hand, others can discover it when they go on vacation and relax. The idea here is that we each have our own things that make us happy.
When we are young children, we are introduced to the concept of "living happily ever after". This is a fairy-tale emotional state of absolute happiness, where nothing really happens, and nothing even seems to matter. It is a state of feeling good all the time. In fairy tales, this feeling is usually found in fulfilling marriages, royal castles, singing birds and laughing children. In real life, an even-keeled mood is more psychologically healthy than a mood in which you frequently achieve great heights of happiness. Furthermore, when you ask people what makes their lives worth living, they rarely mention their mood. They are more likely to talk about what they find meaningful, such as their work or relationships. Research suggests that if you focus too much on trying to feel good all the time, you’ll actually undermine your ability to ever feel good because no amount of feeling good will be satisfying to you. If feeling good all the time were the only requirement for happiness, then a person who uses cocaine every day would be extremely happy. In our endless struggle for more money, more love and more security, we have forgotten the most fundamental fact: happiness is not caused by possessions or social positions, and can in fact be experienced in any daily activity. We have made happiness a utopia: expensive, complicated, and unreachable.
Not many people in the world today express happiness, we always hear about the bad and despair in the world around us. I try to stay happy and positive as much as I can, because I think happiness can be spread through the littlest things in life. In a world today where all you hear about is the bad going on around you, having something to hold onto and give you hope can change the outlook of that situation. I try to live all of my days by being positive and happy,
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.