Happiness Essay 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 …show more content…
An example of this is within the film “Happy” where a Louisiana man describes his happiness as a swamp, another man describes his happiness within helping the sick and dying, whereas others even describe it as success and a fruitacious future with lots of money. Although money is what brings some people happiness, it is also explained within the film that money can only bring so much happiness until it reaches a ceiling. People who can provide the means to survive comfortably will be happier than people who can’t and those who can obtain more and more will not be more happy after the necessary needs are met. Happiness can also be found within others. A person’s happiness could possibly be derived from another person, a group of people or their community as a whole. Happiness is what people make of it, it could be big or small, inside or out, within a person’s home or outside in the open …show more content…
Motivation also derives from the sense of happiness, without the want to accomplish something and have that sense of accomplishment they would not be motivated to do something. At work would be a good example of how happiness plays a role in motivation. If a person is working in an environment that they thoroughly enjoy they would be more motivated to work at an adequate pace than a person who were to dislike their work environment, wishing they weren’t there and be somewhere else instead. The New York times published an article stating that it had been estimated by the Gallup Healthways studies, that approximately $300 billion dollars is lost per year due to lack of production from unhappiness. A bit of research was done over the course of a decade by Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Steven Kramer, an independent researcher, they had collected approximately 12,000 live recorded electronic diaries of employees from seven different companies. The results showed that a third of the employees were more often than not unhappy with their work. The reports resulted in a profound impact on workers’ creativity, productivity, commitment and collegiality. Happy employees are more likely to have more ideas and often perform better at their tasks. Happiness in the workplace is also quite contagious as there are three areas that positive
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
Happiness is a feeling that everyone tries to accomplish, yet some people sometimes only capture portions of it. In Brian Doyle essay, “Irreconcilable Dissonance,” he explains that divorce is becoming common among many couples today. Most couples are putting less effort into making a relationship/marriage work. There are many couples who get married, and most of them know that if the marriage does not work that divorce is always an option. With divorce in their back of their mind they lack the true meaning of having a happy marriage. In Eduardo Porter essay, “What Is Happiness,” Porter states that happiness is determined by people’s qualities in their life. People who experience a positive viewpoint on life and about others are overall to
For example, according to McMahon’s article, Mill says, “Those are only happy...who have their minds fixed on some other object other than their own happiness…” (McMahon 2). In other words, he’s saying that if one focuses on something else other than their own happiness, they will obtain happiness. The significance of what Mill says is that one can obtain happiness by making others happy. Another example is the “2011 Happy Documentary” directed by Roko Belic, who shows many different countries and showing the meaning of happiness. An example from the documentary is the Residents in Jernstoberiet, Denmark Co-Housing Community who say that surrounding themselves with people produces pure happiness. This is a housing where many families live together and care for each other. When a mother’s child got hurt people in that community helped her daughter. It shows that they care for each other and can depend on each other. The significance of this example is that, because they surround themselves with many people in their resident community, they receive a lot of contentment from each other. Happiness comes naturally by focusing on other objects other than their own
Happy is a documentary that brings to light the different types of livings of people around the world and contrasts how they define happiness. The movie starts out in Kolkata Slum, India, with a man Manoj Singh. Manoj is living a relatively impoverished life. His house isn’t the best, in fact the roof is just a tarp however he says “my home is good.” Manoj is quite happy with his life and it’s not because of his minimal possessions but the community around him. His happiness lies in the fact that he can see his son smiling every day and he is so grateful for his neighbors and friends. He even states himself that he doesn’t consider himself as “poor but the richest person.” Manoj’s happiness is described as the same as the average American.
What is Happiness? Well that’s a question that everyone asks to themselves. Happiness is not something that you can trade; it’s honestly what people find. They want happiness and want to know they will always be happy. But Happiness is like air and water it is a hard emotion to grab on to in one’s hand. How do you know you have happiness? Can you feel it? Does it just happen? These are questions everyone wants a answer to.
Have you ever looked for happiness? Or do you know anyone who is searching for happiness? In the story “Macbeth”, Macbeth was able to become a king for his own happiness with greed but he never became happy. In the article “Unequal, Yet Happy”, the article explains that wealthier countries are not happier than poorer countries. So wealth does not necessarily bring happiness. In the video “Chris of Apricot Lane Farms”, Chris explains that although he was born without arms and legs, he was full of happiness because he accepts himself the way he is. So people can get happiness by accepting themselves the way they are.
Boethius’ discussion of happiness is carefully crafted and begins with discussing Fortune, and all of the things Boethius has won and lost throughout his life at the turn of her wheel. For Boethius, it is the reversal of fortune that seems to lead to his unhappiness. “In all adversity of fortune, the most wretched kind is once to have been happy” (61). Lady Philosophy corrects his thinking, however, by demonstrating that the many things men believe will make them happy can never actually achieve that promise. Chief among these false paths to happiness are wealth, rank, and power.
I enjoyed reading about “Happiness Is a Collective –Not Just Individual Phenomenon”. This is very enlightening article because, in our current time, some of people may express their feelings via social media. We want to share our happiness, goals and accomplishments with others. I know when I post something positive in my life, I will go back and check the comments and see how many likes I have received on that particular post. I do this not only for the social interaction but to see the positive feedback I am receiving to keep me going on whatever I choose to post that day.
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.
Happiness is the main focus in life and should always be held most high according to Aristotle. He spends a great deal of time explaining how to achieve this we will see that, Aristotle was sure a genuinely happy life required a combination of many things. Which included physical and mental health? Bringing about a scientific way to look at happiness in its entirety.
become happy if they get miserable the life of others. On the other hand, money can’t buy happiness.
People show there happiness in many ways, some people smile and there face just glows in pleasure and enjoyment, while others just don?t show there happy emotions physically they keep that feeling inside themselves. Even dogs have a way of showing there happiness, they show it by shaking there tail. One of the main reasons there are so many unhappy people in our society is because many have never taken the time to discover what it is that makes them happy. Chances are if you were to ask someone else what would make them happy you'd get a list of the same thing I mentioned above. The truth is, most people have a difficult time stating exactly what would make them happy for the simple reason they've never really thought about it.
In addition to anyone being happy, genuine happiness is vulnerable. “If happiness is similarly available to people of any age, sex, or race, and to those of most income levels, who is happiest?” (Myers and Diener 14), the capacity of peoples’ joy is undiminished. Self-esteem, personal control, optimism, and extraversion are four inner traits that classify happy people. People who are happy admire themselves and feel personal control, empowered rather than helpless about their lifestyle. They are also optimistic and tend to be more healthy, successful, and happier than pessimistic people. Also, people that are happy are extraverted and they are happy when they are surrounded by a lot of people and even when they are alone. They are not happy because of their status of wealth.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said in his book “Nichomachean Ethics” that "happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the aim and end of human existence." (Aristotle). He means that happiness is a central purpose of human life. It is true when we all wish to be happy. However, when we are asked what happiness is, we cannot define happiness in a general concept because it means something different to each individual person. For example, for one person, happiness is a sense of satisfaction from success in career, whereas for others, it may be a feeling of being loved by other people. Meanwhile, philosophers indicate that happiness has two senses. The first one is psychological sense related to a state of mind (Haybron). The other sense
“Happiness inspires productivity” is a quote by Shawn Achor that represents the Hawthorne Studies. The Hawthorne Studies were a major step in discovering the perfect work environment. “The Hawthorne Studies gave rise to the profession of industrial psychology, by legitimizing the human factor as an element in business operations” (Rieger, 1995, Para. 3). Discovering the perfect work environment has been going on for a long time and is constantly evolving. The first theory of the perfect work environment involved only financial rewards. Today the theory now includes many different incentives to promote productivity like vacation time, health benefits, promotions, and recognition in the work place. There are