The State Of Happiness

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The word “happiness” may seem for a moment easy to understand or interpret. However, after thinking deeply, one may change his/her thought about it. It is complicated to explain what happiness is; thus, it is difficult to identify what leads to happiness, which a reason for the disagreements of philosophers on this topic. There are steps before reaching the state of happiness and this paper is trying to reveal some of them according to two sources: “The Well-Ordered Soul: Happiness and Harmony” lecture by professor Gendler at Yale University, and the “Flow” TED talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The ways of approaching happiness, if applied by people, can be used to enhance the society’s production in different fields, for example: technology, …show more content…

This state was named after asking people about their feelings when experiencing it; their answers revealed their imagination of being carried away by a boat or dragged away by a force from their real world. Flow simply means the state at which one feels they are completely involved without consciousness in an activity he/she enjoys. For example, playing a musical instrument or playing a sport for enjoyment can lead to flow. Moreover, flow can be achieved while working or studying in some people. Everyone has the control to achieve happiness by themselves by expressing who they truly are. To do so, one should figure out what he/she wants to do, how does he/she feels about it, and then act it out. There are five dimensions to the state of flow. The first one is that a one focuses his/her attention on a limited task. He/she cannot be distracted by other people or events happening at the same time. The second is as a result of the first where full concentration and complete involvement is achieved. The third is that awareness is not presence. This means, a one acts unconsciously when in flow. The fourth, failure is not a worry while in flow. A one can preform without being stressed about the outcome and its possibility of being wrong. Lastly, it is ‘auto-telic’. This means that no reward is expected after preforming a task. However, the experience and the feeling while doing the task …show more content…

When a one is happy with what he/she is doing, it is expected to have productive work from him/her. For example, in technology, inventors and innovators can be more creative when they experience flow while trying to develop new devices or services. Therefore, the society would benefit from the creations of those people in the would of technology and can also increase the economy in that society. Another example would be in medicine. If doctors were enjoying what they are doing and doing their work not only to get pay but to feel the flow, then the accuracy and efficiency in their work would probably increase. This will lead to better health services in a society. Education can be enhanced if teachers were experiencing happiness. A happy, well-ordered soul teacher is more likely to spend more effort in the process of teaching. Moreover, teachers in flow state can produce creative ways of delivering information to their students. This will have a huge influence on the education field and take it to higher levels which gives advantages to the society to have well-educated people. Being happy while doing any work that involves the society will add quality to the

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