Could there be possibly anyone who does not want to be happy? As mentioned in the essay “The Pursuit of Happiness”, the word happiness is often connected to the meaning of contentment and one’s understanding of what good and satisfying living is all about. Considerably, the value of happiness differs from one person to another. This is because of the fact that happiness is more of a state of mind rather than a common ground that people could directly determine. For instance, while drinking coffee might make one happy, there are several others who do not find contentment in such an activity. Taking from a simple example of the concept of happiness, it is agreeable to accept that happiness depends on three specific measures. One is the behavior of the person towards life; two, is the perception one has towards living; and three, are the beliefs that one has in relation to life and other elements that make it livable and practically acceptable.
Every person comes from a different background and has undergone a distinct different pattern of upbringing. It could be realized that somehow, such background creates a deep impact on their personality and how they develop individually. Alongside such development is the creation of foundation on how they think and how they view life as a whole. Most likely, it is with these differences that the meaning of happiness also becomes interchangeable between individuals of different personalities. Considerably, once the concept of happiness being a ‘state of mind’ is accepted, it is easy to determine how happiness ought to be given attention to. The pursuit of such concept of living could only be accomplished if one has already accomplished the determination of what specifically makes him happy. While the world offers so much, there are some things that cannot be bought by money that often times provide lasting happiness.
It basically depends on how people understand the things that come their way. The positive perception that one develops towards life often affects the way he sees and handles the different challenges that comes along the way. When one acquires the positive attitude as he handles the twists and turns of life, he becomes more welcoming and more open to change and adjustments that are often necessary to determine personal improvement and development that he might want to pursue. Accepting that life is not perfect and that troubles exist to create a better option for growth will surely help a person find happiness in everything he does and everything he acquires in life whether or not they may be of a positive nature. One is able to make a way to make things easier to bear with even though such situations require so much effort and so much concentration for the issues to be resolved; not getting too caught up with stresses and pressures that life offers, a person is able to embrace happiness even in the middle of the most uncanny events he has to face.
Like the discussion on the essay The Pursuit of Happiness, which points have relatively been expanded in this writing, the writing of Jon Gertner entitled The Futile Pursuit of Happiness, released in The New York Times discusses more of the negative identification of people towards happiness, making the said element of good and satisfying living to be so elusive and hard to accomplish. The points of this written work has also been engaged in this discussion and it shows that it is the behavior of the person that determines his capacity to become happy and embrace it as part of his life.
References:
Behrens, L., & Rosen, L. (2013). Writing and reading across the curriculum. (12 ed.). Pearson.
Gertner, J. (2003). The Futile Pursuit of Happiness. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/magazine/the-futile-pursuit-of-happiness.html?pagewanted=print. Retrieved on May 30, 2014.
