Introduction
Since the beginning of time, people have always had one goal and that goal is to be happy. For some people, happiness is easy to obtain and for others, it is a work in progress. It can be argued that in order for the average person to be happy they must make the American dream of a cushy job/job security, a lot of money, a huge savings account with thousands of dollars, a trophy wife or husband, a big house with a 2 or 3 car garage and 2 or 3 well behaved children a reality.
Ironically, there are those who have a different definition of the American dream that have absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned but they still manage to live well and wake up in a good mood every day.
However, no matter what a person does, they will never be completely happy because there is always going to be something that is going to derail that happiness. Post explained “a person can be happier if they did something of value like servicing other people or doing volunteer work which has been known to help those who do it live happier lives” (68). So the question remains, are there different avenues for seeking happiness, is there a way for people to truly be happy; this question seems almost impossible to answer. It is argued that people do not need a lot of money to be happy, making other significant changes in their lives would allow them to be happy and live happily as well. Happiness does not have to be a goal that people obtain after they step on or run over someone else, happiness can be obtained by changing and doing little things. Start small and be thorough!
Body
Anik et al. explains “it is common knowledge that people are happy when they help others whether it is through charity or generosity” (3). It can be argued that for people who cannot find happiness themselves, take alternate routes to happiness such as using their children to achieve that little bit of happiness. For example, a 37-year-old man who’s a father of 5 who never got a chance to play for the NBA has a 6’3 17-year-old son who is constantly getting offers from professional basketball teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Portland Trailblazers and Washington Wizards. The father’s definition of happiness would be getting free seats to his son’s games and being able to ride his son’s team bus to other cities as well as states for every game.
The father is using his son to achieve the happiness that he never could obtain on his own, some people can only be happy if it is at someone else’s expense. Different things can make different people happy, it just solely depends on how far the person’s willing to go to achieve that little bit of happiness.
Body 2
One of the greatest questions of our time is how can people be happy or happier than they already are, this is another question that has many answers. A particular way for people to be happier in their lives is for them to stop concentrating on what they do not have, and concentrate on what they do have. A person who works a good job making $40,000 to $44,000 a year, have all of their bills paid on time, the option to work from home if need be, food stocked in their refrigerator, a little bit of extra money left after paying the bills is more than enough reason to be happy. People can live happier lives if they appreciate the things that they have now instead of looking for that little something extra like a job that pays $100,000 a year or that new car.
It is not wrong to want these things but if a person already has a job that pays well enough and they are driving a reasonably attractive car, there is no reason to want for anything else; there are people in the world who do not even have a car or place to live let alone a job to get both of these. Stutzer & Frey claims that “some married people say that their marriage is the reason why they are happy, not diamonds or jewels” (334). Another way people can be happy is if they stop stressing out about things that they cannot change, it is a real headache when people just stress out about things that they cannot control. The way I figure it, complaining about it only exacerbates the very thing that they are stressing out about because not taking any active steps in stopping the stress does not make it go away.
People would be happier if they did things that did not require them to spend money hence not complaining about not having money, cutting back on spending so they can have a little extra money left to spend on themselves is more than enough reason to be happy. From personal experience, I was a lot happier after I figured out how to divide up my money into two separate accounts so I do not have to spend all of the money in my checking account. It’s the little things that bring the most joy.
Body 3
There has been a lot of changes recently that has affected people’s happiness which has made it difficult for them to be happy with their lives or certain aspects of their lives, an example of this is the amount of likes that a person gets on their social media profile such as Facebook or Twitter. Social Media has become the biggest hit sensation since the creation of the time reduction medicine for H.I.V.
People are letting how many likes their profile get dictate their happiness because some of them live on Facebook looking for a like minute after minute, they become complete slaves to social media and leaving their happiness in the hands of the likes they get on Facebook or Twitter. It’s sad really.
I personally know someone who centers her happiness around how many people acknowledge her on Facebook, it is sickening how a grown person care more about how many people view and like their status on Facebook than anything else. She make it her life’s work to complain and throw verbal tantrums when people ignore her Facebook statuses, I get to a point where I want to say something to her about her ridiculously unruly behavior but I do not bother because it would not do any good.
Diener and Chan claims “even a person who has a terminal illness are capable of experiencing happiness, their disease does not dictate their smile” (8). Some people do not seem to realize that by caring about making someone else happy, they will in turn make themselves happy in a positive manner; it is clearly a classic case of “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you” The fact that a person is not wealthy is no reason to not live happily, there are a lot of people who are not wealthy but they are happy for what they have. People who make positive changes to their lives are the main ones in control of their own happiness, people let other people dictate their happiness because of certain things and aspects of their lives.
Body 4
Everyone on Earth knows one thing, happiness is the key to enjoying life and every minute of it. Scientists and Philosophers have taught people as a whole that the nature of happiness lies in living by the virtues of life, and looking within oneself in order to find the happiness they seek; it is a simple concept of finding happiness from within instead of buying it or externalizing it by trying to steal someone else’s. For example, a person who does the right thing is continuously rewarded with good luck, practicing patience in order to obtain that reward far outweighs anything material. Being able to appreciate oneself, and what one currently have is enough to appreciate the current happiness in their life.
Body 5
Understanding the elements of happiness within a person is the best way to achieve happiness, a person has to consider several things in order to achieve the happiness they seek. The biology, psychology, philosophy and religious investigation of happiness all have one thing in common. That thing is people being happy with the choices that they make in those four quadrants because at the end of the day they make choices that they will have to live with, an example of this is when a person makes the choice to be an atheist instead of living a religious lie.
Another example of this is when a person feels that they are biologically entitled to be happy no matter what happens, they can have all of the bad luck in the world and they would still be happy that eventually they will find happiness even if good luck for them is scarce. From a psychological perspective, if a person made the choice of cutting off a mass majority of their friends and keeping only one or two true friends then they are making a choice that will make them happy. A person’s choice of happiness only has to make sense to them and not everyone else around them.
Body 6
Coincidentally, people becoming obsessed with their own happiness is a common ritual that people utilize in their daily lives to get ahead or to get somewhere or even something of extreme value like a promotion or a 18th century coin worth millions. Ironically, happiness and unhappiness both play a vital role in everyone’s lives. It can be argued that one cannot experience true happiness unless they undergo both happiness and unhappiness, they are similar words with a unique message to deliver. An example of this is when a girl who has gone out with nothing but jocks who are jerks cannot appreciate going out with a gentlemen, so she goes back to dating jocks. The girl’s life is miserable and she will always play second fiddle to his friends as well as his video games.
A person has to be unhappy with things for a while before they realize that they deserve to be happy too and no one is going to make them happy except them, I had an experience like this once.
I used to go out with all kinds of girls, girls who were a little bit younger than myself, girls who were spoiled brats, girls who were “rebels” even girls who were unsure what they wanted. It took me being unhappy in all of those relationships before I realized that I had to stop and think about what I am doing wrong, once I figured that out then I concentrated on making myself happy; this later led to me finding the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
Stevenson and Wolfers explains “money does not equal happiness, only a person’s sense of self and attainable goals equal happiness which they do find” (1). The reason why it is so hard for people to be happy is because they want to concentrate on living in a perfect world where their heart’s desires becomes reality, anything different from that and they justify it with anger along with counterproductive violence. People want more of what they want and less of what they can get, when a person is so adamant about getting whatever they want at any cost then it puts them in a state of deep unhappiness. People need to concentrate on trying to find a middle ground, those who compromise, find true happiness. Perfection does not beget happiness!
Work Cited
Anik, Lalin, Lara Aknin, Michael Norton, and Elizabeth Dunn. "Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior." Harvard Business School1.1 (2009): 3-4. Print.
Post, Stephen. "Altruism, Happiness, and Health: It’s Good to Be Good." International Journal of Behavioral Medicine 12.2 (2005): 68. Print.
Stevenson, Betsy, and Justin Wolfers. "Subjective Well‐Being and Income: Is There Any Evidence of Satiation?" 1.1 (2013): 1. Print.
Diener, Ed, and Micaela Chan. "Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity." APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING3.1 (2011): 1-43. Print.
Stutzer, Alois, and Bruno Frey. "Does Marriage Make People Happy, or Do Happy People Get Married?" The Journal of Socio-Economics 35.1 (2004): 326-37. Print.
