Essay on Happiness and People

Mahatma Gandhi one defined happiness as “when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Barring any better definition of happiness from either positive psychologists, self-help gurus, or any other academic source, I tend to think this is a great summation of the definition of happiness. Gandhi doesn’t say anything about how these things make you feel, rather looks at it from a point of view of harmony between thoughts, expressions, and actions. Since one single accepted definition of happiness doesn’t seem to exist, and happiness is different for everyone, this begs the question; how can you increase your own personal level of happiness?

In the article, “Does Trying To Be Happy Make Us Unhappy?” Adam Grant argues that putting too much effort into life changes will actually me people unhappy. Grant point out two countries and how they give the right to be happy to their citizens. The U.S.A grants life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and in the kingdom of Bhutan they have a national index to measure their happiness. Grant then goes on presenting a psychologist study done about happiness, this study reveals that the more pressure people puts on trying to be happy the less happy they are.

To say it better would be to cite the words of Freud, himself: "What we call happiness, in the strictest sense, comes from the (preferably sudden) satisfaction of needs which have been dammed up to a high degree (Freud 254)."

In the article, Determinants of Happiness in Undergraduate University Students, it says, “Researchers such as Cummins et al. (2009) go as far as to suggest that individuals are happier when whole society’s functions better” (Flynn and MacLeod 452). This shows that without happiness, people could not work well together. It is why so many people work together, and keeping the economy well. In the article Determinants of Happiness in Undergraduate University Students, it says, “It is well known in the positive psychology literature that increased happiness is related to multiple benefits including better mental and physical health, (see Lyubomirsky et al. 2005)” (Flynn and MacLeod 452). This is why people that are happier have a better life in their jobs and schools. It also shows that people have better eating habits if they are happy. In the article Determinants of Happiness in Undergraduate University Students, it says that, “The individual benefits can pale in comparison to the potential societal gains of having a population comprised of such happy and therefore “successful” individuals” (Flynn and MacLeod 453). This is why people who like their job are better at their job. People that are fortunate are ones who usually like their job. People are happier if what they are doing is what they like, and it helps them to be happier than they

The most universal goal every human has in common is the pursuit of happiness or “creation or construction of happiness” (Achor, 78). To be able to fulfill this wish of becoming happy, people often think the key to achieving happiness is success. In the book, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, he debunks this theory of success leading to happiness by illustrating the reverse theory of success. Through dozens of studies and experiments as forms of evidence, the author argues that an individual needs to achieve happiness in order to be truly successful. Achor 's argument is valid in that happiness should come before success because there is a clear advantage to being successful in an individual’s work life, personal sphere, and liveliness if they are happy first and foremost.

Most researches of this type focus on unhappy people. However, Very Happy People is one of the few reports that target happy people. Diener and Seligman (2002) studied factors that they thought influence happy people like: personality, social relationship, mental disorders, mood, and exercise. They collected a sample of 222 college students and measured their happiness ,by asking that how satisfied they are with their lives, how often they positive and negative, and reporting their daily mood. Afterwards, the students were divided them into happy, average, and unhappy groups. Finally, the students were interview and completed questionnaires. Diener and Seligman (2002) concluded that happiness is positively correlated to strong social relationships,

The journal that I had selected deals with the relationship between health behaviors and happiness. Through the use of cross-sectional survey of 800 randomly selected university students, researchers were able to analyze what it takes for students to remain happy when undergoing many life struggles.

People travel through life with what seems like a single goal: to be happy. This may seem like a selfish way to live, however this lone objective is the motivation behind nearly all actions. Even seemingly selfless deeds make people feel better about themselves. That warm feeling experienced while doing charitable acts can be described as happiness. But what is authentic happiness? There is an endless possibility of answers to this question, and man seems to be always searching for the solution. Although one may reach his or her goals, there is always still something one strives for in order to be happy. In the book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert takes the reader through

Although Americans do look better and feel better with the extravagant items they purchase, money doesn’t buy happiness for long term goals. Like many will argue, like Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson did in his 2013 article, “Yes, Money Does Buy Happiness: 6 Lessons on the Newest Research on Income and Well-Being,” money can only buy happiness for short term goals; it won’t last very long for everyone and it could lead to worse scenarios when the money is gone. Thompson (2013) included statistics on richer countries that are proven to be happier, explaining, “First, the lines go up. More money, more happiness. Second, the lines go up in parallel, more or less. Across language, culture, religion, ethnic background, the same amount of extra money seems to buy the similar amount of extra happiness.” Thompson (2013) found the same similar pattern in many other countries and concluded that they are more happy than poorer countries. Although poorer countries don’t have as many resources or many things like richer countries do, Seth Borenstein, in his 2017 article for The Independent, “Norway Beats Denmark to be Named the Happiest Country in the World by the UN,” can beg to differ. Borenstein (2017) says, “While most countries were either getting happier or at least treading water, America's happiness score dropped 5 per cent over the past decade” (Borenstein, 2017). That shows that America, one of the richest

According to the Dictionary, “happiness is the mental or emotional state of well being which can be defined by others. A pleasurable or satisfying experience.”. Of course that’s true, the feeling of happiness is what it’s scientifically defined as, but happiness is much more than that. Happiness could be a certain sound, a smell, even feeling a certain piece of clothing or a thick warm blanket. People spend hours even years trying to work for what they think is happiness. They work for hours to get large amounts of money, but they never find the happiness their looking for. That’s because happiness isn't materialistic, happiness isn't something you can buy with expensive items. Even though some people believe you can buy happiness, that’s

The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density

The desire to be successful and happy naturally exists in all people. Success is often associated with the acquisition of wealth and material goods. When an individual feels that money and goods will bring them happiness in their lives, they will become more and more determined to

Attention Materials: Many times I have wondered what is true happiness. Is there such thing as true happiness? Can it even be attained if there is such a thing? Is it more of fulfilling desires, or satisfying psychological needs? Every person attempts to realize happiness in its fullest essence. It seems like today people are too busy trying to get rich. Nowadays it is believed that happiness lies in that new mansion, or a nice Ferrari. People are mistakingly assuming that wealth will bring to them a personal significance in which they will achieve happiness.

We began this course with the question “What is happiness? and Can we all achieve authentic Happiness? In our life we are taught many things, but we are not taught how to achieve our own happiness. Over the last five weeks we truly learned what happiness is and I believe we all can achieve authentic happiness in our life. In Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman uses happiness and well being as the terms to describe the goals of Positive Psychology. The desired outcome of Positive Psychology is happiness and well being. We learned from this course how to embrace both our positive feelings and activities to achieve authentic Happiness.

In an unofficial poll of students at State University, I found that of the fifty-eight students and one professor, males and females of several ethnic backgrounds and age groups, that I asked the question "What is happiness to you?", all of them had very different physical, intellectual, or emotional motivator for their happiness. Only the