It 's More Than Being Happy, By Emily Smith

Throughout generations in literature, “to live deliberately” has been the goal and purpose of life. As Alexander Supertramp (aka Chris McCandless) said, “The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun” (57).

As Kristi Bowman says, “The key to ultimate happiness and fulfillment lies within our own transformation. The more we learn and grow and evolve as we learn and grow and evolve as individuals, the more we will find happiness and satisfaction in relationships, work and life”. Part of life is the choices that a person makes. A fulfilled life is shown through the growth of an individual. According to Faulkner, Robinson and Freeman evidence of an unlived life is defined by the ability to make one’s own way, identify the importance of life and self-deprivation.

In sum, life is supposed to be about more than happiness. We are supposed to do something important, adhere to some ethic, and serve a greater good. We live for a goal, a principle, or a destiny—not just for pleasure.1

He states, "The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living. Yet it is possible to practice the art of living even in a concentration camp, although suffering is omnipresent... All through the night and late into the next morning, we had to stand outside, frozen and soaked to the skin after the strain of our long journey. And yet we were all very pleased! There was no chimney in this camp and Auschwitz was a long way off" (Frankl). Frankl and his group's behavior shows that even in the face of anguish and discomfort, the human spirit finds ways to console and enliven itself and the others around it and find happiness in the most distressing situations. Even though Frankl's group was living in dreary and miserable conditions, they created meaning in their minds as a mechanism for hope and survival in order to overcome

In the book Life is so Good, George Dawson and Richard Glaubman give a very rare representation of life in the early 1900s. George Dawson, a poor and illiterate black man tells life as it is through his experiences. These many life experiences are portrayed in new stories told chapter by chapter intrigue the reader of the book. This paper will review Dawson’s many stories and his perspective on life at the time, as well as the way his views and mindset compares to the philosophy of African Americans at this time.

So F*cking Happy For You: a lesson in friendship for millennials with lives at an impasse

In “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy,” Emily Esfahani Smith writes about the conflict between Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Happiness” and the culture today, which focuses on happiness in life rather than meaning. She introduces Viktor Frankl as a star medical and psychology student who survived the Holocaust in 1942. While Frankl was kept hostage in his camp, he was forced to find the good in life in order to survive. After being liberated, Frankl recorded his experience and what he learned in nine days, creating a best-seller in the United States. Smith explains that even though it has been concluded that Americans’ happiness is at an all-time high, the Center for Disease Control says that almost fifty percent of Americans have not found a purpose in life. Smith tells that bad mental health, self-esteem, and depression are less likely to be found in those who have found a pleasurable meaning in life. Happiness is associated with being a “taker”, while having a meaning life is associated with being a “giver” according to Smith. The downside to having a purpose for one’s life is the fact that he or she is usually more unhappy due to stress and worry than those who only strive for happiness, Smith explains. A study in 2011 proved that if someone has a negative circumstance occur in his or her lifetime, that event will give him or her more of a drive to find meaning in life rather than happiness. Smith concluded by linking these other sources with Frankl’s

Certain situations and experiences we undergo in our lifetime are destined, nearly inevitable. Mans search for meaning urges us to acknowledge that “we cannot avoid suffering, but we can chose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose”. Viktor Frankl was faced with an experience of inevitable suffering during his time spent at various concentration camps during the second World War. It is these experiences and sufferings that set the narrative in his novel “Mans Search for Meaning”, where he uses a philosophical standpoint to evaluate his life in camp which led to his liberation. Within this paper, I intend to present Frankl’s ideology that when faced with suffering, you must have control over your free

The premise of Frankl’s book is that mankind’s desire for meaning is much stronger than its desire for power or pleasure and that if man can find meaning in life he can survive anything. Frankl introduces this idea [which he calls the theory of logotherapy] throughout his concentration camp experiences in the book’s first section and delves deeper into it in the second section. Referencing Nietzsche, Frankl tells us “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'” (p. 80). The most important thing to be learned from this statement is that no matter what your circumstances are, you can be happy, or at least survive, if you find a meaning or purpose in life. While in the concentration camp Frankl tells us that in order to maintain his desire to have a meaningful life he focused on three main things: suffering, work, and love. Of sacrifice

An Introspective Look at Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Logotherapy There is an old adage that implies that “into every life, a little rain must fall,” which suggests that some amount of suffering, be it miniscule or great, is an unavoidable part of every human being’s existence. Undoubtedly, there are circumstances in one’s life that are beyond his or her control. Circumstances that will cause one to question his or her very existence and pose the question “Why me?” Viktor Frankl experienced such an event when he was imprisoned in several Jewish concentration camps during the Holocaust. Frankl’s novel, Man’s Search for Meaning (2006), gives an account of Frankl’s time spent in Jewish concentration camps. During this harrowing experience, Frankl used the daily occurrences that surrounded him to observe and analyze the impact that such suffering has on man. During his time in the camp, Frankl was stripped of his identity, his family, and all of his material

A similar article, published by Scientific American entitled "Not Everyone Wants to be Happy" and written by Jennifer Aaker and Emily Smith, mirrors Brooks' same sentiment in regards to the unhealthy obsession those who live in western society have with both acquiring and maintaining happiness. A study was conducted in regards to displaying how different cultures define happiness within their own lives. The study concluded that Americans place much more emphasis on personal happiness, which is opposite of the feelings expressed by those of East Asian descent. Individuals living in the East seem to place more emphasis in the happiness of the whole rather than the individual parts that compose it. In fact, this study showed Americans are so concerned

Man’s Search for Meaning is filled with invaluable advice for life and receiving the best out of it. Throughout Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl explains his belief in attaining an ultimate purpose of life and he attains this purpose during his time at the Dachau concentration camp. Indications were given as to what this purpose is throughout the text, which was to inform others about logotherapy and finding their purpose in life. Frankl’s book and research may very much lead readers and others to ask “When will I attain my ultimate purpose in

As I read through Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, I grasp on to all the epiphanies and realizations that Frankl reflects upon and take them into consideration in my own life. Although I have never gone through any experiences even remotely similar to his experiences in the concentration camps, in this time in my life I am searching for meaning in a way. Moving on to a new chapter in my life, I feel as though I am trying to find my purpose, who I am, and who I will become. Therefore, Man’s Search for Meaning has provided me with multiple major insights in my own search for meaning.

Everyone has a different want in life. Everyone has their own way of how they will live their life. We all have different opinions of the way life should go and how it should be lived. How we should raise our children, how we deal with the loss of a loved one, how we get over someone, how we save money, and etc. Life is full of different opinions and ideas.

For you to know how to live a contented life, you should know first the dissimilarity between what is right and what is wrong. Then, you have to choose to do things the right way.