Definition Essay: Can We Really Gain Happiness?

Have you ever experience happiness more than one? Its overall the goal that you’re going for in life is to be happy. The dictionary's definition of Happiness is feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. My definition is being able to smile and you know it’s not forced or knowing that you can look in the mirror and truly accept yourself for who you are.

Happiness is something that all people, no matter what race, gender, or social class, strive for. Based on lifestyle or perspective each person has their independent idea of what happiness is, but everyone shares an end goal to live their definition of a happy life. Many people, though, struggle in finding their way to this goal. They face hardships and challenges that test their happiness every day. Happiness, though somewhat indirectly, does take learning and training to discover and maintain.

Although there are a number of different nuances and qualifications for this particular term, happiness actually can be defined. In fact, it usually helps to best define happiness in terms of what it is and what it is not. Happiness is certainly a state of fluctuation there is no consistent, prolonged state of felicity. If so, it then becomes normal, the normal becomes boring, and the result a sort of benign content becomes a bland, meaningless state devoid of any significant stimulus. Instead, what is needed for happiness is the vicissitudes of life. Were there no unhappiness, there could not be happiness. Happiness, therefore, is a function of rebounding from and considering the unhappiness that is a potential for virtually almost everyone, although the unhappiness for a particular individual is most relevant to him or her. With that in mind one of the most essential qualities regarding happiness is the fact that it is extremely relative, much like motion, and is best defined as the feeling of satisfaction (ideally punctuated by elation) one gets after achievement or averting the negative vicissitudes on might have encountered.

As Kupperman states, although “happiness” and pleasure are used interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between the two. While pleasure has a direct source of its joy to an object and is typically short lasted at a time, happiness is a general feeling one has over a time period whether it is a season or lifetime. Someone could be happy with only few pleasures or even have experience great pleasure and still lack a positive feeling for life. People would like to experience more “pleasure” if it had the same enjoyed circumstances as before. Kupperman says to determine the most valuable life; it can either be viewed as one with the most pleasure or with the most utility (pleasure minus pain).

What is happiness? People have agonized over this question for centuries. Let me start this essay by answering a somewhat easier question: what isn’t happiness? Happiness is NOT feeling good all the time. Happiness is a combination of human emotions and states of mind. Exploring this state of being has consumed the philosophical minds of the ages and will continue to do so for ages to come.

The pursuit of happiness is an endless journey that we all experience during our lifetime. This search for satisfaction in life is made up of actions and choices that we make to benefit our lives for the better, even if done subconsciously. Many people try to end this lifelong journey short by reaching a practically unachievable “true happiness”, and some even get so caught up in trying to reach this ultimate fulfillment in life, that they begin to forget about the great things currently in their lives because they spend so much time and energy focusing on what they want rather than what they have. Life is about enjoying living in the moment, because it only happens once.

Happiness is being surrounded by loved ones, having hobbies, and being challenged. Each one of

Happiness cannot be reached when it is being searched for, it can only be achieved by focusing on things other than your own happiness.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Joy... (in my sense), has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again”. There are many examples of joy such as; a mother and father experiencing the birth of their children, a child enjoying the wonders of the ocean for the first time in their life, something as simple as a person completing a project. Joy to one person might be a source or an object while to another it can be an emotion or feeling. Joy means to have profound happiness, discovering peace, and to savor every passing moment that life has to offer.

Everyone has their own way to find happiness. As it is a feeling, each of us has our own range and different definitions about this term. We know that there are many joyful things

Happiness doesn’t just happen – it has to be made, it has to be produced, created, discovered, built from the ground up. And it has to be a decision in one’s mind: the decision to be happy. It is really simple, believe it or not. One must have a conviction to be happy no matter what trouble life throws at them; because life can certainly disrupt a person’s happiness, getting in the way of them enjoying their own life, with all the countless and never-ending mishaps and suffering. Happiness is something that comes to those who expect it and therefore deserve it.

Happiness, what is happiness? Is it a person? A thing? Or does it something much greater than that. In the dictionary happiness is the state of being happy. Every person has a different idea on what happiness is. It doesn’t have to be just one simple thing, it could be an abundant of things together that creates happiness. Being happy and having happiness are one in the same but then again are different. Being happy is just being pleased at one thing at one time, being happy is an emotion, but having happiness is much more, it's a lifestyle.

In search of happiness for millennia, humanity has sought refuge in superficial objects, money, relationships, and nature. However, no one has much been able to define how to truly achieve happiness. It has been defined as achievable by being at peace with your inner self, or just being without worry for the rest of your days. Many Greek philosophers have added to the discussion as well as many Eastern based religions, as well as modern literaries, all claiming to know how to reach happiness.

We work hard everyday because we all have something that we want to achieve. We all have a dream. A dream that we believe will bring us happiness. But in working hard everyday with our blood, sweat, and tears, we constantly feel stressed and pressured. We feel that our destination seems to take forever to reach. We often feel depressed and wonder, ‘when will I ever find my happiness?’. However, if you really think about what happiness is, it’s really nothing much. I feel like maybe people are going out of their ways to find happiness. It’s really great to think that you’re sacrificing now to be happy later on. It’s great to be ambitious and aim for more and more to be happy in the future. But if you are unhappy during the process of chasing your dreams, chances are that you might give up your dreams. Therefore, I think one of the best way to live life is to learn how to enjoy what is in the present. Life is like a tree with several branches; branches of sadness, hope, regret, fear, and happiness. As we grow older and the tree grow taller with new branches, the old branches turn into memories. Memories of sadness, hope, regret, fear, and most importantly happiness. If I ever forget the true meaning of happiness, these memories of happiness will be there to remind me. If you want to be happier and stronger, you have to learn how to find happiness in the moment, or else you will only become weaker. If you know and feel this moment truthfully with the heart and you’re ready to accept the present you are living in, then from the time you are born, your entire life can be beautiful. If someone doesn’t know this, then their life will never life will never be beautiful no matter how rich, famous, and successful their life is. This is because happiness is not something you can achieve. You can still feel happy during the process of achieving something. In this moment I might be experiencing a tough time, but this moment can also be the most beautiful moment in my life. Because even though I’m going through a difficult time, I can still find specks of happiness to give me strength to breathe, live, continue chasing my dreams, and hope for better days.

Happiness is a bliss and it is something that we should cherish. It is easier said than done, but being happy can result in a lot of positive outcomes in your life. Being lighthearted does not necessarily mean that something good has to happen to you, it can happen in your community and around the world. Within the individual, we can achieve happiness by being content with what we have. The community can make you feel gleeful by whom you are surrounded with, and what influences are around in that environment. Happiness around the world is a sense of everyone coming together and forming happiness.