Definition Essay: Our Search For Happiness

What is happiness? There exists many different opinions and scientific studies proving that people have happiness in their life is a choice in life. However, what one person finds happiness in may bring sadness and sorrow to another. Some people only value greed and money, while others may find happiness in nature and being able to live another day. There seems to be no universal criteria to define what exactly happiness is.

Every other Monday morning the workers of the fast food restaurant next door line up in my lobby waiting to cash their paychecks. There is a wide range of ages, races, and sexes; there is no one demographic in the lobby. The conversations are about coworkers not present or about their spouses. They complain about the long shifts or an angry customer they encountered in the drive up this morning. One young woman discusses her daughter’s adventures at kindergarten. There are complaints of the cost of car repairs or a visit to the hospital last week. There are questions of who is working tonight and what time does the bus come, all of these conversations could be happening in any bank lobby anywhere in the United States. The noise level continues to rise in the lobby as more workers enter the building, the energy in the lobby rises as the excitement of the workers increases, today is payday. Or is it anxiety? Are their thoughts, masked behind idle chit chat, of how am I going to pay rent and feed my family? How am I going to make this pay last for two weeks? These fellow humans are the full time working poor.

For our Economics subject, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie based on Chris Gardner, a salesman who was not making that much money and eventually experiences homelessness with his five-year old son. He faces problems when his wife is unwilling to accept his goal to become a stockbroker and leaves him. However, he perseveres even under all this stress.

Happiness is one of the most misunderstood words in our vocabulary. Happiness can have a different meaning for everyone. Some people say it is when you are remembering good times or that your life would be meaningless without it. Some people may say it is when you feel satisfied and fulfilled, that it is a feeling of contentment, and that life is as it should be. Perfect happiness comes when you have all of your needs satisfied.

For many people happiness has a different definition. Through this whole essay, I am going to be defining what happiness means to me and what it could also mean to others. Therefore to start off, we must first know what happiness means. The general definition of happiness means the state of feeling happy,or a pleasurable/satisfying experience. Now that both of us know what it means to be happy, we can now go past the simple material and move more into the detailed and deep meaning of what happiness could mean.

What is happiness? According to Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, the purpose of mankind is to pursue happiness. Whatever our age, we always look for pleasure. As a child, I was happy when playing with my toys and eating delicious food that my Mom cooked. When growing and going to school, I enjoyed being with friends. Now, besides my childhood delights, I feel great when I find myself helpful, and when I spend time with my family. Happiness is intangible. We can’t possess it, but we feel it and live with it. And because it is a human feeling, there is no one fixed definition for everybody. Different people’s happiness can come from different sources such as: having money, power, traveling, working, family, or helping people. Depending

Peace. Happiness. Faith. Love. Appreciation. Salvation. These are some of the terms that describe how I define a meaningful life, the ultimate success I desire to achieve in my future. The term ‘success’ is commonly associated with money to most of society, who believe that it can buy happiness. Contrary, it is been demonstrated and proved that the majority of people who have massive amounts of money do not live a happy life. In my undergraduate education, preparing for a career is important to me, however, preparing for a meaningful life takes priority; it has a purpose that goes further than just working in a certain field.

Happiness? What is it? Is it the feeling that I get when I laugh so hard I can't stop? Is it the feeling I get when I make a good grade on a test? Is it the feeling I get when I'm surrounded by people that I love? What is it?

Can we really obtain happiness? Or are we like racing greyhounds chasing an artificial lure around a track, only to cross the finish line empty handed? Pursuit is an act of striving for something...the effort made to try to achieve or obtain something over a period of time. What is this happiness that we're striving for? Is it a great career or being successful? Happiness, by definition is described as an emotion caused or characterized by pleasure, contentment, or joy.

Happiness occurs often in my life. I take pleasure in many simple, small things, I’m happy when I take a hot shower, and when I leave footprints on newly fallen snow. These types of small actions fill me with the unmistakable warmth of happiness, and I often question why. What was so deeply fulfilling about such simplicity?

How can someone find true happiness and be content with himself? It starts with knowing what happiness is and surrounding yourself with the three things that create it: family, friends, and memories.

It can be difficult to give a proper definition of happiness, because it can mean different things to different people. I believe happiness is a state of emotion where you feel pure joy from anything ranging from being with family to seeing breathtaking scenery. For me, the simple things bring me happiness; reading a good book, attending church, helping others in my community, they make me feel joyous.

Life is found to be more favorable if one can ascertain the asymmetry between joy and happiness. Happiness is ephemeral, circumstantial, and fleeting while joy is abiding, continual, and everlasting. Joy is seen in many; the glimmer in a child’s innocent eyes, the aging countenance of a widow, the glistening faces of newlyweds, and even the mildly destitute seen roaming around the moonlit empty street corners. Everyone is accountable in safeguarding their own personal joy. As a learned emanation, joy is an aura that everyone is adept to possess, whether it is suppressed and hidden, or it radiates from within. Joy is cultivated through experience and definition and is an orientation of the soul that grants perpetual hope.

Happiness can often be defined as joyousness, glee, delight, or any other feeling pleasure; however, these experiences are not true happiness. Rather than just an instantaneous, manic feeling, such as joy, true happiness resembles something closer to satisfaction. This meaning of satisfaction is not pleasure, but, instead, means contentment with one’s whole situation in life.

We are taught at a very young age that we are to seek out happiness, yet no one really knows what that is. When you are a child, happiness could be found by playing with toys, and schoolmates. When we are children, our concept of happiness is minimal. As years passed, our concept of happiness becomes much more expansive. We are schooled to think that if we succeed at something, whether it is at a career, college or in relationships, we are seeking to be happy. Some people seek out happiness through religion, or a spiritual leader, "Who so trusteth in the Lord is happy" (Proverbs 4:7). It seems that everyone has their own idea as to what makes them happy. It becomes ingrained in us that seeking happiness is the point of our existence. To