Do We Have Control Over Our Own Happiness?

Happiness is a state of existence that Americans have perused since the founding of this great country. It’s such an important part of American life that “The pursuit of Happiness” is even “laid out in our nation’s Declaration of Independence” (McMahon 783). Happiness is something that may come from many aspects of life: one’s children, employment, financial wellbeing, sports, hobbies, and many other things. Ruth Whippman tells us that "Americans as a whole invest more time and money and emotional energy in the explicit pursuit of happiness than any other nation on earth". Are Americans happier today than they were three centuries ago? Does modern technology, social economic status, religious freedoms, and/or the

The pursuit of happiness has an interesting collection of meanings behind it. Americans are free to become whatever they want to be. To study what interests a person is what makes them happy. Once something deeply interests a person, he or she is drawn in to want to learn more about it. Pursuing a career that is related to someone’s likes is the essence of what can make a person content. To choose to or not to have a family is a personal decision that Americans are allowed to make. One person might enjoy living alone while another likes having the company of family. Creating a family is a pursuit of happiness for certain people, but for others, living alone is peaceful and a comfortable way of living. How one chooses to live is a choice made pertaining to the normal routine of daily life. One might watch television with dinner or sit his or her family down to have a meal together. While one person enjoys exercising regularly, another could be perfectly happy with the use of electronic devices daily. A home might be clean and organized or messy and scattered; it is the choice of the home owner. The pursuit of happiness is made up of different components depending on the

On July 4th, 1776 our founding father's got together to create, “The Declaration of Independence” One of the quotes that benefit all U.S. citizens is that all people living in the United States are entitled to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Life, meaning every person has the right to live, to literally be alive. Liberty, meaning every person has the right to be whatever they choose, and to live their life however they want. The Pursuit of Happiness, meaning every person has the right to pursue happiness and do whatever makes them happy. These are inalienable rights that can never be taken away. John Locke is the person that created the phrase “The Pursuit of Happiness”, but Thomas Jefferson is the person that thought it was a good idea to put that in The Declaration of Independence. What does this phrase mean for us today? What did it mean for people in the past? What was

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

When we look to define happiness, many different ideas come to mind. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary uses three definitions for happiness: good fortune, a state of well being and contentment, and a pleasurable satisfaction. In Brave New World, Aldus Huxley argues that a society can redefine happiness through the government’s manipulation of the environment and the human mind itself. The government accomplishes this by mind conditioning throughout the process of maturing, keeping a caste-based society, and obliterating problems. The government thus defines happiness as the absence of all conflict. This differs from happiness as the American society sees it: the ability to pursue and enjoy individual desires.

From the beginning of our lives, our parents, for the most part, want us to be happy. Pursuing that happiness becomes a goal that we strive for on an everyday basis. In America, it’s the American Dream. People come to this country in search of that elusive happiness. Ever since Thomas Jefferson wrote a very important sentence in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson), our goals have been the same; searching for that happiness no matter what. However, as Ray Bradbury writes, if we focus too much on those aspects that make us

Such happiness is self-contained, as there is no possible way for a human to know the feelings of another. The fulfillment of one's desires cannot be anything but the end, as the individual sets his own goals and, when they are achieved, has reached the finishing point of an endeavor. (The only conceivable way in which individual happiness could be seen as a means to another goal would be if that goal were the complete happiness of society-in which case the individual would again be placed in subservience to a group.) Man's sovereign rights would be infringed upon if he were seen as a unit in a broader plan rather than as a self-contained human being.

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

Happiness in the United States is first claimed by the Founding Fathers. After a miserable relationship with Great Britain and King George, the Americans took a stand. In that stand they claimed that all men are created equally and we have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. C.S Lewis questions how far the right of the Pursuit of Happiness is actually meant to go. He believes we do not have the right to happiness.

My happiness is found in my ability to receive an education, to obtain a job, to have a family; all of which I am given the opportunity to do. I think that the founding fathers made a deliberate distinction between the right to happiness, and the right to the pursuit of happiness because happiness is subjective and there is no guarantee that it will be achieved. To say that we have the right to pursue happiness means that we have the opportunity to find happiness, to choose who we are, and how we live our lives -so long as we are not infringing on the rights of

Our parents always told us that we should have goals and dreams in our life, and through them we will gain happiness. There are some things in life that get in the way of our dreams and goals. In the Declaration of Independence, It states that we have the right to pursue happiness. For example having everybody in the world be equal, and not be shamed upon or looked at differently due to the color of their skin. The poem ¨The Negro Mother,¨ the play A Raisin in the Sun, and the article Innocence Is Irrelevant, all show how our society and they way people can get in the way of our happiness.

Happiness is a result that we deserved, furthermore, it becomes a motivation for us to keep trying and getting success in life.

We have the ability to choose what pleases us, that’s what Thomas Jefferson and many other writers were fighting for in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence is a document that was adopted in 1776 that established the United States as its own nation. The purpose of writing this document was to inform the abusive King George as to why the colonies were leaving England. Jefferson elaborates on the corruption of the King by listing his 27 accused abuses throughout the document. These misdeeds included intruding on the right of the colonists to have their own government, instating legislation without consent of the colonies, and refusal to pass necessary laws. King George restricted the freedom to pursue happiness and individuality, thus restricting true happiness. Jefferson also made some very valid points in the Declaration including his famous words that exclaim that all men are born with rights that cannot be denied, and among these are “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Everyone knows this quote, but how many truly understand its meaning? Jefferson is saying that every human has the natural right to live freely and that people have a right to hunt for their own bliss. Somewhere in the time between then and now this very clear and distinct idea got muddled. People now think that there is only one uniform source of happiness. The undeniable truth of the matter is while many believe that the happiness of the human race can only be gained by one true source, any amount of contentment can be acquired depending simply on the preferences of an individual, being that every person finds happiness from different

Happiness is what all human beings/rational beings desire. It is always the end (goal) of our activities, it is an unconditional good.

Our emotions and feelings play a major part in how we feel and think. Most of us are conditioned to believe that positive events, such as a raise or a financial windfall will increase our happiness, and it does but majority of us will fall back to the level of happiness we were before the positive events. Authentic happiness teaches us that in order to sustain lasting happiness, we must savor life’s joys, reflect on past accomplishments, and be grateful for everything and everyone in our life. If we commit ourselves to our goals and values we can all achieve authentic happiness.