Growth and Progression Lead to Dissatisfaction

The works “Somnambulist”, “How not to get into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation”, and “Enjoying the so-called "Iced cream": Mr. Burns, Satan, and Happiness” imply that in today’s society, individuals are valuing extrinsic happiness to a greater scale compared to their value of intrinsic happiness. Authors Heron Jones, Alfie Kohn, and Daniel Barwick suggest that individuals need to place a greater value on intrinsic achievements rather than extrinsic achievements within their lives as extrinsic fulfilment leads to momentary happiness, compared to the positive long-term effects of intrinsic fulfillment. The problem begins with individuals focusing and making decisions based on extrinsic rewards such as: grades or a paycheck. Secondly,

As a result of society’s pursuit of extrinsic happiness, society is left feeling unfulfilled and lacking intrinsic happiness; Jones argues that because of our everyday routine we are not taking the time to properly think about the impact we are having on our intrinsic happiness while Kohn argues that students’ preoccupation with preparation for their post-secondary education is not allowing them time to reflect on their intrinsic happiness. In the pursuit of extrinsic motivators, society often ignores what gives them intrinsic fulfillment; it may be because of one’s school schedule - and their obsession with preparing for life - or society’s busy work schedule that contributes to this. In How not to get into college, Kohn explains that students are “ignoring- or perhaps, by now, even forgetting- what they enjoyed doing” (Kohn 7), while this is happening Jones states that their parents are ”Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is [their] life, refusing to take holidays or go home to [their] spouse”(53-54). Jones and Kohn argue that society is ignoring their intrinsic happiness

There are certain things that are in the control of the humans, at the same time there are several things, which are not under the human’s control. Thus, to persist a happy life, the humans are required to put an end their desire such that the satisfaction of

Authored by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Happiness Revisited” is a study on happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi defines happiness in terms of how we achieve it. He suggests that people achieve happiness “not by trying to look for it directly” (609) but by looking for it directly. He also added that by “achieving control over the contents of our consciousness” (609), a circuitous path begins, thus the beginning of achieving happiness. Further, Csikszentmihalyi stated that just like happiness, success is not to be pursued but ensued. This statement is ideally illustrated by Viktor Frankl’s book on Man’s Search for meaning: “Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it”(609).

People over consume and are never satisfied with what they already have but rather aim for more and bigger things. Under the treadmill of consumption people become very competitive as well as greedy and have the need to over consume in order to feel happier or more gratified. Studies have shown just the opposite that by over consuming does not lead to happiness but rather to the contrary. As people accrue more and more material goods they usually do not become happy or content but rather raise the ladder for more consumption. One day they will realize that all their means have

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.

In life people seek prosperity. Humans have been trained to always want more, never satisfied with what they have. Whether someone does everything in their power to achieve a promotion, or someone tries to become rich. The previous example shows selfishness and that people will do whatever it takes to achieve these goals, whether an asset to society, or a downfall. In the Renaissance tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare reveals how people’s greediness and feeling entitlement to prosperity causes their own self-destruction.

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

In the classical tradition, Aristotle explains that long-term happiness is the fulfillment one’s “natural needs.” As a result of human nature, there are certain natural needs that are the same for everyone. People try to fulfill their natural needs by acquiring different types of goods, but some goods are only “apparent goods” while others are “real goods.” Only real goods satisfy natural needs because they are essential for humans to live a meaningful life and are always truly

Life means a constant change in various fields of living standards. These changes can be both positive and negative; they are not repeated, but in essence have something in common. If one take this to the attention and develop a strategy for the future, positive changes can be supported and developed, while negative changes can be reduced and prevented in the future.

Freud proposes the Principle of Satisfaction when aiming to be happy, in other words "a problem of satisfying a person's instinctual wishes (Freud 263)." Consequently, he concludes that because our "appetite" can never be fulfilled, the attainment of happiness will be nothing else than pessimistic. Also, he notes, that not all pleasures or wishes can be satisfied as soon as they are conceived. Freud presents the example of a baby, who, initially, believes that all his/her wishes should be gratified, and only later learns, form the Reality Principle, the harsh truth, that the wishes can not be satisfied instantaneously. More than that, life teaches men that in order to experience happiness one must sacrifice the instant gratification of his/her desires in order to achieve happiness in future. A simple example would be when a businessman decides to work overtime in order to receive more money and, thus, receive more pleasure, of course temporary and in future.

In an ironic way, the optimism of the vast majority is the greatest inhibitor of satisfaction. Both the future and the past are born of the present mind; the now is interminable. For some reason, humanity seems to possess an unwavering insistence on running, so to speak, to an illusory end that is really nothing more than a product of momentary dissatisfaction.

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

It is human nature to want and desire certain things out of life. For the most part, people want the same things. No one is the same as anyone else but we all share the fact that we want to make our lives as good as we possibly can. There are many ways to achieve happiness and everything that is wanted out of life can make you happy. Whatever a person’s truest desire may be, if they obtain that desire they obtain happiness. All that is desired falls under “What will make you happy in life?” We long to be happy, but what gets us there?

However, those people with the means are reluctant to sacrifice an excessive amount that they would descend in status (Mill 89). Those who are of lower faculties #, and thus have less enjoyment, are more easily satisfied (Mill 90). Compared to their inferiors, people of higher classes continue to seek happiness and are never truly satisfied. Mill links this continuous search with dignity (Mill 90). Due to the sense of dignity, “someone will not feel envious of those who bear imperfections because he does not understand the benefits of those limitations” # (Mill 91). In explaining this concept, Mill compares a human being dissatisfied to a pig satisfied and Socrates dissatisfied to a fool satisfied. The pig and fool reason that they are well-off, but the human being and Socrates know they are superior because they are further educated (Mill 91).