Happiness Essay

Money and Happiness Why most of rich people are not happy with what they have? Happiness is the feeling which people feel it when they are satisfied with what they have even though these people are poor or rich. Money is the way that people use it to bring things which they can buy it by money. Sharon Begley in her article “Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness” states that sometimes there are relationship between money and happiness because people always try to spend less money when they want to buy somethings.

Attention Materials: Many times I have wondered what is true happiness. Is there such thing as true happiness? Can it even be attained if there is such a thing? Is it more of fulfilling desires, or satisfying psychological needs? Every person attempts to realize happiness in its fullest essence. It seems like today people are too busy trying to get rich. Nowadays it is believed that happiness lies in that new mansion, or a nice Ferrari. People are mistakingly assuming that wealth will bring to them a personal significance in which they will achieve happiness.

The texts, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness” and “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”, completes the idea that monetary value does not bring true joy. In the passage, “High incomes don’t bring you Happiness”, the author states that bringing in an over excessive amount of money will not make one happy. The author said that an overall income of around $75,000 will complete one’s emotional well being, while anything over that will complete a life evaluation. Life evaluation is the idea that if one was to look at themselves while they’re in their deathbed, how would they rate their lifestyle. This is also supported through different statements within the passage, “You can buy Happiness, if it’s an Experience”. Within this study, it was proven that people enjoyed money, but often spent it on materialistic items which leaves them with a temporary feeling of satisfaction, while when they are given a fully paid trip to the Bahamas, the feeling of peace and joy lasts far longer than when they were to purchase an item of materialistic value. This

Mahatma Gandhi one defined happiness as “when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Barring any better definition of happiness from either positive psychologists, self-help gurus, or any other academic source, I tend to think this is a great summation of the definition of happiness. Gandhi doesn’t say anything about how these things make you feel, rather looks at it from a point of view of harmony between thoughts, expressions, and actions. Since one single accepted definition of happiness doesn’t seem to exist, and happiness is different for everyone, this begs the question; how can you increase your own personal level of happiness?

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

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: a Human Disease -- An Examination of the Allegorical Theme of Existentialism in the Happy Man

Happiness is a fickle concept and is something every person on this planet seeks out for self-fulfillment. Happiness also gives our lives a sense of perfection. Everyone is in the pursuit of happiness, but not all will find it with guarantee. Happiness can occur at any point in someone’s life, depending on the circumstance or what the individual desires greatly. However, happiness does not come and should not arise from materialistic values. James Hamblin uses the rhetorical devices of ethos, pathos, and logos to promote this theory of how happiness is achieved in “Buy Experiences, Not Things” to show the reader that there is more to life than materialistic values.

As I read the article about happiness I noticed a lot of logos along the way, she used a lot of facts to back up her argument about why happiness is healthy and the benefits it has. She uses the example of the identical and fraternal twins, "Research has shown that identical twins tend to have similar level of happiness more so than fraternal twins." (Landau 12). According to the author this means that happiness truly comes from your genes. Also, the fact that identical twins can almost sense each other's level of happiness. Her research was related to happiness but it didn't help me understand the main concept of why happiness is healthy. Then she introduces a stronger point with a cliche that states, "money doesn't buy happiness". Using this as her naysayer, this actually helps her in proving why money can't really buy you happiness. She claims, "emotional well-being rises with income up to a point, which seems to be a household income of $75,000. Day-to-day happiness did not increase with higher incomes....Their results show a sharp destitution between how people see

Andrew Blackman (2014) writes about Can Money Buy You Happiness? He explains how to buy some value of things which can make you happy. Everyone should learn about that money is important, but people cannot buy everything with money. Two important points from the article that I would like to discuss are Blackman’s statements about experience and money, time and money. For me, they are connected to each other.

The rhetorical factors in the article “Buying Experiences, Not Things” written by James Hamblin are clear and easy to decipher. The article discusses the psychological factors in a human of being happy. Psychologists and scientists are constantly doing research and studies trying to determine how the brain works, and how people’s minds function every day of their lives. Whether its sleep, knowledge, substance abuse or functions of each part of the brain, every little piece of information gathered helps complete the bigger picture. Emotions are a popular study in psychology. Psychologists are trying to find a way to measure the emotions of people that occur on a daily basis. Research is also being done in search of a form of measurement to measure people’s happiness. Happiness is considered to be an important factor in life.

In 1984, the concept of happiness is portrayed as meaningless and that the truth opposes happiness. According to Big Brother and the party, they can only survive by suppressing individual happiness and freedom. People are not allowed to pursue happiness because if they have the freedom they could revolt against the party, and the party wants to control people’s minds and emotions so that they follow Big Brother. Big Brother, though he never appears in the book, he is an extremely important figure. He is perceived as the ruler of Oceania and his image is everywhere, in every telescreen in every room. His image haunts Winston’s life and fills him with hatred. The party controls people through fear. The main character in 1984 is Winston, he

It is often said that, “Money can’t buy happiness.” In Cass R. Sunstein’s Yes, Money Can Make You Happy, Sunstein provides a summary and review of Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton’s Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending; he declares that money, when spent wisely and with the right attitude, can provide the most elusive of all human experiences: happiness. In a changing social climate with advances in technology offering unmatched convenience, and a culture in which diverse people with equally diverse sets of values come together, the study of what truly makes us happy is especially relevant now more than ever. While money can certainly be spent in a manner which will create happiness, what Sunstein neglects to address in his writing is that more money does not always equate to more happiness, regardless of how and when it is spent.

Keeping from having an excess amount of materialistic, unneeded goods and genuinely enjoying a simplistic lifestyle measures a greater happiness. Rather than purchasing an increased amount of “things” to possess, the focus should be on “how these things are used”(Pursuit of Happiness). Socrates’ ideas point that “Happiness should not depend on external things...and a wise person will use money in the right way in order to make his life better.” For example, using currency in such a way to gain life experiences or knowledge results in a greater satisfaction and measure of happiness because it leaves priceless memories and lasting impressions. Through learning and experiencing, we humans can fulfill that natural desire to contribute and participate in the human phenomenon as a whole, precisely making life better.

We all have heard the phrase “money can’t buy you happiness.” That phrase is a lie because mostly everything in today’s society revolves around money. The things people like revolve around money too. What a coincidence? Let’s say a person is upset so they go buy their favorite ice cream because they know it will make them happy. That person had the money to invest in something that made them happy. Or on an even bigger let’s say someone has been fantasizing about a car and they finally get enough money to purchase their dream car. This person is likely to be very happy. If it was not for the money, they would not have gotten that dream car, so basically the money made them happy. The truth is money makes people happy.