Myths Of Happiness : The Myth Of Happy People

From the beginning of the film industry, individuals and communities—particularly those of racialized and gendered minority groups—have been either underrepresented, misrepresented, or both. Hollywood has been a massive suspect of misrepresentation and enabling/promoting socially constructed misconstructions through mainstream films since its creation. Despite obvious progress being made towards eliminating underrepresentation and misrepresentation and embracing true cultural depictions, films often still foster stereotypes and misrepresentation both directly and indirectly. One example of a film that does this is “The Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith and directed by Gabriele Muccino.

Lazy fall days, colorful leaves, cooler weather, birds singing, frogs croaking, crickets chirping, relaxing to the sounds of the outdoors. Waves of water crashing upon each other, fishing, telling stories around a campfire, making s’mores, memories with family and friends; this is what happiness is to me. Happiness is in the eye of the beholder, what brings happiness to one person may not bring happiness to another person. When I think of the word happiness, I think of descriptive words like Contentment, enjoyment, satisfaction, delightfulness, something that makes a person smile. I have always looked at the word happiness as a feeling, an action, never have I thought of happiness as an overall affect. However, it is a proven fact, that happiness can affect the over-all health and longevity of human life. Happy people live longer than those that are lonely, stressed, or depressed.

The story of the movie The Pursuit of Happyness directed by Gabriele Muccino portrays a family who struggles with finding enough money to pay taxes and afford living expenses. The movie takes a place in San Francisco during the 80s. The two main characters are the father Chris Gardner and his son Christopher, Will Smith and Jaden Smith respectively. Gardner tries to support his family. But every time he attempts to make things better, they always end up worse. Gardner in the story wonders on "how to be happy?" He earns his money by selling the bone density

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The Myths of Happiness begins with several quotes on a page before the first chapter. Each of them truly resonate with the themes of this text. The first one, by Charlotte Bontë, reads as such, “Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.” Although I did not think much of this quote before reading the book, it summarizes the majority of Lyubomirsky’s main points quite well. In her monograph, Lyubomirsky delves into the psychology of happiness and how, as the title may suggest, that the conventional expectations of what makes us happy may not necessarily be true.

I’ve been volunteering at the Triton College Library since my first semester at Triton. I’ve learned several things, both personally and practically.

The book I read was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. This book was published by HarperCollins Publishers in the year of 2010. It is a non-fiction book that contains 320 pages. This book was about a woman who decided she wanted to increase her happiness. She set resolutions for each month that she thought would help her to achieve happiness and better her mental/emotional, social, and physical health.

Introduction: Author Achor gives a new perspective about the relation between success and happiness. People normally believe that happiness comes after success: first we work really hard to achieve success and then we will be happy. In contrast, Shawn Achor’s statement is exactly opposite that happiness will lead people to succeed, if people are happy they tend to be more successful.

In current society, many people are still wishing to meet their expectation in terms of happiness. They can do anything in order to get those things. It is not denial that we are encountering with the world of indefinite growth and demands. We also believe that the growth could bring high income and lots of well-being to us. According to “Society and Environment”, Carolan (2013) claims that the growth is oppositely proportional to happiness. In others words, if people gain high income, they will get less happiness, but if people gain adequate income, they will meet happiness and satisfaction. However, if we deeply take a look American society, it might be different. Schor said to the article “The New Politic of Consumption” that advertising

For a few years I did not have a happy place. I was big, lazy, and I didn't care about anyone or anything. I would sit down on my computer for hours endlessly looking at the screen. My eyes tender from staring at the computer screen. It wasn't until summer of 2016 that I realised that I needed to change. I started just working out outside running walking out of my house rushed with the scent of grass. Then when school started one of my friends recommended getting a gym membership. I had the idea running through my head for quite sometime figuring how useful it would be to me. So I looked into a few places, vigorously searching for a resolution. However, I did not motivate myself enough to keep going so I just quit.

For most of human existence, people have created a falsified causation between overall happiness in a person’s life and the collective amount of positive experiences. It seems like a logical series of events. If something good happens to someone that should in turn should make them, overall, a happier person. But do these positive events truly make a lasting impact on the overall nature of a person’s life? Research says no. So why does this psychological myth still exist so heavily in today’s world?

Happiness as a phenomenon is a subject that has attracted attention from researchers in psychology. It is baffling how happiness is an intrinsic desire all wish to attain. There are many theories throughout time about how to achieve it and debates about whether it is even an ongoing process or a place. Many famous figures from ancient Greeks, Plato, and contemporary philosophers, Robert Nozick, have queried the meaning of it. Thus, there is no one set definition for happiness. Amongst the many concepts of happiness, is the one by Ed Diener and Shigehiro Oishi in their article, The Nonobvious Social Psychology of Happiness. They examine happiness in a non-conventional and psycho-social viewpoint. To them, there are three main factors that contribute to happiness; close social relationships, the ratio of negative events over positive events in relationships and culture and well-being (Diener & Oishi, 2004). Another minor finding discussed is the hedonic treadmill of adaptation which essentially the theory that life stresses and pleasures only provides temporary sadness or happiness. In other words, the effect it has neutralizes with time and adaptation to it occurs.

Webster dictionary defines happiness as good fortune, a state of being well being and contentment, a pleasurable or satisfying experience, but everyone has a different idea of what  happiness is. Some people think of happiness as an object; a person, place or thing. John Stuart Mill believed that “Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind.” I agree with this quote because when I’m not focusing on the fact that I want to be happy I'm the happiest. Thomas Carlyle opinion was that every person believed they had the right to be happy. And despite new improvements in life the percentages of happiness has not changed.

When you hear the word happiness, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Do you think of material possessions like designer clothes and accessories, the newest iPhone with the highest possible storage capacity, or a shiny red supercar? Do you think the amount of money you have or your current financial status has an effect on how happy you are? Plenty of college students, myself included, would associate happiness with possessing items like these or just having a lot of money in general. In today’s society, one common belief about social class is that the richer and more money or things that one has, the happier this will make them. This belief is reinforced by countless advertisements we see and hear everywhere, whether that be on

True happiness is defined by, having a sense of deep inner well-being, how you fell about a certain situation and experiencing true happiness is a great thing. The reason why true happiness is important in the world of today is because, without true happiness the world would, come unraveled and more crimes and the government might go into a crazy binge where there is no control over what is said, or down on any issue that is put in front of the government like, immigration reform, to make changes to a country’s policy on immigration and the people who can come in and become a citizen of that country. Without feeling true happiness criminals and criminal activities will start to happen an example of this would be, more abuse in homes between spouses or more child abuse because, the family members are letting more of their angry out and not figuring out a way to combat it or deal with in in another helpful way.

Do you know this? Somewhere within each of us, there exists a supreme self who is always at eternal peace. This means, however difficult or dire your situation is, there always is a source in your own self to derive solace from.