The Geography Of Bliss By Eric Weiner

Eric Weiner, the author of Geography of Bliss, Euromail and Amerimail, and Man seeks good, is an american author and former foreign correspondent. His works are typically non-fiction, as it usually pertains to his life. In his stories, he shows his search for happiness and why it is necessary to find  out what happiness means to others. In his book Man Seeks God, he explains his experience with his exploration of what religion and faiths had on his life. This search was inspired by a health scare. While he was in the hospital a nurse asked if he "Have you found your God yet?".  Geography of Bliss gives his definition of what makes people happy or what makes them thrive in a positive manner in various environments. He travelled to many

In 2008 Eric Weiner wrote and published the book The Geography of Bliss, one grump’s search for the happiest places in the world. This paper describes Mr. Weiner’s search for happiness over the course of a year, traveling through ten very different countries, including our own land America. His search has sent him through the darkest corners of the world to the brightest and busiest places of all. “Places that possess, in spades, one or more of the ingredients that we consider essential to the hearty stew of happiness: money, pleasure, spirituality, family, and chocolate, among others” (pg. 2).

Different countries have different cultural values and traits. People with different culture have a huge difference than people in an organization. Culture is the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another (dictionary.com). In the book, "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner, he discussed the different values and traits of different countries during his journey in finding the data of happiness. In his journey, he mentioned some countries particularly Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan and Qatar. People in Netherlands have known for their tolerance, while people in Switzerland have known for their self-policing and thriftiness. In addition, people in Bhutan are different they are compassionate, they believe in imaginative possibilities, they are religious, and do not value money. Moreover, Qatar is opposite of the three countries. Unlike Bhutan, Qatar people beliefs depend on money, privilege, and luck. Indeed, culture has significant effect in people 's values and traits that causes cultural differences in different countries.

Despite the differences, each culture has its own way for people to strive to find happiness. Each way must also have some basis because neither country is void of happy and healthy people. This brings the question to mind, how can people find happiness in both ways? While I may not be able to give a perfect answer that can be backed by facts and endless amounts of evidence, I can give my opinion on how this is possible.

I thought that it took having things like a big house, or a really nice car to be happy. But from what I have learned this semester in English, that is no longer the case. From reading the books Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey, and watching The Pursuit of Happyness if people enjoy what they are doing with their life, they will be happy.

Lisa who lives in Sweden lives a happy lifestyle. She has everything that anyone can ask for. A great job, health care, an education, and a government that invests in her and her people. In a not so great part of the world, Rida who lives in Iraq lives an unhappy lifestyle. Her family of 10 can barely support themselves and cannot afford to send Rida to school. And Health care in her country is one of the worst in the world. Happiness levels in a country differ from one another because of the circumstances they are in. Countries having the same circumstances can differ on happiness levels. If you were to put the U.S. and a country like Netherlands together, they both are sort of the same. Good health care, education, and employment. But in actuality, the Netherlands are a much happier nation than the U.S. In ‘Celebrating Happiness Day With The Happiest (And Saddest) Countries,’ by, Hayley Munguia, shows us where each country ranks based on happiness. The Netherlands are ranked fourth while the U.S. is ranked seventeenth on the chart.

Our Rightful Place Everyone wants to achieve happiness. That’s a fact. How we achieve it, differs between each person. Some believe that by entering a top ranked college; and getting a high paying job they’ll become happy. Others think that they’ll achieve happiness through marriage.

I am a very stubborn person when it comes to accepting other people 's perspective of life , or to compare what makes me happy to that of others. Reading a book geography of bliss written by Eric weiner, helped changed my believes. I was amazed at how other people around the world live their lives on daily basics ,weather rich or poor they still find ways and reasons to live in peace, be happy and co-exist together.

The Geography of Bliss one group's search for the happiest places in the world by Eric Weiner, is about how you can find a happiest places. According to one study,by Adrian white from university of Leicester in Britain, study shows USA is twenty-third happiest nation in the world. But, it is only after Costa Rica, Mata, and Malaysia. This is so true by 84 percent of the study has been done. For another example shown here, as psychological David Myers said in his book. He said:"from 1960 the divorce rate never dropped, number of bad teens never dropped. So the people who did violent crime are higher too. And so does population of the prisoner. That's why the USA is 23 richest country in the world, because we are not 100% perfect. Also

In the article Does Money Buy Happiness? author Robert Easterlin discusses happiness, and what contributes and detracts from it. He also addresses the socio-economic paradigms that are of great influence to happiness, and of course, the correlation between happiness and the income of individuals and the correlation between happiness and the income of an entire country. Easterlin takes data from various sources to support the claims in his article.

What is happiness? Is it spending time with friends or family? Or is it having food laid out on the table? Could it be playing games or watching TV? Happiness is the satisfaction resulting from the ability and freedom to do what one wants to be doing.

However, what state they are in will affect what they believe happiness is. For example if they are sick they think happiness is health and when they are poor they believe being wealthy is happiness. Being happy is conceived as the good life or doing well but “what constitutes happiness is a matter of dispute” and what many people believe happiness is differs from what philosophers believe.

Happiness is a state of mind which takes control of a person’s emotions depending on the occasion one is experiencing or the situation one is involved in. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of happiness is a state of well-being and contentment. As well as, a pleasurable or satisfying experience. Which in my opinion can be accomplished by assets acquired during periods of time. Money, jobs, and relationships are all examples of fulfillments that affect an individual’s way of thinking. Happiness is expressed differently depending on the kind of mood or stage in life an individual is experiencing. If a person feels tired or sad the happy state of mind is never going to occur. No person will ever feel happy if all they’re going

As I continued my research, Ruut Veenhoven stated this question in Chapter 11 of the book "International Differences of Well-Being"—"the discussions centers on whether happiness is similar for all humans or rather something that varies across cultures (328)." This question interests me, because it is a question that I think is very important. We all have a wide range of different priorities and values. First, he chooses to define happiness: "I use the word ‘happiness ' for a subjective state of mind, which I define as the overall appreciation of one 's life-as-a-whole. Happiness is the ‘sum of pleasures and pains '. Happiness in this sense is synonymous with ‘life satisfaction ' and ‘subjective well-being ' (Veenhoven 329)." Veenhoven, then, breaks up the questions "How universal is happiness" into sub-questions because it is too broad to answer. Veenhoven says that, although the mood is something we are aware of it is mostly not in the foreground of our consciousness. It is still assessable, and we can estimate how well we feel most of the time, unlike babies.

And if you follow this blog, you probably think the answer is 1.) the right people/relationships (the "happiness is external" argument) or 2.) change your environment (the "we are a product of our environment" argument)