The Happiness Advantage

Happiness is a positive mental or emotional state stemming from biology as well as outside circumstances. Often, people believe that by achieving certain levels of success and wealth, their happiness levels will rise, but that is not the case. Since many factors influencing one’s happiness lie in biology, it is largely predetermined. Happiness is just as influenced by biology as it is by external factors.

The path to happiness is not a smooth sail, but more of a curvy road where there are bumps and turns that are unexpected, with no signs to warn you. As Lebron stated in his article, there are three ideals of being a part of a free society, that involves happiness and the path to it. "First, to plan for a life one must be able to see an open path to basic resources necessary to make good on a plan, such as education, housing and health care"(Lebron). The ups and

Albert Schweitzer once said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Many people dream of what they will become and how their lives will be when they are older. Depending on the dreams people have, some will come true and others won’t. The American Dream is something numerous people strive for, but the meaning of it can vary. Lately, the American Dream seems to be about getting a job that makes an abundance of money. It shouldn’t simply be about becoming wealthy and living in a huge house; it should be about accomplishing things that fulfills one's happiness.

The Happiness Equation is a great book that you should totally check out, and I wish I had read it earlier… hell, I wish I had listened to Michelle earlier! Being happy unfortunately takes effort, but it is so much better than living a life where you hate everything and you’re sad all the time. I just got out of a situation in my life where that was the case and it’s just, wow:

“I've constantly told myself that success does not entail happiness. Happiness is the source for success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” (Herriot 1)

For many people, happiness can be an elusive thing. Some try to achieve it by filling their lives with professional success and expensive toys, while others find it by living a purposeful life. Happiness is important to us, both as individuals and as a world, primarily because happiness is really all there is. Happiness is not that people feel good all the time and happiness is not that people can afford everything they want; instead, happiness is that people have a positive emotion and allows a person to have a healthy

What does happiness even mean? Does everything think the same when they hear happiness. I do not believe that happiness means the same thing to

In today’s society, we are relentlessly bombarded with annoying phrases like “things aren’t so bad” or “look on the bright side of life”. (Inside Out Review, 2015). Our brains are wired to think that the optimal level of happiness is achieved when we refuse to think negatively. However, adopting this type of attitude can result in just the opposite of happiness. Having a sense of optimism, especially on a good day almost feels like bliss. However, on a bad day, pushing away any insignificant hint of sadness you may be feeling can put you at an ultimate low. I compare this to the story told by James Baldwin entitled, “Sonny’s Blues”. The author uses a close family member to convey the damaging

Living our lives full of positive emotions can bring many advantages and benefits along with it. If we picture our life as a flower, or any delicate form you would think of, what would you want for the flower to have it be the best it can be? You would want to give it the best of everything right, the best water the best sunlight and atmosphere to have it grown and last as long as it could. Well our lives can be the same way. If we are living with positive emotions we will

Happiness, something that everyone wants but seems that few ever truly achieve. What’s the easiest way to attain such a simple-seeming goal? Positivity. When we become truly happy and assured in ourselves it’s not because everyone else told us to and it suddenly became possible. Happiness isn’t just a goal you can suddenly achieve either because it takes consistent effort, but the more you practice this the easier it is to maintain. When someone is truly happy they always have one thing in common: a positive attitude. If you are constantly bringing yourself or others down it is not possible for you to become happy too. Thus changing your perspective to that of a constructive assessment will make your life simpler and bring you more happiness. A positive outlook on life is the best way to find personal happiness and in turn spread it to others.

I believe that every human being deserves the chance to pursue happiness, regardless of their race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. We deserve the same chance because we are all born equal, but just because we have the chance to pursue happiness it doesn’t mean we are entitled to do whatever we want. There are restrictions we should consider as we pursue happiness because we can’t be going around breaking the law or hurting people. I also think that we should allow ourselves to experience more than just happiness, for example, anger, grief, fear, love and so on.

Do you ever stop and think, ¨am I truly happy?¨ I do, and it’s a habit that I need to stop because I believe that focusing too much on happiness will just make you stressed and unhappy and just remind you of the things that are making you unhappy. I believe that living in the moment and moving forward causes happiness. People who stay in the past make it harder for better things to come into their life. Many Americans in the world today believe that money buys happiness. I disagree because once people start buying everything they want, it´ll only make them happy for a short period of time until they start wanting more and more. As Lord Richard Kahneman states, “...stagnancy of happiness in modern societies should prompt policymakers to shift their priorities from the creation of wealth to the creation of good feelings…”said otherwise, this means that policymakers should convince society that feeling happy should be a priority that doesn’t involve wealth. I strongly believe in that.

“Love is that condition in which happiness of another person is essential to your own”.

Think of the word “happiness.” So many people would love to feel this emotion throughout their life. But what is the hallmark of achieving happiness in the first place? And how does one keep it that way? More and more, people are now investing themselves in the latest gadgets because they think they will get everlasting happiness. But does happiness mean that, or does it have a simpler definition? In the articles, “You Can Buy Happiness, If It’s An Experience,” by Manvi Singh and the poems “I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud” by William Wordsworth and “Blossoms,” by Li-Young Lee, the authors all believe that happiness is achievable, but not through the use of products or the amount of money you have. One can achieve happiness by having strong relationships, experiences, and the simple pleasures life gives you.

What is happiness in a meaningful life? There are many different ways to find the meaning in life through this lifetime, which is to achieve happiness. The Renaissance saw happiness by reason and rationality because everything is based on faith, which shapes our life to determine our destination. It is about going out into the world and finding out more about our God. The goal of happiness in Hinduism is to relieve our soul, relieve our mind, and to relieve our life because they shall reach the divine when one does their duty, refrains from pleasure, and does their life’s task for God. Classical Greece found the meaning of life through truth and in order to get to truth, we must use reason. Social connection is the value of all the cultures because the social world is highly important. The value of social connection is engaging with others. I am going to teach my children the values of denial, discipline, and devotion because I can get to the truth through denial, discipline, and devotion. The world’s sin is what all the religions have in common. If a person wants to find happiness, the person must first surrender to his subconscious to start an idea that will fulfill his own desires. With a short review of the different cultures, one can begin to enhance happiness on their view to what compose happiness. Happiness begins with one who guides their way through life and set goals that sometimes involve discomfort in order to achieve the materials that would make them happy.