The Life Of Happiness

As human beings we are very diverse. We vary from numerous backgrounds, ethnicities, morals, and cultures. However, as much as we are unique, we all share one common goal in life. Everyone has a desire for happiness. I found that throughout my daily life I based my decision off of what would make me happy, whether it was for a long or short period of time. Often happiness is associated with successfulness and achievement. Though, like the saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, happiness can be found in different ways by different people. This along with reading The Driest Season by Meghan Kenny, is what influenced me to want to find out more about happiness, if it is truly attainable, and how people achieve it.

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.

Happiness is an essential goal for most people. From books and expensive classes that teach people how to achieve happiness to the fundamental right of “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, the importance of happiness is evident in society. This causes the rise to two fundamental questions: “How does one attain happiness?” and “,How does happiness create a meaningful life?” Both happiness and living a meaningful life are achieved simultaneously. The search for happiness and the factors that make it brings meaning to life. Happiness can stem from several factors such as wisdom and knowledge, savoring life and its experiences, and even suffering and pain. Analyzing these factors brings meaning to one’s life.

In society there are still differences in classes such as higher class, middle class, and lower class. In sociology, we observed a film called The Pursuit Happyness, where we witnessed the struggles a father went through to succeed. Chris Gardner, who was played by Will Smith, is living in his apartment with his wife and his son. Due to their struggles, the mother walks out on and leaves Chris struggling alone with his son. In the film Chris Gardner applies for an unpaid internship for a competitive stockbroker company where out of twenty men, only one gets the job. While he is on his internship, we see the hardships of getting kicked out of his apartment to staying at a shelter home to then sleeping in a subway bathroom with his son. Viewing the movie through a sociological lens, The Pursuit of Happyness will be analyzed according to the major three sociological paradigms: structural functionalism, social conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism.

Success is extremely coveted in the society, however on the path to success, obstacles will stand in the way. Failure is inevitable and the response of an individual towards these obstacles and the failures in their lives determines whether or not they will have success. Failure gives allowance to learn from mistakes and motivates to do better the next time. The Pursuit of Happyness uses lighting, music and camera angles to give viewers an insight into Chris’ journey through the film demonstrating his resiliency, optimism and loving personality. Filmmaker, Gabriele Muccino, uses the protagonist, Chris’ final triumph to illustrate the significance of failure in achieving success.

Happiness is one of the most significant dimensions of human experience. Many people can argue that happiness is a meaningful and desirable entity. Studies indicate that everyone pursues happiness in various aspects of their life. Our four fathers saw happiness as a need, so they made the pursuit of happiness as one of the three unalienable rights branded in the Declaration of Independence. There is a sense of complexity behind the meaning of happiness; its definition is not definite. Think of happiness as a rope; there are many thin fiber strands bonded together to become the strength of the rope. Like the analogy of the rope, there are numerous factors that can contribute to an individual’s overall happiness in life. This study is going to

Is it impossible to capture happiness? Modern society would have everyone believe that the more things one acquires, the happier they will be. Taking a critical look at the messages that surround us, it becomes clear that this is nothing more than slick marketing and clever propaganda. Many people believe that it is the materialistic things that make us happy in life but is that really the case? Happiness can not be obtained by the things we have. Many people spend their whole lives chasing happiness and never reach it because they are chasing the wrong this to make them happy. This paper will examine what true happiness really is.

If a person is asked what their goal in life is, they will probably answer, to have a big house, a good family, a high paying job, a nice car, but what about happiness? What is happiness? Happiness can be defined as a combination of life satisfaction through social relationships and life experiences, achieved through the choice of wanting to be happy in life. A person can choose to be happy by improving their social life, learning to depend less on money, and understanding that there are things within their control and things that are not. Statistics show that having a good social life greatly improves one’s happiness.

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

Happiness usually is derived from feelings of independence, competence, self-esteem, or relating well to other people (Sheldon et al., 2001). One aspect of adulthood that still remains the same, despite generational changes, is the development and maintenance of relationships. Erik Erikson spoke of young adulthood as the “Intimacy-Versus-Isolation Stage.” During this period, the focus is on developing close, intimate relationships

A heathy relationship foster, genuine love, that's evident by openness, trust and the freedom to give oneself to another' Happiness is not a simple thing. I believe in order to achieve healthy happiness, it beings with a grateful mindset. According to psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsk, "Happiness, more than anything, is a state of mind, a way of perceiving and approaching ourselves and the world in which we reside. (Pursuing Happiness 185). I believe the right mental attitude, plays a major roll, in healthy happiness. On the other hand, a mind that harbor's anger, bitterness and hurt reduces that chance, these emotions foster unhealthy happiness and the possibility of a unhealthy life. Lyumboirsky notes you can manage your state of mind (185). There are many contrast levels of happiness. In this essay we will compare healthy vs unhealthy. While relationships in general are important for ultimate currency, romantic relationships reign supreme (Happier 111).

The Pursuit of Happiness for one person is different for that of another person. The same goes for those of different cultures. It could be the traditions in how they are brought up as children and what they are taught to believe at an early age. In America we are continually told about the American Dream which is the portrait of the perfect family in a Norman Rockwell painting, the perfect job, the house with the white picket fence and no problems where everybody looks happy and acts as if they are happy; this would be a stereotype of what happiness looks like. Is this true happiness? Not really for very few of us ever achieve all of these

“Human history seems to me to be one long story of people sweeping down—or up, I suppose—replacing other people in the process.”

The relationship between the past, present, and future in relation to happiness is profound. Each of these time periods weigh on our happiness as a whole, and in life there are times when we feel happy and others when we feel unhappy. The three periods are always working together to give us our conception of happiness, and although we always want to be happy, sometimes we may be weighed down by the past, present, or future. It is important, however, to realize that we could just as easily be brought up by these

I understand why many Americans are not happy with where they are in life. Sometimes I wish that things were different, almost everyone does. Though I wish things were different in some respects, I do not beat myself up about it. My mother grew up in a big family with no money and a lack of initiative for education. She saw what she wanted to do and left the small town in Michigan, now she’s one of the most well published and decorated Physician Assistants in the world. Though she wishes she had become a doctor or lived in a different place, she always relates her life to that of per patients. I have adopted this philosophy and whenever something goes wrong, I tell myself “You’ve got food on the table, and you don’t have Hodgkin’s Disease.”. Knowing that I have more than six months to live and I have something to eat, are just two of the major things that make life seem a lot better.