Three Steps to the Happy Life: Why this Approach Does Not Work

Happiness will not be achieved by suppressing one’s emotions in wealth, swallowing pills and drinking, and plunging into sex. The meaning of life is found by not submerging into those types of distractions, but rather forcing to find one’s true values and passions. One can only find themselves through the struggles and hardships they face and developing more character and strength, endurance and self-esteem, when accomplishing such plights. Those distractions may make someone happy for a limited amount of time, however, those distractions keep people from discovering themselves and fulfilling their destiny in life.

The third route to increasing happiness comes through meaning which is comprised mainly of the four basic values of faith, family, community, and work. (The NY Times) This avenue boosts happiness through a sense of being part of a higher thing that ourselves.

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

The authors of the article believe that there are three things that form happiness as a whole, “pleasure (or positive emotion); engagement; and meaning” (Seligman 540). In order to increase happiness, there needs to be a way to increase these three constituents in the lives of people. With this being said most people in the world cannot increase all three constituents, but a person can live a full life when “A person uses all three routes to happiness” (541). The main goal of people is to increase all three paths or constituents because through living a full life a person can have more satisfaction. This article gives many interesting facts about happiness and gives a very direct definition of what happiness is. This definition of what happiness is might match what some other people might think, but it cannot satisfy the definition that every one in the world

Since the beginning of civilization, finding contentment within one’s life has been one of the most significant goals humans have strived to achieve. The ways in which each person strives for happiness are as diverse as human culture, but common connections can be found in every individual. The exact meaning of what happiness is, how individuals find contentment, and how each person compares their own personal satisfaction are all important pieces to fully understand the complex study of how one attains and keeps true joy in their lives.

The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is simultaneously an academic book and comprehensive guide about positive psychology and it’s applications in daily life. Dr. Lyubomirsky provides not only facts and figures to back up her science but also includes quizzes and exercises for the reader to learn more about himself or herself in context with the book. The book is broken down into 3 different sections: How to Attain Real and Lasting Happiness, Happiness Activities, and Secrets to Abiding Happiness.

Happiness is an emotion that can be practiced by anyone, just like all other emotions we have. There is a kind of expectation that comes attached with the term happiness, that people get intrigued, when asked the question, “are you happy?” .Happiness cannot be achieved when we want it but it can be found in unexpected moments or situations. This happens entirely when the choice is made by a person to be happy or not in that particular moment .Happiness cannot be measured in terms of success or money. It is something that is cherished in everyone’s mind as a result of constant choices made to think positively, even when we are surrounded by negativity.

The 14th Dalai Lama, of Tibetan, once said, ”Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” What the Dalai Lama’s judgment means is that you don’t become happy by default, you become happy by doing something you love- like making someone who’s had a bad day smile, or completing a math problem that you had said a million times before “I can’t do.” This piece of wisdom has stayed with me since the first time I read it, as I have found over the years that there is nothing more important than being true to your values and beliefs- whatever they may be- while in the pursuit of academic success and service to others.

The world seems to be a dark and unforgiving place, but happiness is hidden within. It is found in a beautiful view, an uplifting song, or a compliment from a friend. According to the Ted Talk video, The Habits of Happiness, Matthieu Ricard claims that everyone “has a deep, profound desire for well-being or happiness”(Ricard 2:39). Ricard uses the three techniques of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to captivate and move his audience. With the use of metaphors, personal experiences, and even graphs Matthieu explained to his audience the full force and perception of the bendable word that is happiness. This Ted Talk dove into philosophical meaning on just how to achieve well-being, without having everything in the world.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV). Thankfulness is, I think, a rather lovely word, pleasant to pronounce. I mean who could say anything bad about a word like thankfulness? Imagine you’re a metal detector, but instead of finding coins you find positives. At work you always have the most encouraging connections, hold the most positive conversations, a clear reflection of the thankfulness in your life. It is how the soul prospers having knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. Gratitude helps you orient you again and again, toward the blessings

Life is difficult. Sometimes life’s difficulties can cause people to become disheartened and depressed. At times the struggles of life obscure one’s goals and one’s blessings. Most people do not enjoy being in a state of prolonged sadness, though momentary pain and sadness, are important in human life. Indeed, since Aristotle most of Western philosophy has held that “all men agree that” the goal of life “is happiness.” Now, what happiness means varies from person to person. Aristotle held that the “contemplative life” is “happiness in the highest sense.” The early Utilitarians held that happiness meant maximising pleasure and minimising pain. Henry Hazlitt’s system of utilitarianism holds that happiness is to “maximize our satisfactions in the long run” foster by “social cooperation.” The definitions of happiness could fill entire volumes and still fail to account for one’s personal view of happiness. Furthermore, it must be noted that there are some that do not believe happiness is the ultimate goal of life or even a subordinate goal of life. However, most want to happy; in whatever way they define it.

Through its self-sufficiency, its relationship to virtue, and how having an active soul plays a parts in becoming happy. All these ideas when combined create a complete understanding of happiness and express the important role happiness has in making a life worth living. Not only that, but the journey toward happiness through the virtues and an active soul help to develop peoples character making them a better person overall. Happiness after all is “the good” that philosophers have been trying to discover and it becomes more evident after studying happiness in more depth. As has been noted, happiness is the end for every action people do, whether it be though pleasure or virtue, in the end the main thing all people desire is

Happiness has always been a tricky thing, both to describe and to attain. Most of the great philosophers – Socrates, Hobbes, even (or perhaps especially) Nietzsche – have struggled to find true substance in this area. Aristotle considered it to be the “Supreme Good”, conjecturing that every action, in order to be considered positive, must contribute to the individual’s happiness and conversely that any positive action will inherently make the individual happier. Not in a hedonistic sense, as material pleasure is rarely lasting, but in reason; humans are rational creatures, and in order to attain genuine, lasting happiness we must utilize that quality to make long-term decisions that cause a positive change in either ourselves or our community. While the term “happiness” simply denotes the emotion, this kind of true happiness is better known as bliss. The word “bliss” comes from Old

According to Jesus, happiness is trusting in God in the face of all evil. He believed that happiness does not permanently exist in this life, only in the “Kingdom of God”. The methods used to help guide us into the “Kingdom of God” include the Radical Ethics he spoke of on the Mount. To Jesus, unhappiness is normal and we must learn to live with it. As we are suffering in this life, we will be able to have access to all the riches offered in the next life when we’ve changed our hearts and accepted God as our happiness.

In chapter one it mentions four essentials in life for happiness, which is good health, social activity, religious belief, and culture (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer 2014, chap.1). The reason for mentioning chapter one to this exercise is because those things do matter for happiness. Without having good health in my life, it would be difficult for me to live happily. In the happiness profile exercise my two highest scores were pleasure and victory. I do think the two orientations reflect on my life in many ways. I strongly consider life’s too short to be miserable, so I constantly do things that make me happy. For example, if a job causes me to lose sleep or become depressed from the negative environment, then it 's apparently not worth having in my life. I enjoy the positives in life and try to avoid negatives to bring me down. Another thing I noticed about myself from this exercise was the amount of success in my life does affect my happiness. Success for me is more than just having wealth but being able to accomplishing my goals. For example, to earn my