Unit 4 Happiness Assignment

I interviewed Ashley Porras, a Licensed Vocational Nurse at Sharp Rees Stealy. She gave me background information of how she got into the healthcare system, great advice and what she does on a daily basis. The reason I chose Ashley as the person to interview was because I got the chance to spend the day with her at work and I loved it. I found it interesting what she did and got the opportunity to learn more about her, her occupation and where she see’s herself in the future. Someday, I would be an LVN and gradually get higher in the healthcare field like she is doing now.

In her article “How Happy Are You and Why?,” Sonja Lyubomirsky argues that people have control over their own happiness. Lyubomirsky supports her claims with her interviews with happy people and scientific studies. Her purpose is to consider steps that people can take in order to become happier. She establishes an informal relationship with her audience of unhappy people.

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.

There are hardly any reports on happiness and raising children. Gilbert states that, “It really violates our intuition, yet every bit of data says children are an extreme source of negative affect, or none at all. It’s hard to find a study where there’s one net positive (426). Are these things proof that the literal definition of happy, of good fortune and prosperity or well adjusted, is wrong?

She is an “award-winning staff writer at Newsweek” and “has written scores of articles that decode the complexities of science for lay readers” (554). In addition, Begley also “wrote for the ‘Science Journal’ column for the Wall Street Journal” which “first appeared on the Newsweek-affiliated Web site the Daily Beast” (554). These credentials are evidence that allow the reader to trust her as a reliable author. Begley’s article is also trustworthy because she introduces sources that have published research on happiness, are psychologists or psychiatrists, and support her argument. For example, Begley mentions Ed Diener, a psychologist “who has studied happiness for a quarter century” (555). She also mentions the global research that has concluded that the people with “the highest levels of happiness” tend to put in less effort into improving and changing their lives (556). Begley also supports her article by mentioning several examples of well-known people who used their “negative emotions, including sadness, to direct [their] thinking” (557). For example, Begley mentions that “Beethoven composed his later works in a melancholic funk” (557). Begley believes that the negative emotions that lead famous people to their critical thinking can also help people such as, college students (557).

The person I interviewed was my mom Peggy Pacheco, She was born on October 27, 1972 at St. Charles Hospital. Her Parents are Sharon Blevins (mom), and Ronald Blevins (dad), Her siblings are Julie (sister) and Bob (brother). She’s only lived in two places, Pemberville, Ohio and Bowling Green, Ohio. My mom had attended Eastwood school when she was younger. She has medium length hair, brown hair, she wears glasses, has lots of freckles and brown eyes.

The first person that I interviewed was my girlfriend, Amarise Christine Morales. Amarise was born in Tulare, Ca, but has lived in Fresno, Ca most of her life. Her

When I approached this statement I pondered for quite a bit. It was a bit depressing. Happiness should be exactly what it says being happy. For me, there was a period that happiness did not exist and when I reflect about this period its becomes overwhelming. This chapter in my life was dark and didn’t think that I could ever truly be happy again. With that being said, happiness to me is peace of mind,

My interviews were conducted over the phone with two women whom I could not imagine my life without. The first being with my childhood best friend, now 19-years-old, whom I met at eight-years-old after I moved to Haines from Fairbanks, Alaska. We have remained best friends to this day. We had to try fairly hard to conduct a serious interview, but we were able to cover all of our ground in 10 minutes. My second interview was with my father’s ex-girlfriend, now 61-years-old, who I have the utmost appreciation for. She has only been in my life since 2014, but considering she was a large part of my 18th birthday, senior prom, and high school graduation, I could never not consider her a member of my family. She was more direct in her responses, so our interview lasted only 5 minutes.

1. Question: Share some of the background of your interviewee (or couple). What was this person’s/couple’s story?

Beverly's definition of happiness is "where your heart is involved, it is a focus outside of yourself." At times, she chooses to be contented rather than happy. As a child, she did not discuss her feelings, and it was hard for her to know when she was happy.

Happiness is a result that we deserved, furthermore, it becomes a motivation for us to keep trying and getting success in life.

    The person I interviewed was Mrs. L. I know her because she is my mother’s mother. The interview took place at my house and the interview lasted about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I chose to interview Mrs. L because she seems to have done everything right and in the right order to lead to a successful life. I thought it would be interesting to go into depth and find out how she really did it and find out the hardships that came with making a successful family and life. (word count: 90)

Throughout time, people have constantly attempted to seek out what happiness truly is, and, if possible, how to achieve this happiness. The idea of what happiness is has changed often, and is dependent on the environment that the people live in. The era and the ideologies of that time period, the community, and who the people interact with all affect the idea of what happiness truly is. Because of this, what happiness is, and how to achieve it, will be continually changing.

The person I chose to interview was my parent’s. My dad and my mom have been married for twenty-one years.