StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

A Personal View of Happiness - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The writer of this essay discusses that happiness can be attained some specific material comforts. The most materialistic of these thoughts was his dad’s purchase of his first car, a giant ugly machine that provided him with a safe, smooth ride and the ultimate sound system for his riding experience…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER96.8% of users find it useful
A Personal View of Happiness
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "A Personal View of Happiness"

A Personal View of Happiness According to Aristotle, while most of our daily pursuits are engaged in apursuit of happiness, happiness is frequently pursued simply as an end in itself (cited in Bolt, 2004: 117). However, most people have no idea what happiness is or really how to attain it. This is first because happiness is a very subjective subject, meaning something different to different individuals, and second because the modern world offers so many distractions that are touted as being the path to happiness.

In America, for instance, we are taught that happiness can be attained some specific material comforts. One study revealed that nearly three-quarters of college freshmen consider being ‘very well-off financially’ to be a ‘very important’ or ‘essential’ goal” (Bolt, 2004: 124). However, personal experience has taught me that happiness has nothing to do with any of these things. My experience started one day when a friend of mine finally got tired of hearing me gripe about my many petty (and some important) irritations in life.

He was my primary sounding board, so I felt abandoned when he told me he wouldn’t listen anymore until I had written down the 33 happiest moments of my life. I resisted, of course, but finally needed to vent so I sat down and started my list. It took me days of thinking, jotting down a note, thinking some more, scribbling and rearranging before I finally had a list I felt ready to show my friend. I didn’t really notice it at the time, but for the entire period I was working on my list, those problems I was always complaining about seemed to melt away.

This readjustment of my thinking was exactly what my friend explained he’d been going for. He had taken a class in which this exercise had been given and he’d learned that when you spend time focusing on the good things that have happened to you in life, you feel less negative and the outside world looks more positive. You start seeing the possibilities in life instead of the obstacles. I understood because I’d just experienced this, but he was right that I probably wouldn’t have understood if he’d just told me.

When I showed him my list, he helped me go through it and grouped my moments into several categories. These ended up including accomplishments, gifts, helping others, family, trips, nature and miscellaneous. As we talked about my list, I realized that even in those areas that might sound more like a focus on material elements, the focus was clearly more on the experience involved rather than the item itself. Perhaps the most materialistic of these thoughts was my dad’s purchase of my first car, a giant ugly machine that provided me with a safe, smooth ride and the ultimate sound system for my riding experience.

I hated the car, but loved the experience and the thoughtfulness of my dad in making sure I was comfortable and safe. Trips may seem to be another category full of materialistic aims, but again, my memories are associated more with the way they made me feel about myself and the pleasure I had in experiencing these trips with someone I loved. After placing my happy moments into categories, I discovered that most of my happy moments had nothing to do with material comforts and everything to do with spending time with family and helping others.

Going through my list, I realized that I was trying to acquire things to make me happy but that took meant I had less time to do the things that actually made me happy. It seemed strange that a process as simple as drawing out a list could have such a tremendous impact on my life, but it changed my entire perspective. Dedicating myself to bringing others comfort has overcome any previous thoughts that I had to acquire wealth before I could discover happiness. References Bolt, Martin. (2004).

Happiness, Chap. 6. In Pursuing Human Strengths. Worth Publishers: 117-137.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(A Personal View of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6, n.d.)
A Personal View of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1565081-admission-essay
(A Personal View of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words - 6)
A Personal View of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words - 6. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1565081-admission-essay.
“A Personal View of Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words - 6”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1565081-admission-essay.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF A Personal View of Happiness

What Makes You Happy

In other words, in view of happiness which man seeks he inevitably engages in the satisfaction he derives from such things.... ?? Concerning the Evolution of happiness and the Ways to Respond to It Meaningfully We hear it often from people that they want to be happy.... What are the criteria of happiness?... By these same standards we gauge our level of attainment of happiness.... Philosophers have counseled us for centuries, if not for millennia, about the nature of happiness, and how it is the singular goal of human life....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

College Transfer to University of California

It colored my college life as I took part in the magic club not only to enjoy myself or to get a self-gratification from others' praise and clapping, but also to bring happiness and enjoyment to others.... College Transfer to University of California - personal Statement I hail from a family in China....
4 Pages (1000 words) Personal Statement

Love, Respect and Caring for Others, Role in Personal Happiness

This paper ''Love, Respect and Caring for Others, Role in Personal Happiness'' tells that The concept of happiness has for centuries concerned philosophers, such as Aristotle, who widely reflected on what happiness was and what makes individuals truly happy.... The importance of happiness in life is not in question.... rdquo; Love, care, and respect here are the subjects of human interrelationships whose role in the pursuit of happiness is under investigation....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Aristotle's Concept of Happiness

Name Philosophy 25 May 2012 Aristotle's Concept of happiness People have different opinions of the best, happiest and most worthwhile kind of life for human beings.... Aristotle uses Nicomachean Ethics in his theory of happiness to defend the view he takes on happiness.... happiness in life tends to be measured in terms of honorable achievements and pleasures and excitements of service to the community, material productiveness, luxury, happy personal relationships and other factors but an agreement on the principal factor to measure happiness and what is best for human beings is necessary (Broadie 3)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Film The poursuite of happiness

This review will explore the rags-to-riches journey and examine the film's true pursuit of happiness in the context of the significance and meaning of happiness from the perspective of a child and an adult, in addition to dissecting the writer and director's vision in presenting the obstacles Gardner faced and allowing the audience to find their own interpretation of happiness.... The United States Declaration of Independence pronounce "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....
2 Pages (500 words) Movie Review

Income and Happiness

Yet the nature of happiness remains controversial.... 1Everybody is in the pursuit of happiness and in my view, there is no way that a person feels ultimate happiness.... In the paper “Income and happiness” the author looks at happiness from the life of a businessman to the life of a farmer.... We might think the farmer doesn't have many things as compared to ourselves but happiness is something which anybody can feel at any time....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

What is Happiness

The philosophers like Plato and Socrates also believed in the state… In philosophy different views have been given regarding the feeling of happiness.... This principle of happiness is considered correct irrespective of the fact that the act that whether the action is performed out of a pure intention and motive of helping someone or whether the act is performed for personal interest.... Some believe that happiness is brought about by luck and charm whereas some believe that happiness has to be achieved....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Happiness Lessons From a New Science by Richard Layard

nbsp;… The reading of the book kindles curiosity, but the discernible reader knows that the final verdict on the concept of happiness, leave alone its achievement, can be delivered only by the realized souls.... The dimensions of happiness are much fold and with the logic of deduction, it is impossible to segregate happiness from unhappiness.... These were never, are never and will be never the agents of happiness.... This book review "happiness Lessons From a New Science by Richard Layard" focuses on a desperate churning process of the various factors that contribute to happiness and unhappiness that has been attempted by Layard....
6 Pages (1500 words) Book Report/Review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us