Focus on Happiness Issues - Essay Example

? Focus on Happiness Introduction: Lane (2000) argues that happiness is not only highly sought after for personal satisfaction, but also important for communities and citizens in market democracies. The pursuit of happiness is in the minds of almost everyone all the time. There are different determinants of happiness ranging from life events to personal experiences and moods. These events tend to determine an individuals degree of happiness at any given time. There are, however, other factors that are believed to be huge determinants of happiness or the lack of it. These may include a person’s genetics composition as well as other intentional activities. Life events which are normally thought to have a lasting effect on happiness have sometimes been found to have a negligible effect (Layard, 2011). These may include job loss or marriage failure. These and other day to day life events have just a negligible effect on the happiness of an individual. There are circumstances that are greatly believed to have a lasting effect on the state of happiness. Economical life circumstances, for example, are some of these. While others argue that happiness is a state of mind, there are those who strongly believe that it is motivated and affected by life vents and the prevailing economical and health conditions. Circumstances generally count for less effect than other factors known to affect happiness. This is because almost half of happiness is accounted for by genetics while intentional activities contribute for about 40%. The intentional activities include the way an individual responds to the world as well as the way they act and think about things (Ricard, 2003). While someone can change their intentional activities in an effort to be happy, genetics cannot be changed in any way. This is according to Chall (1953). Some other circumstances can also have significant effect on happiness. These, for example, include being in an abusive relationship or being homeless. These can, therefore, deny someone happiness. Circumstances, however, count for very little when it comes to happiness. This is because, in the human nature, people adapt to situations and the effects tend to wear off with time. Happiness brought by life circumstances, therefore, wears off with time due to the human adaptive nature. Intentional activities, on the other hand, affect happiness by making the brain change and adapt to situations (Chall, 1953). The brain adapts by bringing positive emotions rather than the negative emotions. This can be illustrated well by using an example of marriage. When couples get married, they are very excited and happy for the first few years. This happiness, however, fades away with time and the couple seems to adapt to it. Activities like picnics and outings that the couple might partake may rejuvenate their happiness. There is, however, no adaptation to such situations. To boost and maintain their happiness, the couple may have to involve in different exciting activities at different times (Featherstone, 1999). According to J.C Ott’s article Government and Happiness in 130 Nations: Good Governance Fosters Higher Level and More Equality of Happiness, happiness is also affected by an individual’s country of origin. Apparently, some countries have higher levels of happiness than others. Denmark, for example, has a very high level of happiness compared to other countries. These levels depend on a countries system of governance with good governance producing higher levels than countries with poor governance. The quality of the government in a country also affects the level of happiness. People who live in countries in countries with a good government are found to be happier while those from bad governments are less happy. Most people, however, tend to believe that their governments have nothing to do with happiness (Ott, 2011). According to Layard (2011), happiness is worth pursuing on both community and individual levels. The desire to be happy always takes center stage. In order to measure the amount the happiness in a person, one can directly inquire how happy the person is or ask the person’s friends. Most people, however, get happiness from love. The feeling of love tends to reassure people that they are important and thus bringing on the feeling of happiness. According to this, the contributors of happiness are many and varied. Religion too is known to bring happiness to some people. This is because some people seek comfort in their faith during times when situations are hard. That is why people seek righteousness in pursuit of happiness. Contrastingly, those who are corrupt or immoral tend to lack happiness in their lives (Layard, 2011). In the same article of Ott (2011), the author argues out the facts involved in criticism of happiness. People who criticize the focus on happiness base their arguments on the fact that it is less important to someone’s well being and good life. According to them, the goodness of life does not solely depend on happiness or the lack of it. It is, therefore possible for people to live their lives without paying much attention to happiness and the factors associated to it. There is also criticism that happiness is overrated. This is in reference to the fact that happiness is prominently viewed as essential for the well-being of people. Even though most people have the desire to be happy, it does not mean that happiness is an essential factor to their well being. According to them, happiness is not of primary importance in life (Ricard, 2003). Happiness goes hand in hand with emotions. It is these emotions that are mostly thought to highly influence the feeling of happiness in life. Critics, however, seek to separate emotions with happiness by the argument that emotions can vary without necessarily affecting happiness. The critics also have a lot of issues concerning the focusing of happiness. Firstly, there is a lot of criticism geared towards the satisfaction and happiness of others rather than concern to oneself. This is in regard to the fact that people get too much concerned with the happiness and well being of others as opposed to focusing the concern to themselves (Featherstone, 1999). Most people want to satisfy others and make them happy. This makes them forget about their own welfare which should be their concern in the first place. The pursuit of happiness is, therefore, seen as an endless venture. This is because people do not seem to have enough of happiness and they seek more happiness when they are already happy. This, according to critics, is a silly idea. To pursue an everlasting happiness is seen as an attempt that yields nothing. It’s just like trying to approach a mirage. It is not possible to be happy all the time. There are happy moments that require people to be cheerful and jovial in life. However, there are sad and difficult moments too which cannot be handled by seeking happiness or by just being happy. It is these responsibilities that attract endless criticism to the focus of happiness. In fact, it would look strange and abnormal for one to be constantly cheerful without regard to situations (Cavell, 1984). Happiness appears to have some optimal point where an excess would seem awkward. There are individuals who seem to portray too much happiness. Such individuals are associated with the bipolar condition. This is condition whereby the individuals express joyful feelings that are not usual to everyone. As mentioned earlier, emotions have a great effect on happiness. There are, of course, negative and positive emotions (Chall, 1953). The negative emotions may include anxiety and guilt among others. These are known to suppress the feeling of happiness. This is the reasons why some people find it difficult to tell lies because the negative emotions would automatically kick in. people who pursue pleasure instead of happiness in life tend not to care about such emotions. Examples of such people are the sociopaths. They do not rationalize their behavior neither do they care too much about the hurtful nature of such behavior. Negative emotions, however, make people think about possible solutions to situations that they find themselves in so that they can eventually achieve happiness. When someone is frustrated or is anxious, they seek the necessary motivation required for positive changes. The optimal amount of happiness depends on a lot. It would depend on, for example, the available resources and the desired outcome (Martin, 2012). In the first chapter of Bauman’s book, the author explains how uncertainty overrides genuine happiness. The author quotes, thus: “happiness always seems to reside some distance ahead: like a horizon, known to retreat whenever you try to come nearer.” Happiness does not only make someone feel good, but also catalyzes their efforts to ultimate success. People normally function well when they are happy and tend to fail some tasks in life when they are unhappy. When someone is in a happy mood, they tend to be more creative, more energetic and interact better with other people. In the workplace, the happy people are better workers than the unhappy ones. Health is also associated with happiness. People with good health tend to be happy as opposed to those whose health is not good. In the same way, happiness is also a catalyst of good health. This may be the reason why psychologists and some doctors put effort in ensuring that their patients are happy. Happy people, on average, live longer than sad and depressed people. Happiness also boosts personal attitudes and personality traits (Ricard, 2003). Happiness has several theories that govern it. These theories revolve around the way people usually experience happiness of different degrees. Among these theories is the cultural view. According to this theory, the differences in happiness across different nations and communities reflect the cultural inclination of happiness. Different people tend to experience happiness at different levels. There are those who experience too much happiness. These are jovial most of the time. Some of these people just follow what they find being the norm in their communities and families. Therefore, if a certain group of people express their feelings in the way of being too happy; this gets passed on from generations to generations (Martin, 2012). Some of these traits are, however, genetic. Those who are genetically happy express a lot of happiness in their day to day life. Happiness to them is, therefore, a cultural norm rather than an individual trait and it cuts across such groups of people. It is also normal for happiness to be compared to certain standards. This is how we can tell whether it is too much, too little or just of the optimal level. But do we ever ask ourselves where these standards come from? Socialization has been seen to provide the thresholds necessary for determination of happiness. The outcome of such socialization activities is typically the threshold standards (Cavell, 1984). Good life values and other social activities are the social constructions and they depend greatly on the cultural and historic nature of a society. Therefore, happiness can hereby be viewed as a cultural concept. Cultures differ among people. This explains why there are some people and groups of people who are viewed as less happy than others. Those with hyper levels of happiness are sometimes viewed as maniacs and less-serious people. Others are branded as less-serious people. Such views are attracted by the fact that they portray too much happiness, more than other people (Chall, 1953). Conversely, there are those people whose cultural and socialization patterns dictate that they are less happy. Well, they may not be depressed or sad people but be less happy people. They do not openly or most often express happiness in their lives. Culture, therefore, is a major force in the conception and construction of happiness. The experience that comes with happiness is also shaped by culture. This explains why people of different cultures have diverse views of happiness ranging from the definition to the meaning. There are also variations in the nature of happiness and the accompanying experiences (Robbin, 2007). The cultural perspective of happiness has therefore diverse implications on the same. The way happiness is understood and interpreted in the west is different from the way it is viewed in the east and other areas. Culture can, therefore, define a peoples degree and level of happiness as well as their general understanding. There are different ways of achieving happiness among individuals in different cultures. It is these approaches that differentiate people from one another according to their cultures and individual traits. Although there may be a sense of individualism brought about by globalization, the cultural roots that dictate happiness and factors affecting it always dominate (Chall, 1953). Conclusion In regard to happiness, Bauman says “it looks as if the human pursuit of happiness may well prove to be self defeating.” This is because people pursue things like wealth hoping to get happiness. This does not occur in most cases. In most life situations, happiness is used to spice up things by bringing in excitement and motivation that may be necessary. Some people, however, tend to focus their concerns on the happiness of others at the expense of their own happiness. This is seen by critics as an unnecessary thing to do since happiness cannot be sought to ultimate satisfaction. The critics also dispute the habit of pursuing happiness with the argument that such maximum happiness cannot be ultimately achieved. Happiness also takes different dimensions according to the cultural inclination. Culturally, happiness varies from one culture to the other. Some people or group of people has a definition and understanding of happiness that differs from other people. This is defined by their culture (Cavell, 1984). Bibliography CHALL, L. P. (1953). Sociological abstracts. San Diego, etc, Sociological Abstracts]. CAVELL STANLEY. (1984). Pursuits of happiness: the hollywood comedy of re-marriage. Cambridge, Harvard Univ Press. FEATHERSTONE, M. (1999). Love and eroticism. London [u.a.], Sage. LANE, R. E. (2000). The loss of happiness in market democracies. London, Yale University Press. LAYARD, R. (2011). Happiness: lessons from a new science. London [etc.], Penguin. MARTIN, M. W. (2012). Happiness and the good life. New York, Oxford University Press. Ott, J. (2011). Government and Happiness in 130 Nations: Good Governance Fosters Higher Level and More Equality of Happiness. 3-21. RICARD, M. (2003). Happiness: A guide to developing life's most important skill. New York, Little Brown. ROBBINS, M. (2007). Focus on the good stuff: the power of appreciation. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons. TIROSH-SAMUELSON, H. (2003). Happiness in premodern Judaism: virtue, knowledge, and well-being. Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College Press. Read More