In Pursuit Of Unhappiness Summary

Cliff Oxford’s essay “High Performance Happy” evaluates the effect that an individual’s happiness has on their beneficiality to society and how you should always strive to be the happiest you can be. Oxford’s main point is that

In his article "In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living from Plato to Prozac," Mark Kingwell describes how there has been many debates on the meaning of happiness for many years yet still a singular, justifiable definition eludes society. The pursuit to define and understand happiness has invited several debates, questions, arguments, and suggestions alike. In 1996, a hand full of genetic and behavioral studies suggest evidence that one’s achievable degree of happiness is genetically decided, with evidences showing that no achievement will change your happiness, you are either happy or you’re not. Some studies demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of personal satisfaction, while others indicated that

Get Happy, an article written by Walter Mosley is mainly based upon the idea that the government needs to become more involved in our lives in order to create true happiness within the country. Mosley uses multiple literary devices throughout his piece, such as rhetorical questions, repetition, and similes, all of which effectively contribute to the theme of the article, and help create a clear purpose.

The fact that happiness is a state of well-being pursued by humans since the beginning of humanity is not new. Since the ancient Greek philosophers, happiness has always been a goal for people. However, the definition of happiness is still subjective and controversial as Mark Kingwell, an award-winning social critic, essayist, and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, presents in his article “In pursuit of Happiness." The author begins to build his credibility by calling everyday facts and emotions, also by citing philosophers, researchers, and other authors. Using the sources effectively in a persuasive piece, Kingwell demonstrates, through examples and science researches, the difficulty in defining happiness, which can result in unhappiness.

The pursuit of happiness was something I never gave much thought to until it was brought up this year. Reflecting back over this past school year I can honestly say that I not only learned more about what the pursuit of happiness is as a whole, but also how it applies in my personal life. I think it is fair to say that different things make us humans happy. Just a small example, it may make you very happy when your favorite sports team wins, and for someone else they could care less. It may make you very happy if it is sunny and 75 outside, but to some people that isn’t something that makes them happy. Those are just small examples of things that can make someone happy. I think the pursuit of happiness is something way deeper than that, and that is what I came to realize over the course of this year. To me, happiness doesn’t come from the amount of money you have or how successful you are, but rather it comes from the relationships you build here on Earth. The American Literature we explored throughout the school year, make that clear to me.

The outstanding ways that people can be brainwashed. Hitler was a dictator that didn't so much brainwash people he would just capture them and make them slaves in World War ll. In the book Anthem, they have been taught to think a certain way and make them live the way they want. Comparing the Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow, and then putting Anthem next to it, it shows that Hitler was a dictator that did not care about anyone.

There are different perspectives on happiness, two of which are the hedonic and the eudaimonic views. Both views have roots in philosophy, such as Aristotle and Aristippus. Despite their ancient origins, these views on human well-being are relevant even today. The hedonic view encompasses the idea those people are happiest when their life is filled with positive experiences and emotions, without negative ones. According to Fredrickson et al. (2013), hedonism can be also defined as “representing an individual’s pleasurable experiences”. Aristotle, in contrast, thought the idea that wellbeing depended on a life of pleasure with no pain was vulgar Aristotle’s view seems fair; after all, some of life’s greatest things come only with a bit of sweat, tears and elbow grease. Then there is the eudaimonic perspective. In the same paper by Fredrickson et al. (2013), states that eudaimonism “results from striving towards meaning and a noble purpose beyond simple gratification”.

In the article “Stop Trying to be Happy,” Mark Manson states that nowadays, people are striving so hard to be happy, while happiness is something in their self. However, most of them do not realize that when they do something they like, that is not a happiness, it just a pleasure. The problem why people are unhappy is, they always do something on other people expectations, not struggle to reach their expectation. Moreover, negative emotion is important to release unnecessary thing in our self, it keeps a happiness steady. Most people, always do something that is hard for themselves, but they keep try to do it, even they are fail. That kind of action makes them become their ideal selves, it is the effort to reach their expectation to get happy.

The Declaration of Independence states: “that 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." The Declaration of Independence is a written version of our rights as humans in America. It is saying that every person is equal, with equal opportunities. The people are given rights at birth that can not be taken away. The document gives all the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as basic human rights.

“Stumbling on Happiness”, authored by Daniel Gilbert, is a book that will quite possibly change the way you think and look at with just about everything. Through perception and cognitive biases, people imagine the future poorly, in particular what will make them happy. I chose to read this book because as I go day-to-day, I want to do everything in my power to be happy, and do things happily. Making each and everything that I do have a meaning, or a reason for doing it. Many people think that they know what makes them happy, or what they have to do to make them happy. However, I do believe that one must really have to find themselves in order to be happy or know what happiness is. Overall, my understanding of the book is that Daniel Gilbert’s

I honestly believe that everyone wakes up in the morning wanting to be happy, I have never seen a person who wakes up saying, “ I want to have an absolutely miserable day today”. It is human nature to strive for happiness and do things that you enjoy to do. John Mill says, “those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness” which I don’t

I believe that pursuing happiness as a goal has detrimental effects. As a society, we tend to believe that we need to be full of joy at all times, but that isn't realistic - life happens. By attempting to be cheery all the time, you will never be genuinely content. You will always be searching for more and won't be satisfied with what you have, creating a permanent cycle of gloom rather than bliss.

In Happiness: Enough Already, Sharon Begley makes a case for the modern views of happiness and sadness by providing different professional opinions on the the happiness industry, some believe happiness is the sole purpose of life while others believe it is equal to sadness. Jerome Wakefield, a professor at New York University, is approached by many students with complaint concerning their parents’ opinions on dealing with depression, which consist of antidepressants and counseling. Ed Diener, a psychologist, at the University of Illinois, raised to question the idea of a national index of happiness to the Scottish Parliament. Eric Wilson, a professor, at Wake Forest University, tried to embrace becoming happier but ended up embracing the importance

Can the actions of an individual pursuing happiness affect the lives of others around them? “ The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.” 一 Eric Hoffer. When seeking for better in life, many end up disappointed and unhappy. In the short story The Lamp at Noon by Sinclair Ross, the author describes the extent in which one will go to pursue happiness. In other words, the strategies Paul uses to achieve absolute contentment may also be his greatest source of unhappiness.

Happiness is not feeling good all the time, having more money and affording everything you want, not a final destination. Then what actually is happiness?