Definition Essay On Happiness
HAPPINESS
Our definition of happiness is very much influenced by the kind of society we live or grew up in, our life experiences, goals we pursue in life and our level of education. This is why the topic (happiness) is very controversial because it’s hard to change people’s beliefs. I think though that happiness depends on other things like family and friends, doing the things you love, etc., and not money or material things. Having people around you who love you unconditionally, share your beliefs, culture, are social, and care for each other is a recipe for happiness. Likewise, playing a sport you are passionate about (soccer, basketball, pool, dancing, and so forth) or meditating has brought happiness to some people as well. “The chemical …show more content…
in the brain responsible for pleasure and happiness (Dopamine) decreases as we age and one of the things that are best in releasing and reserving Dopamine is physical activities,” (Montague and Berns). Soccer would be that sport for me that take me to the happiness zone. I feel accomplish and very happy after a good soccer game and as far as the game is on, nothing else matters.
Some people may argue that money and material things are what make people happy because the reality of life is that we go through problems and most of them can be solved with money. For instance, who wouldn’t want to be Bill Gates? Knowing that you can afford whatever money can buy (houses, cars, private jets, good education, better healthcare and a lot more) must really feel good. Compare that kind of livelihood to someone sleeping under bridges through seasons, hungry and sick. If you should ask that person, what makes you happy? The obvious answer would be “money.” What about if you are someone who finds happiness in travelling, taking adventures like visiting the Safari’s in Africa, going for vacation or things of that nature, you wouldn’t be able to meet your goal in doing things you love if you don’t have money. Also there are places in the world where rich people are highly respected. The United States for example, wealthy people and celebrities are treated differently from ordinary people. Media and people follow them around where ever they go to look or take pictures of them. Companies offer them millions to have them advertise their products because people buy and use things they approve of. “Around the beginning of 2011 PepsiCo signed a $50 million contract with Beyonce to be their official brand ambassador,” (Stampler). She is already rich and famous but that is how the business works. Unless in extraordinary circumstances, no company will give a poor/unknown person that kind of money just to approve of its products.
Money does have convenience to it and it is true that some level of material well-being is necessary (even those who live without money need food, shelter, clothing and so on), however once those basic levels of life are met, money becomes less important. As a general rule, anything that we want more of cannot make anybody happy. The endless disappointment of shoppers filling the stores to acquire new cloths of the season, new cars/mobile phones (iphones, Samsung) of the model year is repeated again and again. We make our purchases and feel good for a while but soon the happiness fades. The purchase didn’t do what we hope it would, so we begin the buying cycle all over again. Thus the concept of Hedonic Treadmill, “whatever level of wealth or material goods you have, you adopt to it and you’ll always want more,” (Berns). Just compare the feeling of losing money/material things to the feeling of losing a family member of a friend. That’s why some will say, “happiness comes from between through the relationships created by love, work and something larger than yourself - weather it’s a religious group, a volunteer organization or a political campaign,” (Winter).
In my home country (Ethiopia), people do appreciate and give some recognition to wealth as in any other place in the world, but that recognition is inferior compared to the societal values in place.
What is more important to us there are things like how social, respectful, humble and caring you are towards others? There is a famous saying there that, “as human beings we begin our life with people and we end it with people.” When someone is born, everybody (family, friends and neighbors) come together to rejoice and do the naming ceremony; likewise when someone dies. Everybody come together to share the sadness and people will take turns in saying the good things they know about the individual. If you are someone who is arrogant, disrespectful or has very high self-esteem, weather you are rich or poor, people will isolate you. They’ll remind you that there will come a time when you’ll be helpless and money/status wouldn’t matter. This is why I can relate to the documentary movie “Happy” a lot. We might not have the highest number of people over 100 years of age like the people of Okinawa but we do have many things in common with them. The majority of Gambians live off of the land and often someone will share part of his/her harvest with friends, neighbors and guests. Socialization is a very fundamental part of our livelihood too. It’s a
daily practice that neighbors will sit together to chat, laugh and share ideas and experiences. Also the elderly are very respected, valued and complemented in the society. Everyone makes sure that they have a restful and stress free life, either by helping them with their daily activities, acquiring their advice and consent before doing something (like marrying someone) or giving them some of your farm produce or money for them to pray for you. For example, even if you are rich, you don’t sit or remain sited on the only chair available whilst your elders are standing (at least you have to offer them the seat). I might have known the word “depression” but it makes sense to me when I came to the United States. I have never seen anyone who’s suffering from depression or heard and advertisement of anti-depression medication in Gambia. As stated by P. Read Montague (Happy), “social bonding, social interaction cooperation is programmed to be intrinsically rewarding to human beings.” Though as a 3rd world country, many people are poor but generally everyone is happy in the Gambia. Living in peace and love with your neighbors, being friendly to stranger and helping the elderly are the reasons why the country is also named the Smiling Coast of Africa. And “many of the tourists who visited the Gambia usually come back,” Holiday Watchdog (going to Gambia).
To conclude, I think people confuse these two questions: what makes you happy? And, what would make you happy? Everybody (rich or poor) has something that makes you happy, weather socializing, helping other, playing sports, meditating, etc. If we can concentrate on that rather than looking for unrealistic things like money and material things, life would be better for everybody. If money is what makes people happy, why are some kids/teenagers depressed? According to National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescence (NCS-A), about 11% of adolescence in the United States has depression disorder by the age 18. Kids shouldn’t be depressed if the concept of “money is what makes people happy” is true because normally kids don’t have financial responsibilities. In the news few years ago, “Michael Jackson’s 15 year old daughter (Paris) was rushed to the hospital for suicide attempt,” (Johnson and Li). I don’t know much about the case but one thing is for sure, if she’s happy she wouldn’t want to kill herself. And she should be happy if in fact money is what makes people happy.
Happiness has nothing to do with money but has everything to do with what kind of a person you are, how social you are, what kind of relationship you have with other and so forth. All of us can remember one good thing we did for someone who really appreciates it. Knowing that you made a difference in someone’s life is priceless and it feels your heart with joy and comfort. It makes you feel worthy of yourself that you can contribute meaningfully to make this world a better place for all. That is happiness!
Work Cited:
Berns, Gregory, M.D., Ph. D Professor of Psychiatry. Emory University. “Happy.” Wadi Rum Film Inc., 2010 Documentary.
Going to Gambia. “Holiday Watchdog.” January 6th, 2005.
Johnson, Richard. Li, K. David. “New York Post.” June 5th, 2013.
Montague, P. Read, Ph. D Professor of Neuroscience. Baylor College of Medicine. “Happy.” Wadi Rum Films Inc., 2010 Documentary.
My own experience.
National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescence (NCS-A). “Depression in Children and Adolescences (Fact Sheet).” Health & Education. May 2008.
Stampler, Laura. “Business insider.” Advertisement(1). April 10th, 2013.
Winter, Jesica. “Oprah Magazine.” “What Really Makes People Happy?” May 2009 Issue of O, the Oprah Magazine.
Our definition of happiness is very much influenced by the kind of society we live or grew up in, our life experiences, goals we pursue in life and our level of education. This is why the topic (happiness) is very controversial because it’s hard to change people’s beliefs. I think though that happiness depends on other things like family and friends, doing the things you love, etc., and not money or material things. Having people around you who love you unconditionally, share your beliefs, culture, are social, and care for each other is a recipe for happiness. Likewise, playing a sport you are passionate about (soccer, basketball, pool, dancing, and so forth) or meditating has brought happiness to some people as well. “The chemical …show more content…
in the brain responsible for pleasure and happiness (Dopamine) decreases as we age and one of the things that are best in releasing and reserving Dopamine is physical activities,” (Montague and Berns). Soccer would be that sport for me that take me to the happiness zone. I feel accomplish and very happy after a good soccer game and as far as the game is on, nothing else matters.
Some people may argue that money and material things are what make people happy because the reality of life is that we go through problems and most of them can be solved with money. For instance, who wouldn’t want to be Bill Gates? Knowing that you can afford whatever money can buy (houses, cars, private jets, good education, better healthcare and a lot more) must really feel good. Compare that kind of livelihood to someone sleeping under bridges through seasons, hungry and sick. If you should ask that person, what makes you happy? The obvious answer would be “money.” What about if you are someone who finds happiness in travelling, taking adventures like visiting the Safari’s in Africa, going for vacation or things of that nature, you wouldn’t be able to meet your goal in doing things you love if you don’t have money. Also there are places in the world where rich people are highly respected. The United States for example, wealthy people and celebrities are treated differently from ordinary people. Media and people follow them around where ever they go to look or take pictures of them. Companies offer them millions to have them advertise their products because people buy and use things they approve of. “Around the beginning of 2011 PepsiCo signed a $50 million contract with Beyonce to be their official brand ambassador,” (Stampler). She is already rich and famous but that is how the business works. Unless in extraordinary circumstances, no company will give a poor/unknown person that kind of money just to approve of its products.
Money does have convenience to it and it is true that some level of material well-being is necessary (even those who live without money need food, shelter, clothing and so on), however once those basic levels of life are met, money becomes less important. As a general rule, anything that we want more of cannot make anybody happy. The endless disappointment of shoppers filling the stores to acquire new cloths of the season, new cars/mobile phones (iphones, Samsung) of the model year is repeated again and again. We make our purchases and feel good for a while but soon the happiness fades. The purchase didn’t do what we hope it would, so we begin the buying cycle all over again. Thus the concept of Hedonic Treadmill, “whatever level of wealth or material goods you have, you adopt to it and you’ll always want more,” (Berns). Just compare the feeling of losing money/material things to the feeling of losing a family member of a friend. That’s why some will say, “happiness comes from between through the relationships created by love, work and something larger than yourself - weather it’s a religious group, a volunteer organization or a political campaign,” (Winter).
In my home country (Ethiopia), people do appreciate and give some recognition to wealth as in any other place in the world, but that recognition is inferior compared to the societal values in place.
What is more important to us there are things like how social, respectful, humble and caring you are towards others? There is a famous saying there that, “as human beings we begin our life with people and we end it with people.” When someone is born, everybody (family, friends and neighbors) come together to rejoice and do the naming ceremony; likewise when someone dies. Everybody come together to share the sadness and people will take turns in saying the good things they know about the individual. If you are someone who is arrogant, disrespectful or has very high self-esteem, weather you are rich or poor, people will isolate you. They’ll remind you that there will come a time when you’ll be helpless and money/status wouldn’t matter. This is why I can relate to the documentary movie “Happy” a lot. We might not have the highest number of people over 100 years of age like the people of Okinawa but we do have many things in common with them. The majority of Gambians live off of the land and often someone will share part of his/her harvest with friends, neighbors and guests. Socialization is a very fundamental part of our livelihood too. It’s a
daily practice that neighbors will sit together to chat, laugh and share ideas and experiences. Also the elderly are very respected, valued and complemented in the society. Everyone makes sure that they have a restful and stress free life, either by helping them with their daily activities, acquiring their advice and consent before doing something (like marrying someone) or giving them some of your farm produce or money for them to pray for you. For example, even if you are rich, you don’t sit or remain sited on the only chair available whilst your elders are standing (at least you have to offer them the seat). I might have known the word “depression” but it makes sense to me when I came to the United States. I have never seen anyone who’s suffering from depression or heard and advertisement of anti-depression medication in Gambia. As stated by P. Read Montague (Happy), “social bonding, social interaction cooperation is programmed to be intrinsically rewarding to human beings.” Though as a 3rd world country, many people are poor but generally everyone is happy in the Gambia. Living in peace and love with your neighbors, being friendly to stranger and helping the elderly are the reasons why the country is also named the Smiling Coast of Africa. And “many of the tourists who visited the Gambia usually come back,” Holiday Watchdog (going to Gambia).
To conclude, I think people confuse these two questions: what makes you happy? And, what would make you happy? Everybody (rich or poor) has something that makes you happy, weather socializing, helping other, playing sports, meditating, etc. If we can concentrate on that rather than looking for unrealistic things like money and material things, life would be better for everybody. If money is what makes people happy, why are some kids/teenagers depressed? According to National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescence (NCS-A), about 11% of adolescence in the United States has depression disorder by the age 18. Kids shouldn’t be depressed if the concept of “money is what makes people happy” is true because normally kids don’t have financial responsibilities. In the news few years ago, “Michael Jackson’s 15 year old daughter (Paris) was rushed to the hospital for suicide attempt,” (Johnson and Li). I don’t know much about the case but one thing is for sure, if she’s happy she wouldn’t want to kill herself. And she should be happy if in fact money is what makes people happy.
Happiness has nothing to do with money but has everything to do with what kind of a person you are, how social you are, what kind of relationship you have with other and so forth. All of us can remember one good thing we did for someone who really appreciates it. Knowing that you made a difference in someone’s life is priceless and it feels your heart with joy and comfort. It makes you feel worthy of yourself that you can contribute meaningfully to make this world a better place for all. That is happiness!
Work Cited:
Berns, Gregory, M.D., Ph. D Professor of Psychiatry. Emory University. “Happy.” Wadi Rum Film Inc., 2010 Documentary.
Going to Gambia. “Holiday Watchdog.” January 6th, 2005.
Johnson, Richard. Li, K. David. “New York Post.” June 5th, 2013.
Montague, P. Read, Ph. D Professor of Neuroscience. Baylor College of Medicine. “Happy.” Wadi Rum Films Inc., 2010 Documentary.
My own experience.
National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescence (NCS-A). “Depression in Children and Adolescences (Fact Sheet).” Health & Education. May 2008.
Stampler, Laura. “Business insider.” Advertisement(1). April 10th, 2013.
Winter, Jesica. “Oprah Magazine.” “What Really Makes People Happy?” May 2009 Issue of O, the Oprah Magazine.