Category: Happiness

Jenny Santi in her article ‘The Secret to Happiness Is Helping Others’ states that helping others may seem like it doesn’t make a big different on making our lives happier, but it has a huge impact. When it seems as if we are forced to give back to others, it doesn’t make us happy which is why we should never have to feel that. No matter how much we help people, we can guarantee it will make us or them happy. There are 6 easy steps to help out with this: find your passion; give your time; give to organizations with transparent aims and results; find ways to integrate your interests and skills with the needs of others; be proactive, not reactive; don’t be guilt-tripped into giving.

In his ‘Less Stuff, More Happiness’ speech at TED, Graham Gill talks about how happiness is like moving around from apartment to apartment. When you move to a new place, you think about how you only need a certain about of things but then over the months/years you gather things and forget about them until you have to move again. That’s when you realize that all the things you have gathered were things that made you happy during that short period of time. Happiness is when you have more space and you can fill it up with memories and laughs and not physical objects that just collects dust and by the time you remember about it, you are moving and throwing it out.

After going through both the TED talk and the article, you are able to tell that happiness comes in many different ways. It can be helping others or giving up things that may not be important to you but can impact their lives. Many of the things that you may think are important to you, really only meant barley anything. Everything in life that impacts you doesn’t have to be objects. Just the smallest gestures can be that one ‘object’ in life. Going out and getting food for the homeless not only makes you feel good about helping someone out but it also helps the homeless not starve to death. The one thing that you do have to be careful with helping others is to not feel like you are being forced to helping out and it having you feel guilty or sad. “Giving can make us feel depleted and taken advantage of”. Even though many people think that objects tell the story about you being happy, it’s really the opposite. It only makes you worry more about keeping track on what that object made you feel and why it made you feel that way. Spending more time stressing about keeping things in track only causes you lose the real sight of happiness. This helps you learn more about yourself and others by not make it seem as if you will ‘take’ anything that will make you happy but rather sacrifice ‘giving’ things to others.

References

1. Hill, Graham. ‘Less Stuff, More Happiness – Graham Hill’. TED, TED-Ed, http://ed.ted.com/lessons/less-stuff-more-happiness-graham-hill#discussion.
2. Santi, Jenny. ‘The Secret to Happiness Is Helping Others’. Time, Time, http://time.com/collection/guide-to-happiness/4070299/secret-to-happiness/.
3. Smith, Emily Esfahani. ‘There’s More to Life than Being Happy’. TED, http://www.ted.com/talks/emily_esfahani_smith_there_s_more_to_life_than_being_happy

Sports have been a contributing factor to many people’s health and well being. Not only that but it also brings about a lot of happiness that people find within these sports. Many find a form of happiness with collaboration with their team while others may find it in being able to try their hardest and do well, sports has it all. Many people who play sports seem to be happier in life, they also talk about it as if it was a large part of their life and was very important to them. The article Team Sports, Happiness, and Health by Christopher Peterson on Psychology Today says, “being a member of this team is one of the fondest memories I have” which helps to show how sports and being on teams helps many and helps them with their happiness by adding collaboration to their life.

John Stuart Mill talks about in his theory for finding true happiness that you must “let your self-consciousness, your scrutiny, your self-interrogation, exhaust themselves on that” and with that, you will find true happiness in your day-to-day life without worrying about yourself and being able to focus on other things and move on with your life smoothly. I agree with this statement because I have found that as I begin to realize that I shouldn’t be self-conscious or worry about how others see me, I start to feel happier and I tend to not worry so much but instead I focus on school and I do better all around whether social or academic. John Stuart Mill says that he will “still hold to it as the best theory for all those who have but a moderate degree of sensibility and of capacity for enjoyment” and you will see it almost every day. The people who tend to be sad or unhappy like to beat up on themselves and constantly doubt whether they’re good or bad and the people who shine and smile and laugh are those that love themselves and are happy with who they are.

I’ve read up on this theory to see if it is true or not and I found that many seem to be happier when they do sports or have any sort of team that cheers them on or makes them feel good about themselves. I find happiness in sports and not only in the team collaboration aspect but also the bettering of myself helps to cheer myself up and make me happier than I am when I am not doing a sport. Studies have found that team collaboration along with the exercise will make for a great combination to create happiness within a person. Many who have others there to cheer them on will be happier and that will help give them the extra push they need to finally be truly happy and not have that self-doubt that so many have within them. A lot of people are not strong enough to be really happy without others there to encourage that happiness, I know it is very hard to find happiness without anyone around to help you achieve that which is why sports are such a great avenue to true happiness.

With my own experiences, I seem to find it time and time again that sports help almost everyone achieve that happiness that they long for. Although there are some that would rather find it in their art or something else all on there own which I find great but I know I am not one of those people to be able to stay happy all alone. Going to practice everyday is definitely a chore and it might get rather time-consuming but for the long run it is worth it because you will most likely find happiness in spending the time and bonding with your team that you have grown to love and if you don’t, maybe try a different sport or try your own thing. Now I know that the way of finding true happiness is subjective and each and every person has their own twist on how they can be happy which makes it very difficult to generalize everyone and saying that one thing will make everyone happy.

John Stuart Mill is pretty close when stating that letting go of your self-deprecation will help to make you happier in life than you would be normally. It tends to be a trend that people who love themselves are usually happy and successful and can really spread their wings. Through my experiences and observations over the years, this is the way that many find happiness and I have too in this way. Articles that I read supported that even more by showing that sports made people happy because it made them believe in themselves and trust that maybe they weren’t as bad as they thought they were. Having this support is very important in your life and I think it is a reason why so many gravitate towards sports generally. Like I said earlier I feel like sports is an avenue for true happiness along with self-acceptance. I agree with John Stuart Mill that self-acceptance is a crucial part of being happy and I have said it for a long time that if you want to be happy you have got to love yourself because that is how I got to be who I am today.

Budda once said, “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared”. Happiness is a special feeling of joy and gratitude when positive things occur in life. Indicating that happiness can come in different ways for many people, however, that long-lasting emotion is more important because it’s indicated that you are contributing to something much greater than yourself. That contribution is valuable because it brings a meaningful life filled with genuine happiness. Focusing on having a purpose, giving back, and experiences play an important role in one’s happiness.

Pursuing a more meaningful life can lead to true happiness in the future because it teaches one to grow as an individual. By devoting our lives to ‘giving’ rather than ‘taking’, we are not only expressing our fundamental humanity but are also acknowledging that there is more to the good life than the pursuit of simple happiness. Obtaining a purpose connects you to fully experience a happy and fulfilling life that sets you in the right direction to keep moving forward. Being engaged in the present helps realize your purpose rather than later on in the future. A meaning in life can guide you to give positive contributions to yourself and society, which allows you to grow as a person because you are doing something that is worthwhile and you truly believe in. That greater purpose in life is what drives your actions to have a positive outcome in order to create the most meaningful life you can.

Helping others bring continues to help live a meaningful life because it focuses on building that social relationship that has a positive effect on the lives of others. Humans who have high meaning in their lives are more likely to help others in need. Living a meaningful life is greater than just a happy life because it helps you develop a better sense of yourself and the people around you. Giving back to others promotes a happier life filled with purpose because being able to make a difference in people’s lives allows you to have a higher fulfillment that drives your actions. Helping others rather than yourself is beyond a feeling of enjoyment, it’s also seen as an opportunity to identify those who perhaps need that extra support in their lives. Doing more for others also results in being mentally and physically healthier because it decreases stress, keeps your brain mentally stimulated, and helps fight off depression. Enduring a meaningful life empowers one’s morale and self-growth through a greater purpose of giving back.

Experiences can continue to fulfill a meaningful life because it helps define your purpose and passions in order to complete satisfaction. Being able to buy an experience has more meaning because they anticipate and remember the former more often than the latter. This purchase positively affects someone because this experience is more of a part of who they are and what they are inspired to do in life. It contributes to living life to the fullest because the excitement begins from the very first second you start planning that trip to the memories you create, therefore becoming unforgettable. When going on these experiences, the good is what really makes it memorable and brings gratitude to one’s life because it overpowers all the bad things that occurred. This plays an important role in a more meaningful life because of the memories that will forever be cherished.

Finding happiness through living a meaningful can be achieved by finding a purpose, giving back, and experiencing the outside world. These are the key factors to living life to the fullest because it’s what brings you true happiness and helps you grow as a person. Admiring the little things in life is what always connects you to living in the present moment because of the filled happiness it brings. In doing so, life is less stressful and more enjoyable.

In the perspective of Islam, Happiness is expressed by the term sa’adah, and it relates to two dimensions of existence: to the hereafter and to the present world. Since the self is intimately involved in a dual aspect of body and soul, it is described on the one hand as the animal soul and on the other hand as the rational soul; and its destiny in the attainment of happiness here, and of ultimate happiness in the hereafter, depends upon which aspect it chooses to align itself with in a preponderant way. It is defined on the one hand as the soul of the beast (al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah) and on the other hand as the logical soul (al-nafs al-nāigah) because the self is profoundly involved in the aspect of both body and soul; and its fate in achieving happiness here and the happiness of the hereafter, depends on which aspect it chooses in accordance with the more essential means. Both forms of influence or faculty are (quwa).

The second level of satisfaction is the planning for the third period of the hereafter, where God’s view is the highest level. In the consciousness of true believers through the years, there is no shift in the nature and perception of this happiness. We have addressed the nature and perception of pleasure briefly, but comprehensively and explicitly, as it is understood in human consciousness as he submits to God and adheres to His guidance. Happiness, we say, is related to worldly, secular and even the afterlife. Since religion is fundamental in its relationship with man and his well-being, the meaning of religion is first explained followed by a brief outline of the nature of man and the psychology of the human soul derived from reason and Revelation. As a prelude to the explanation of the nature of happiness defined here in the opposite situation, we state that the proper activity for man is the excellent activity of his body and soul in accordance with the reason aided by Revelation.

Virtuous activities are defined not only in terms of philosophical welfare, but also in terms of rearranging them with the conceptual concept of religious welfare described as external and internal. In determining happiness in terms of its opposite, other related terms describing happiness and misery are brought into focus and explained. We do not restrict our understanding of happiness only to the domain of temporal, secular life; for since we affirm that the relation of happiness to the hereafter has an intimate and considerable bearing upon its relation to worldly life, and since in the former Case it is a spiritual and permanent condition, there is, even in its temporal and secular involvement, an element of happiness that we experience and are conscious of and that once attained is permanent. From the foregoing brief but comprehensive exposition of the meaning and experience of happiness in Islam we derive conclusion that happiness in this life is not an end in itself; that the end of happiness is love of God; that in worldly life two levels of happiness can be discerned.

There is no change in this meaning and experience of happiness in the consciousness of genuine believers throughout the ages, we have discussed briefly but comprehensively and in a straightforward manner the meaning and experience of happiness as known in the consciousness of man when he is submissive to God and cleaves to His guidance. In defining happiness in terms of its exact opposite, other related terms describing happiness and misery are brought into focus and explained. The explanation is made more meaningful by making comparative analysis of certain salient features of Aristotelian and mod- earn Western conceptions of happiness with the Islamic conception of happiness in order to show significant divergences between the former and the latter. As to the knowledge of God it means the knowledge of who of happiness in worldly life, love of god (mahabbah). The attainment of happiness in this life and ultimate happiness in the hereafter. happiness in this worldly life and ultimate happiness in the These activities of the soul or self imply a prior condition of consciousness in the soul of the truth that comes here must mean, among other possible meanings, unconsciousness of the rational soul of itself, and consciousness It is this condition that we believe to be the reason for their need of perpetual purging of the soul by means other than remembrance of God, such as by means of various forms of art and there is no change in this meaning and experience of happiness in the consciousness of genuine believers throughout been no change throughout the ages in the meaning of happiness in Islam, A general definition of happiness is set forth.

The Qur’an relates how Satan tempted Adam, disobeyed God, and permitted Satan to seduce himself. However, aware of their mistake, Adam and his consort, unlike Satan, accepted their sin, were filled with sorrow at their own cruelty to themselves and sought the grace and redemption of God. They were all forgiven, but were called down to this planet along with Satan to live a life of trial and tribulation. God promised Adam and his offspring that guidance will come from Him and that whoever seeks His instruction would not go astray or slip into misery; but whoever ever turns away from recollection of Him would undoubtedly live a wretched life assaulted by doubt and the height of inner tension-need by ignorance to the facts and the fact of their plight.

Also, we said that it is remembrance of God that brings about the state of tranquillity in the soul; and that this and other virtuous activities imply a prior consciousness in the soul of the truth that comes from divine guidance. This consciousness arises as certainty (yaqin). There can be no consciousness of certainty of the truth in the soul when that soul has forgotten itself, that is, when its rational aspect has been suppressed by its animal aspect such that it becomes conscious only of its involvement in its bodily faculties and the pleasure and amusements of worldly life, or the pursuit of secular philosophy and science and contemplation of facts derived from them, or even of both together. This is why the Qur’an warns that those who forget God will be made to for- get their souls or their selves. 98 The forgetting of the self here must mean, among other possible meanings, unconsciousness of the rational soul of itself, and consciousness only of the animal soul which inclines toward the satisfaction of bodily desires.

In conclusion, happiness is when there is balance between what you believe, what you say and what you do.

From islamic perspective, happiness is express by the terms of saadah. The term saadah has a close relation to both the hereafter(ukhrawiyyah) and the present world(dunyawiyyah). In the case of the hereafter life (ukhrawiyyah), sa’adah indicates the meaning of an ultimate form of happiness which is everlasting contentment and bliss. This kind of happiness is a promise to those who in worldly life have submitted themselves sincerely to serve god by obeying His command and avoiding His prohibition. While the happiness in the present world is related with three things which are to self (nafsiyyah), to the body (badaniyyah) and to the things external to the self and the body (kharijiyyah). Happiness to self (nafsiyah) is related to conduct pertaining to knowledge and good character. Badaniyyah is related to health and security while kharijiyyha indicate to wealth and other attributes.

According to al-Attas (1998) it is necessary to identify shaqawah first in order to get a clear understanding of the sa’adah in Islam. The opposite term of sa’adah is shaqawah. The term shaqawah meaning are contradict with sa’adah which generally means the great misfortune and misery. Shaqawah derives from its constituent elements such as khawf (fear of unknown), huzn (grief,sorrow,roughness of soul), dhank( narrowness, straitened), hasrat(profound grief) and other similar emotions. There are other conjugated terms formed from shaqawah such as shaqa, yashqa, tashqa, shaqiyy and shiqwah that applied in the Quran that also related partly to the hereafter, partly to this world and some even to both. Al-Attas claims that the words undoubtedly refers to those who turn away from God and reject His guidance. In short, the term of shaqawah can happen to anybody who keeps disregarding the commands of God and always behaving in a manner that God has prohibited.

Greek and Western philosophers however comprehend differently the concept of happiness. A view from a Greek philosopher, Aristotle defines happiness(eudaimonia) as living well and doing well and seeking eudaimonia is the final end. Some other philosophers also define happiness as the pleasant life which can be achieved by avoiding distress and desires for things beyond one’s basic needs. However the Greek and Western philosophers point of views in happiness only focus on the happiness in present life (dunyawiyyah) only. By observing the way of other perspective define the meaning of happiness, we know that the other philosopher than Islam does not believes the existence of the life after death where ultimate happiness is exist. In fact, we can learn the beauty of happiness in the perspective of Islam.

According to al-Ghazli, there are four group of means (was’il) to happiness, which man can utilise to achieve happiness in his life. Each of these four means has four forms of virtuousness. Thus, in actual fact, the total number of means amounts to sixteen. Nevertheless, not all of these means are equally relevant to happiness. In other words, they have their own functions, some are useful and some are necessary to attain happiness. The four groups of means are (1) the ‘goods’ of the soul (al-fad’il an-nafsiyya), (2) the bodily ‘goods’ (al-fad’il al-jismiyya), (3) the external ‘goods’ (al-fad’il al-khrijiyya), and (4) the ‘goods’ of divine grace (al-fad’il at-tawfiqiyya). Religious virtues are classified into two kinds, the external (zahir) and the internal (batin). External is like the ‘amal ibadah we perform in worshipping God and also doing good to people. Internal refers to activities of the heart that grounded upon knowledge of God. Internal happiness requires positive disposition in the self inducing good intention (niyyah) to be followed by action (‘amal) with sincerity of purpose (ikhlas) and truthfulness to oneself (sidq).

The meaning of happiness in this worldly life and ultimate happiness in the hereafter is very closely bound up with faith (iman).The good of soul consists of iman and good character (husn al-khuluq). Faith is then divided into knowledge of revelation and knowledge of practical religion. Faith is also regarded as synonymous to knowledge. As for good character, it is divided into temperance and justice. The description of a good character includes all the virtuous qualities of the soul. This is because temperance and justice involve the repression of desire and anger and it is upon this repression that the acquisition of all the virtuous qualities depends on (Al-Ghazali, 2015). The four possessions of the soul can then be reduced into two minor parts: the faith or knowledge and the praiseworthy qualities of the soul. These two are the nearest means to attain happiness. Since the improvement of the soul through the good qualities can be achieved by action (‘amal), the nearest means to happiness emerges as knowledge and action

The concept of knowledge and action as the primary means to happiness is also linked to the love of God. Al-Ghazl explains that love necessarily follows knowledge. In other words, the strength of love depends upon the strength of knowledge, the weakness of love of the world and the degree of intimacy with God are created from the remembrance of Him. As for the action, it produces the love of God in these following ways; the evil qualities of the soul are but various aspects of its love of the world, therefore purification clears the soul from this love and thus makes it fit for the love of God (Quasem, 1978).

To conclude, by practising these mechanisms of obtaining happiness, man would gain his happiness in both the temporal world and the world after death. With the understanding that he is steadfast in his faith by obeying God’s command, avoiding His prohibition and always exercising the knowledge and act accordingly, he will never regret his choices. In fact, God will grant him with the Vision of God (al-Attas, 1995; Nasr, 2014), his heart will always be full of tranquillity and he will always be happy and achieve happiness in its real sense for the rest of his life. Happiness in Islam derived that happiness in this present world (duniawiyyah) is not an end of happiness. But the end of happiness is the love of God.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I think we can all agree, are some of the reasons why our ancestors decided to come here in the first place. The Revolutionary War started when the colonists grew tired of how they felt about being treated unfairly and started to take measures to declare their independence from Britain. Being a patriot meant you agreed with the American Revolution in the 18th century embodied this, you chose to defend your rights. In the modern day, I feel the same can still be said, we protest, use the voices of people that can be heard to raise awareness for things of our liking, and stand our ground to be heard at all costs.

One of those rights was doing as you wish with your property. This is why Patrick Henry’s speech ‘Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death’ Speech was so inspiring and accepted at the Virginia Convention, and why so many decided to support the Revolutionary War. Would you be okay with not having a say in taxation laws, especially if said taxes are unfair and oppressive? As the book states, “Locke argued that political authority did not derive from the divine right of kings or the inherited authority or aristocracies, but from the consent of the governed” (Ch.5, p.116). With the patriots, they wanted a say in how they were being governed and changed from the way the king governed. Living in the world we do today, can you imagine living in a country with a supreme leader that dictates basically everything? Colonists believed there should be no taxation without representation, and that Parliament only had the people that were physically in Britain’s interest at heart and the new colonies’ money on their minds. Patriots did what they needed to do to bring awareness to their unhappiness, but the British government retaliated in an unforgivable way.

And the last argument in favor would be their fight for life and happiness which I feel goes hand in hand. “There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!” (‘Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death’). In a way, I think it’s contradictory that property included slaves, but it’s interesting how patriots related the taxes that kept being added to being a slave and how they’d rather fight for their justice or die trying. Present day I’d agree with their thinking, I wouldn’t want a leader that is not present in the same country as me or people not living here making the rules because they don’t know the daily issues or struggles that have to be dealt with, especially with new colonies. Present government that part of the daily running of government is most efficient and is what they fought for too.

Being happy and optimistic is not a reflection of the circumstances we find ourselves in. It is a choice. It’s both the easiest and most difficult choice one could ever make. When learning for the first time how to do it, choosing to be optimistic no matter what can feel like it requires us to get knocked down and get back up, over and over again, knowing that every time we get back up, we are closer to creating the experience we want. The secret is that once we master unapologetic optimism, we’re better able to handle circumstances, and what previously knocked us down won’t even bother us.

However, optimism is not the absence of challenges. It is like the color black and white. Black is the absence of color and white is every color we can think of putting together. What happens when we take black (no color) and add white (all the colors) to it? It becomes less black. To say this another way: a black experience just lacks the presence of white. When we mix a positive lens with any negative situation, then it becomes less negative and easier to stay on the same level.

Those who embrace the unapologetically optimistic philosophy are able to look at what they have in front of them in the present moment and see it for all of its potential rather than focusing on the things that they don’t like.

Being unapologetically optimistic does not mean that negative or stressful things don’t happen to us at work. It simply means we’re allowing that optimism to shine through in the stressful experiences rather than choosing to focus on the worst possible outcome.

Being unapologetically optimistic is more than a head game. The real magic happens when other people start to feel our optimism. To get them to feel it, we need to express it. And expressing an unapologetically optimistic point of view seems simple: we just need to say it out loud. So, why don’t people speak up? Because when they do, they often face opposition in the form of all their ‘realistic’ coworkers who make them feel as though they have no need to express their point of view. This is where optimism becomes unapologetic. We have to look them in the eye and stand our ground. Own our perspective and do not give an inch, even when that little voice in the back of our head starts to scream at us to back down.

Intentional Living

The idea of happiness is constantly changing in today’s age. While a lot of people think money and fame are the keys to happiness, others believe a simple walk through nature could be just as fulfilling. There is no one answer to this often-asked question. As a society, everyone wants something different out of this life. Happiness derives from within, it is a mindset. The state of being intentional in everything you do and in the relationships you have.

People who do not have a reason to get up in the morning will start to lose purpose and little by little their happiness will decrease. Some people find joy in simply waking up and having something to accomplish. An individual has worked for a company for over ten years and has had enough, so they quit. The first few weeks aren’t too bad, pretty nice actually. Eventually, though this person gets to a point of being too comfortable. In a Crash Course video, Hill gives us a statistic, “By some estimates, unemployed people have five to fifteen percent lower life satisfaction scores than people with jobs” (Hill, 00:03:48-00:03:56). The data from the video leads us to believe that people are generally less happy when they have nothing to attend to. More than that, if one does not have a job, it is a lot harder for one to express thoughts and accomplish dreams. Therefore, without a job, goals would not be met. Life would seem almost pointless and lack motivation.

Happiness comes from the simplest of moments. Being intentional is something humans often lack, taking time out of the day to simply look up at the sky and take in a deep breath is not something people do well. People also have a bad habit of excusing important time with family and friends, these little things in life are some of the most beautiful moments we can have. In Pursuit of Unhappiness, McMahon wrote, “So in these last days of 2005 I say to you, “Don’t have a happy new year!” Have dinner with your family or walk in the park with friends. . . With luck, you’ll find happiness by the by. If not, your time won’t be wasted” (McMahon). The motive behind this quote is to live where you are and be in the moment. Take time to appreciate the moments, big and small.

Happiness is knowing every high will end and every low will get better. There is a certain beauty in the lows of life, they make you appreciate the highs. If everyone woke up every day with a steady income, a fast car, and a great family, dissatisfaction would still find a way to creep in. Reality is, as a society we are constantly craving more. We always want the next best thing. When a person accepts where they’re at in life, that will be what makes them the happiest, even if that means their life is a wreck. In Zadie Smith’s Joy, she writes, “The thing no one ever tells you about joy is that it has very little real pleasure in it. And yet if it hadn’t happened at all, at least once, how would we live?” (Smith). This quote supports the idea that happiness is fleeting. Though the joyous moments go fast if humans were to never experience happiness what is there to look forward to? Even amid the chaos, finding a way to be grateful for where you’re at is happiness in itself.

Cherish each moment and relationship more than ever. Having a purpose will give you the motivation to achieve your dreams. Joy is something we must acknowledge while we have it so we can look forward to the next joy-filled moment. Try and be grateful when waking up in the morning. Happiness is truly what you make it.

Jane Austen’s last novel, Persuasion, follows the story of two past lovers and their journey back to each other. Set in the early 1800s, the novel’s main protagonists, Anne and Captain Wentworth, have ended their engagement and become miserable. They and several other characters are given the opportunity to claim happiness. While some rejected the opportunity, others took advantage and benefited from it. Austen highlights this motif of happiness to leave a lasting impression to readers that happiness is a choice and can be found. In Persuasion by Jane Austen, the theme that one has the ability to control their own happiness is displayed through the Musgroves, Anne’s character development, and Anne and Wentworth’s relationship.

Although not as wealthy or superior to the Elliots, the Musgrove family finds happiness in each other and what they have. The Musgroves are a friendly middle-class family living in an estate called uppercross. They recognize they are wealthy, but not of aristocratic lineage. Anne Elliot characterizes them as “[some] of the happiest creatures” (Austen 39). Mrs. Musgrove expresses “how nonsensical some [people] are about their place” (Austen 45), revealing that they are not as concerned with status and possessions. They acknowledge the benefits of status and the nice things they have, but they don’t let that control their happiness. The Musgroves could choose to be downhearted and wallow in what they don’t have like the Elliots do. Instead, they engage in time with each other, social gatherings, dancing, music, and other things in life that make them happy. The Musgroves choose to have a positive attitude and outlook on life, even when situations aren’t ideal. They choose to find ways to be happy because happiness is valuable to them. The Musgroves are a positive change of scene for Anne from her father and sister’s neglect. Their value of happiness helps Anne discover who she is and take control of her own happiness

Anne Elliot has continuously been overlooked by her family and had her happiness determined by others. She experienced the loss of her mother at fourteen and then separation from Captain Wentworth at nineteen. Since the tragedies, she has devoted and lost herself to pleasing others to distract herself from her pain. When visiting Bath, The cheerful Musgrove family treats Anne better than her own family ever did. Anne’s “spirits improved by change of place and subject” (Austen 44) and the caring person she is found a new healthy responsibility to care for Musgroves. Anne is able to think for herself and be acknowledged by them, which is a breath of fresh air from the neglect of her father and sister. Her new spirit encourages her to engage in and discover what she is passionate about such as literature and the importance of compatibility in couples. She focuses on herself and not what others want for her, raising her spirits more. She grows distant from her father, sister, and Lady Russell; all of whom have held Anne back from being happy. She no longer relies on them to decide what’s best for her. She takes control of her happiness by surrounding herself with people who value her, prioritizing her passions, and trusting herself. Anne’s newfound character and attitude encourage her to rekindle her relationship with Captain Wentworth.

Perhaps the greatest display of one having the ability to control their own happiness is the relationship between Anne Elliot and Captain Fredrick Wentworth. Eight years prior to the events of the novel, Lady Russell and Sir Elliot persuaded Anne to call off her engagement to Wentworth because he was not worthy. Anne, being a people pleaser, allowed them to control her future and happiness by taking away the one thing that made her happy. Anne and Wentworth were separated by lineage, wealth, and status; all of which are out of their control. Both had become broken, lost, and unhappy. Over time Anne had found herself and Wentworth rose in rank; the door was wide open to rekindle their relationship. Once Anne found herself, she dismissed her family’s interest in marrying her cousin, William Elliot, which is something the old Anne wouldn’t have done. She doesn’t conform to what others want for her by prioritizing and listening to her own feelings and judgment. While having a friendly debate with Captain Harville about gender and love, Anne states that women’s feelings are strongest because they “[bear] the most rough usage, and [ride] out the heaviest of weather” (Austen 219). Wentworth overhears her and realizes she is referencing their relationship. Recognizing the door is wide open and his feelings for Anne remain, he puts aside his past bitterness and writes Anne a letter declaring his love for her. He put away his pain to take action and control his future. Anne and Wentworth fought and took action for their relationship and happiness instead of letting others decide for them.

Through the Musgroves, Anne’s character development, and Anne and Wentworth’s relationship, Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion demonstrates the theme that one has the ability to control their happiness. Austen gives the Musgroves, Anne, and Wentworth difficult situations that take their happiness. She also told them that they needed to find it again and all of them took advantage of it. Through the Musgroves, Anne, and Wentworth, readers see that happiness is not easy to obtain, but it’s more than possible. Readers see that one can’t wait around for happiness to come, one must take action and make the best of the situation they are given. Austen shows that with the right people, mindset, and time, the choice of happiness is possible.

Our lives are packed with ups and downs, learning, challenges and choices; experience, commitment, and observance. It’s about joy, it’s about sadness and light, it’s about obscurity. Life is, therefore, a constant process of becoming and overcoming negativity in order to obtain happiness. Happiness is a product of self-realization which I believe is the purpose of our life, in other words, the purpose is to find true happiness. Self-realization is a state in which an individual knows who they really are and is fulfilled by understanding. When people are self-realized, they have no suffering, no negativity but only true happiness. Every person in this world wants happiness from the moment of birth to their end and doesn’t want to suffer. This cannot be influenced by social conditioning or education. We want satisfaction from the very heart of our being. We do many things and go very far for happiness. But life is not simply happiness; life consists of suffering, pain, negativity, and other horrible traits. By overcoming these factors in life, we will achieve self-realization which results in true happiness. This will be further explained by exploring different religions’ teachings, personal experiences, and research.

Before talking about the purpose and meaning of life, it is important to know the difference between life and living. Living can be defined as breathing or being alive. The definition of life is more than just breathing and being alive. Life is the part of existence that through growth processes and experiences, acts, reacts, evaluates, and evolves. Life is a combination of emotions, relations, conditions, pains, etc. All these factors in our life have something in common. We go through or run away from these factors for happiness. In our life, we do anything for happiness. For example, you have an old car, but you buy a new car because you are not happy with your old one. Your old car functions just fine and does its job but you are not satisfied as the new car has a better feature. Once you buy the new car you get happiness temporarily. Whatever we do in life, we do for happiness as it is the meaning of our life. But is the happiness we get out of buying certain things or pursuing our favorite career true happiness? Back to the car example, after you purchased your car you got temporary happiness, but in the future when a newer car with better features comes out you are most likely to be unhappy with what you own. Once we fulfill our basic physical needs of food, shelter, and comfort, our life aims to maximize joy. The challenge is that we are often lost or turned. We finally seek many things, believing that they will bring us to the emotional state we want. We might get things, but we don’t want the feeling. We’re disappointed that people aren’t who we thought. Relationships can lead to emotional drama, insecurity, and heartbreak. The key to being happy to regulate our inner experiences and see who we are and what we need in humility and integrity is self-realization. This happens because all of this is temporary happiness. People everywhere are unhappy and this suffering stems from our desire for more and the fear of losing what we have. We are in a continuous search for temporary happiness and we ignore the true happiness that we already have. By keeping the old car you might not get the new features but you can still go on adventures and make memories that last forever. The key to our happiness in regulating our internal experiences and seeing who we are and what we need in humility and integrity is self-realization.

Unfortunately, life isn’t just happiness even though we strive for it. In life, we go through a lot of suffering and pain. People are quick to think that life is all about suffering and pain, but accepting this negativity and moving forward to become a better person will bring you happiness. In Buddha’s teachings, he explains how life is full of suffering and how to deal with situations in life to achieve happiness. The beliefs of the four noble truths are at the heart of Buddhism. These four truths, which Buddha believes to have conceived, are the truth of life’s suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path leading to the end of suffering and happiness. The first noble truth states that existence is suffering and that you suffer from the time of your birth to death. This is true because throughout our lives we go through so much pain such as stress, physical pain, emotional pain, losing a loved one, and many other situations. The second Nobel truths state that we suffer because of zero satisfaction in what we have and do. There is always a craving for happiness that does not end. The third noble truth states that we have to give up these cravings in order to be free of suffering. The fourth noble truth states that the ending of pain can happen by following The Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, and right mindfulness. The theme of Buddhist teaching is happiness. The Noble Eightfold Path leads its practitioner to eternal peace for ultimate liberation from suffering. Ultimate happiness can be achieved only through overcoming fear in all forms. Buddhism also promotes the generation of love and compassion, the desire for happiness, and the well-being of all.

Aristotle’s theory further explains how people strive for happiness in their lives. According to Aristotle, happiness is the purpose and end of human existence. It is easy to see that we only want money, pleasure, and honor because we believe that these goods will make us happy, but all this happiness is temporary, in other words, instant gratification. This means that we have to make decisions, some of which can be very difficult such as watching a movie instead of finishing a culminating assignment which is worth 20 percent of your grade. The development of a good character even in difficult situations requires a strong willingness to do the right thing. He states that to achieve happiness, you need to obtain a good moral character. This connects back to overcoming all the negativity and figuring out who you are as a person and how you act and think. Happiness requires intellectual and moral self-reflection, for this is our ultimate rational capacity. Overall, Aristotle’s theory explains how happiness is the meaning of our lives as we strive to be happy in every situation of our lives.

In conclusion, I believe that the meaning of our life is happiness as we spend our whole lives doing things to make us happy. In everything we do, we look for happiness. The purpose of our life, on the other hand, is to find true happiness which has no connection to the type of car you own, or the relationship you have with someone. That true happiness comes from inside, you have to realize who you truly are and get rid of cravings and negativity in life.