What is Happiness?

Being in a flowing mind set means you're not conscious yet you know what’s happening. Finding happiness comes with challenges and sacrifices. For that reason not everyday will be a good day. Happiness is the feeling of receiving a paycheck after hours on end of working, or buying a car for the first time after working for two years. Happiness will be rewarded when you least expect it.

First we’ll talk about living a happy life using ancient Chinese philosophy that could still be used in today's society. Confucianism is based on a principle known as Jen. Jen is used to describe love and compassion towards individuals. If you care for the earth, Taoism might be for you. Tao follows the laws of nature while finding a purpose on this earth. Next is Buddhism. Buddhism is the belief of overcoming difficult obstacles on your own. In doing this the body and the mind become stronger. All of these can be incorporated into everyday activities such as visiting family, going to the store, and using a thinking chair.

Happiness can come from seeing others happy, accomplishing a goal, or trying something new. It’s sad when a family member passes away. Most of the time, a picture placed next to a deceased person, reflects the moments they were most happy. Seeing them happy brings back memories and remembrance that they are in a better place. Winning at a car race or finishing a puzzle can all be ways a person can feel like they accomplished a goal. Finishing a goal is a sense of relief to keep going with a positive outlook. Trying something new can be difficult, finishing a challenge can be difficult, the best thing to do is to have a positive mind set. The science of happiness can be defined as a short burst of feeling happy or content.

In the Ted Talk, from Dan Gilbert, he describes impact bias as, “the simulator to make you believe that different outcomes are more different then in fact they really are.” An example of this would be buying a dress online, there is a 50/50 percent chance it may come out the way it shows on the screen. When you receive it through mail it turns out to be catfished and not what you expected it to look like. You expected to be very happy with the experience of buying and owning the dress, but instead you were disappointed. This shows impact bias because you expected greater happiness from an action or event than you received. This is a common form of disappointment, and for happiness to be achieved, we have to avoid impact bias by managing our expectations.

Lastly is the happiness today we see in modern society, whether it be an addiction or just simply loving life itself. Today happiness is a choice to be made while choosing to do things such as being active with sports, always learning something new, having good connections with others, etc. People find joy when they see their results after losing 50 pounds just going to the gym everyday. Most of the time socializing with friends and talking to family members lets you say what's on your mind, easing the stress, or expressing good emotions.

Today society’s happiness is based on what you consider to be more effective in your life. Trying something new won’t hurt. What will hurt is not trying at all. Life will always throw curveballs, the goal is to see how hard a fall is to how much more you will rise.