...Mahatma Gandhi one defined happiness as “when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Barring any better definition of happiness from either positive psychologists, self-help gurus, or any other academic source, I tend to think this is a great summation of the definition of happiness. Gandhi doesn’t say anything about how these things make you feel, rather looks at it from a point of view of harmony between thoughts, expressions, and actions. Since one single accepted definition of happiness doesn’t seem to exist, and happiness is different for everyone, this begs the question; how can you increase your own personal level of happiness? Since WW II psychologist have been studying our brains as they pertain to our mental health. Approximately 30% of people in the USA suffer from some sort of mental disorder (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). After we figured out how to treat these 30% of people, psychologists then turned to the remaining 70% of the population with the thinking that “although these people may not be experiencing severe pathology, there is good evidence to indicate the absence of maladies does not constitute happiness” (Seligman, Parks, and Steen 418). The conclusion these psychologists came to was that “…we believe “happiness” is a condition over and above the absence of unhappiness… A review [of the literature] led us to identify three constituents of happiness: (i) pleasure (or positive emotion); (ii) engagement; and (iii) meaning”...
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...Sight Beyond The Human Eye Our eyes are only the surface of our sight. If one searches deeper they have the ability to see things beyond their eyesight. It can travel into thoughts to make everything seem like it is an entirely different story. As you read the two poems constructed by Emily Dickinson you can see a hidden message within it. We grow accustomed to the dark has more meaning to it than one would see at first glimpse. Before I got my eye put out also displays a view that isn’t directly shown. We grow accustomed to the dark is a piece that describes how we tend to get used to the darkness. The message taken from this piece is that many of us struggle through tough times and we don’t like change so we are all stuck in the dark after tragedy. But many fail to see it’s a bright side which is why many fail to see the light. But once we see the light your life begins to become easier. When light is put away we grow accustomed to the dark which means once our happiness is stolen from...
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...of marriages and their different outcomes. The authors want to prove and describe the different scenarios that their lives and others would have turned out if things had been different in the past as well as in the present using fiction as well as drama. Although both poems relate two different scenarios and their stories have no connection what so ever, Corso and Olds explore with imaginary change of events, doubts about life and the pursuit of happiness. All of those components create a connection that seemed inexistent when reading both poems. The beauty of literature is that everything is possible; the writer can change events and scenarios as the story comes along at any time the writer wants. Corso’s poem “The Marriage” transports the reader to different scenarios beginning with two questions. “Should I get married? Should I be good?” (431). Taking the first question as an example, Corso puts a huge amount of pressure into the character with one of the most important decisions that a men or women take in life. In a deeper thought the character imagines his life as poor as well as rich, if he is going to live in a middle class apartment full of rats and roaches or in a beautiful high rise overlooking the New York’s skyline, all of these outcomes depends on who he will chose to marry giving a sense that depending the women he marries he’s financial wealth will be determinant. These transition of events creates two different worlds, two different stories, two different lives...
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...During World War II, the Berlin Wall blockaded Berlin’s citizens from both the outside world and restricted people's access to information. Very similarly, Ayn Rand describes this culture in Anthem. Rand purpose to write Anthem is to represent the effects of society if people's basic rights are taken away and no one can innovate on anything. Rand uses symbolism to illustrate the ideas between happiness, curiosity, and exploration which all represent light in the new land discovered by Prometheus offered through individualism compared to the dark, dreary, dismal environment where majority of the population is being controlled by a higher power called the World Council. Rand carefully uses diction to outline the framework of the society being...
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...Happiness By Huang Lu Xin Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological and religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology, endeavor to apply the scientific method to answer questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained. It's of such fundamental importance to the human condition that Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were deemed unalienable rights on the United States Declaration of Independence. Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek Eudaimonia, and is still used in virtue ethics. Happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, and where applicable, split them into their components. There is a book named ‘Handbook of Emotion’. The editors and contributors are foremost authorities who describe major theories, findings, methods, and applications. In the 2nd Edition of the Handbook of Emotion, evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby say that happiness comes from "encountering unexpected positive events". In the...
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...Life has its light and dark moments, but sometimes it feel like those dark moments overpower the light and happy ones. It seems like no matter what we try to do, it doesn’t get any better. If anything, it feels like it only got worse. However, even in the darkest of times, light can creep into our lives. That little bit of light can be just enough for someone to latch onto for hope. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was directed by David Yates with Warner Bros. Pictures helping market the film. This magic-filled 138 minute-long movie stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter; along with Emma Watson playing Hermione Granger and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley. This movie was rated PG-13 due to intense violence and some images in the movie, though not graphic, may be too extreme for a younger audience. Based off of the author J.K. Rowling’s critically acclaimed Harry Potter series, this movie adaptation brings her fifth book to life. As the rest of the Harry Potter movies have started, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix begins in the muggle world with Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) living with the Dursleys; it starts at an empty playground where Harry is tormented by his cousin Dudley. Everything seems okay for the both of them until the scenery changes into something like a horror movie. Harry and Dudley are attacked by a couple of rogue dementors in a tunnel, leaving Harry with only one way to defend himself and Dudley; with magic. News of this arrives at the Ministry...
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...From the outline of the poem ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’, it begins with the speaker stopping by a small forest in the evening of deep winter. He savours the lovely view of the forest as he stops with his horse. The silence and tranquility of the wintry landscape captivate the speaker. Although he wishes to stay longer, yet realizing that he has ‘promises to keep’ and some distance to go, so he must move on. The poem comprises four stanzas and each stanza has four lines. The first three stanzas have a-a-b-a rhyming scheme. For example, in the first stanza, the first, second and fourth lines are in rhyme such as ‘know’, ‘though’ and ‘snow’. The exception is the final stanza where all the end of lines rhyme, such as ‘deep’, ‘keep’, ‘sleep’, ‘sleep’ because the last two lines are identical. If we carefully examine its pattern, the third line in each stanza always rhymes with the first line of the next stanza. Hence, this poem is written and arranged systematically by Frost. At first, the speaker is captivated by the scenery he takes in, particularly the woods covered with snow. While he stops, he is wondering whom this woods belong to. From the answering ‘I think I know’, it suggests that the woods is nothing new to him. Then, the speaker affirms that the landowner will not see him stopping there. By talking to himself, this indicates that the speaker is at remote distance from society and he is all alone with his horse. A sense of aloneness fills the mood of the...
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...different as a comparison to the youth. Their fashion sense is very different, they would wear extreme black clothing, light make up and wear symbolic jewellery such as the cross. The gothic clothing evolved in England 1980s. The use of dark colours, especially black is characteristic of Gothic sub-culture and fashion. The styling in subculture range is Victorian, post punk, death rock or a mixture of all of them. European men and women who follow this sub-culture, dye their hair black, using black nail polish and lipstick and wear dark or black clothes to create a Gothic sub-cultural fashion statement. They also would have many tattoos and piercings, the Gothic lifestyle is so individually unique that there are no set standards for designs. Some of the more popular designs include Gothic cross tattoos. In addition to this Goths have a certain music genre they like to listen to. Their music tends to concentrate on the very nasty, topics that society don’t talk about and wants to ignore and forget. They have different types of styles when it comes to their music for example; gothic rock, death rock, post punk and many more. Punk music stopped being popular around the70s, when disco came along. However the punk subculture was still there. Some examples of punk rock band are sex pistols and circle jerks. Another genre that...
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...beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. When my luck has failed and nobody cares, I sit all alone and cry about being an outcast, and my cries to God feel useless and that he does not hear me at all, then I look at myself and curse my fate, wishing that I had the things others have; or that I looked like someone else, or had friends like others do, or had a good job like someone else, and I am totally unhappy with the things in my life. But, as I'm thinking these thoughts, and as I hate myself, I think of you and then I feel better. Because when I think of your sweet love, just the thought brings such a wealth of happiness that I wouldn’t change places with anyone else. I am sure many people, at one point in time, have felt this way in their lives. There is a part of everyone who wishes that they had something different than what they currently have. Whether it is material possessions, a better career, or better looks. I feel...
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...narrator didn’t like to give advices. The narrator thought about life and showed his attitude to the whole life. He said that he didn’t know anything of others. But then the narrator remembered that once he had advised well. Once a man, a total stranger, came to him and ask him for a piece of advice. He wanted to know if he would have any chance to have a job in Spain. The narrator said that if he wasn’t worried about money, he would be success. 15 years later the narrator happened to be in Servile. He had some in disposition and went to an English doctor. It turned out that this doctor was Stephens. He was happy in Spain. And thanked the narrator a lot. The method of character’s portrayed is indirect, which sometimes called dramatic. The author didn’t comment upon the person ages, the author made them act, speak and let the reader judge for himself. The main characters of the story are the narrator and Stephens. The narrator was an intelligent, clever and bright. We can judge by his way of narration, speech. He was a doctor but didn’t practice. And first of all he was a writer. He was an experienced person, philosopher and good psychologist, because he could say for sure who the man was and what life was. He thought a lot about life and tried to understand the value of life. ‘And life is something that you can lead but once…’ He is responsible man. Stephens was a little man, thick-set, stout. He had a round face, small dark bright eyes. He had black...
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...Christina Diaz Due Monday 24, 2013 Rough Draft People spend their lives searching for happiness. Some find happiness in the company of family or friends. Other people find happiness in material possesions. And many others consider finding true love the ultimate happiness. Everyone is on their spiritual quest to find it, and sometimes, when they find happiness they do not know how to handle it. In Anton Chekov’s short story “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” Chekov let’s us into the mind of the character Dmitry Gurov as he seeks to compensate his unhappy life in his many affairs with women. In one of his many affairs with Anna Sergeyevna we see how Dmitry changes his views and attitude as he falls in love. In the beginning of “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” the character Dmitry Gurov is an unhappy narcissistic and a misogynist who is easily bored with women and his lover Anna Sergeyevna. By the end of the story, however, he changes his views of Anna when he realizes he loves her. Before meeting Anna, Dmitry is displayed in an unflattering manner. He is very unhappy with his life and marriage even though his wife was described as “a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, stately and dignified and, as she said of herself, intellectual” (156). She seemed like a great woman with beauty and intelligence, yet, he was still dissatisfied, “he privately considered her of limited intelligence, narrow-minded, dowdy, was afraid of her, and did not like to be home” (156). Dmitry is very critical...
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...Courage Molds Our Choices How different would your life be if you had no courage? If you had more courage? Courage is facing something you are afraid of. When you are afraid, you shy away and avoid dealing with things. The dark voice in your head say no and eventually, you start to say no as well. When you face a problem with courage, the dark voice in your head may still say no, but a stronger voice from your heart says yes. In William Goldmans The Princess Bride many characters face very frightening situations they must conqueor to move on. Whether it be fencing with the most skilled swordsman in the world or standing up to their hero.When people are put down by others around them, then they need to have courage; because if they do not, they may never realize what is right. Fezzik shows courage by finally being who he wants to be. When he was a child, his parents made it their goal for their son to become a fighting champion. Even though he won every match, the crowd booed viciously and it made Fezzik miserable. He was only fighting to make his parents happy. After his mother and father died, he got into the circus fighting group of men...
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...ERAU | Happiness Without Truth | World Philosophy | | Kusmierz, Michael B | 10/4/2013 | | Knowing what is Real and what is True has been debated by philosophers since Socrates placed an emphasis on keeping an interest in Truth, and since Plato imagined the Theory of Forms. Many philosophers either concentrate their work in the field of Metaphysics or at least touch upon it in their works. They are trying to discover what the ultimate nature of Reality is as if it will make them a better being. Albert Camus said “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life” (Camus, The Stranger) and he is correct. Trying to learn or understand a formula to be happy is futile and trying to figure out the ultimate Truth and Reality of the world will only make you miserable. There are two ideologies that I blend together and align myself with; Epicureanism and the idea that the greatest pleasures cannot be achieved without some pain. People should be more concerned with achieving happiness through the experiences they have rather than trying to understand and cope with the harsh Realities and Truths of the world. Epicureanism follows the thoughts of Epicurus, who believed in a type of “ethical hedonism.” This idea of “ethical hedonism” means to pursue pleasure with the only conscious experience you have and to avoid pain, obey the laws, and be honest. The model life he wanted...
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...leading up to the sentence, or is a harbinger of the coming chapters. Beginning with the final word in chapter one, “darkness” (21), and concluding with the novel’s final word, “past” (180), Fitzgerald uses simple closing words to represent a deeper, continuous meaning that pervades the book. By doing this, Fitzgerald is able to outline major themes in the novel, including facial expressions, honesty, and balance. Most clearly and powerfully, however, the outline of lightness through positive imagery and darkness through negative imagery is presented in the final lines of each chapter. By grouping the chapters by hopefulness shown in their respective final lines, a trend is apparent. In chapters one through three, the final lines provide a dark, sullen preview for the chapters to come, while chapter four provides a transition into the final lines of chapters five and six, which signify a brief sense of giddiness that begins to darken. Finally, the last lines of chapters seven through nine mark the development and completion of the violent “holocaust” (162). Supplying a preview at the end of chapter one as to the violence to occur later in the novel, Nick says he is “alone again in the unquiet darkness” (21). By stating the word “darkness” at the end of the first chapter, Fitzgerald can ultimately emphasize the fact that eventually, the plot will take a cold, deep, serious turn for the worse. Moreover, it shows the ambiguity of the first chapter, as the reader does not yet know...
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...“My Mother and her Sister” is a short story written by Jane Rogers in 1996. The short story takes place at the narrator’s house which is where the reader is introduced to Lucy. She has been staying with narrator since her mother died. In the short story we meet a first person narrator and as the reader follows the main character, her thoughts, memories and knowledge: “I haven’t cried at all, I don’t know why“ (p. 2, l. 24). The setting is gloomy: “It’s rained since Lucy came. My house is terribly quiet” (p. 2, l. 27). The weather could be a symbol of their relationship and the silence a symbol of their personalities when they are in each others' presence. Their relationship is very tense, strange and it is very difficult for them to talk in the beginning. Something changes throughout the short story. It is as if the atmosphere lightens up as soon as the rain stops. This is when the narrator finally lets her guard down and tries to interact with Lucy - she tries to impress her. While cooking her not so homemade food the start talking and they both open up and finally feel like the understand each other. The first section of the short story is a description of the narrator’s past. It’s here where the narrator introduces us to her childhood and relationship to her unconventional and free-spirited mother. She tells us about her mother’s sister Lucy, who is a traditional mother and the narrator’s rock. Lucy has always represented the security and motherhood. You get the sense that...
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