Happiness project
For this project, we read a book called Brave New World to learn about happiness. We watched many movies and read different documents each letting us learn about different aspects of happiness and how people have studied it. For my project I made an art piece it shows a drawing of me and in the background, a swimming pool. Covering the pool are the lyrics of my favorite song. faintly within the song are things my friends value, like family, a heart, rock climbing etc.
Equivalency meaning happiness
Happy /’Hapi/ Adjective: feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. I dont like that definition though. Happiness, to me, is when we have a meaning, or a purpose. If we know what we are going to do with our lives, that can make us happy. An example would be something that makes me happy, helping people, making them happy, and help them realize they have a meaning. I don’t want anyone to feel sad, or hopeless. I don't want anyone without a meaning. I like to see people laugh out of control and smile because they are happy, even if temporarily having a good laugh can make someone's day. Knowing I can help people smile makes me happy, and I feel that could be my meaning. If Our nation focuses on reaching equivalency, more people would be able to search for a purpose, instead of focusing on pleasuring themselves when they are miserable. If we do this then we could finally be able to be a happier nation, once everyone has found and accepted their purpose. This is what happiness means to me, happiness is finding a meaning.
In my opinion, one cannot find true happiness without finding a meaning. In class, we read a book called “Brave New World” By Aldous Huxley. In the book, the people in this world are conditioned to like or dislike certain things, to be in certain economic classes, such as alphas, betas, epsilons etc. In the book, the people of Brave New World have a drug called Soma, and when they take it they forget about their problems and just be “artificially happy”. This is why meaning plays a part in being happy. These people in the book did not have a meaning, they were just there being artificially happy, taking drugs ignoring basic human emotions. This idea of happiness without meaning is also explored in an Article called “Theres more to life than being happy” Written by Emily Esfahani Smith. It says that “...Happiness is an emotion felt here and now, and ultimately fades away… Meaning, on the other hand, is enduring.” Now I disagree what this article is saying, that happiness and meaning cannot coexist together. But I believe when someone finds a meaning, they can and will become happy. Happiness alone is a feeling felt in the present moment, and fades away, but happiness with meaning can be eternal.
While working towards achieving happiness, dont invest in the bigger things, or the meaningless toys. In the movie “I am” directed by Tom Shadyac, also the producer of many great movies, says that when he bought a new, bigger house, he wasn't any happier than he was when he had a smaller house. This is also is investigated in the movie “Happy”. People were asked what would make them happy, and a lot of people said money. But as said by Clare booth luce, “Money can't buy happiness, but can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable.” But during the movie “Happy” it also showed what true happiness looks like. The movie showed a man that had pretty much nothing, he ran one of those carts where a person pulls you around, but he was happy. He was happy because he had a family that he loved very much, and that’s why he was happy. Bigger doesn't always means better, you should be happy with what you have, because money can’t buy happiness.
As a nation, we need to reach a state of equivalency to become happier. Comparing the happiness between countries to our own, we rank the seventeenth happiest country in the world. Now that may sound okay, since there are a lot of countries out there, but we must consider that Mexico is happier than the united states. But is everyone happy in the United States? What are we doing wrong? I believe The United states need to become more equivalent. What I mean is that we need to not be so spread out, financially and socially. People in america are very spread out, from hobos to football players, hillbillies to movie stars. America needs to stop paying people who barely do anything so much and start appreciating the people who basically run this country. If everyone worked with one another things could get better. As my dad said “The people who wear denim built this country, and the men in suits are wrecking it.” But if we fixed this, if we made people more equivalent, then things would be better. If we made everyone participate in both the dirty work and the fancy work, we would make a lot of people happier. Everyone would be helping out and making our nation a better place, and helping in making the nation a happier place will make people more equivalent, than make people happy.
As a culture, we need to make our citizens realize the disillusion that money can make people happy, when it usually doesn't. We need to teach people to look for a meaning, not for ultimate happiness. With meaning, I believe, will come happiness, so we need to search for the more important part of our role as a society, to find meaning.
Its critical to examine how we achieve happiness. Why? Examining happiness can help people out of their problems. By studying happiness we can understand how to help people out of a bad time, and then help them find their own personal meaning. If we find what makes people happy, we can better understand everyone, and maybe, just maybe, finally make everyone live happy lives wherever you are.
In my opinion, one cannot find true happiness without finding a meaning. In class, we read a book called “Brave New World” By Aldous Huxley. In the book, the people in this world are conditioned to like or dislike certain things, to be in certain economic classes, such as alphas, betas, epsilons etc. In the book, the people of Brave New World have a drug called Soma, and when they take it they forget about their problems and just be “artificially happy”. This is why meaning plays a part in being happy. These people in the book did not have a meaning, they were just there being artificially happy, taking drugs ignoring basic human emotions. This idea of happiness without meaning is also explored in an Article called “Theres more to life than being happy” Written by Emily Esfahani Smith. It says that “...Happiness is an emotion felt here and now, and ultimately fades away… Meaning, on the other hand, is enduring.” Now I disagree what this article is saying, that happiness and meaning cannot coexist together. But I believe when someone finds a meaning, they can and will become happy. Happiness alone is a feeling felt in the present moment, and fades away, but happiness with meaning can be eternal.
While working towards achieving happiness, dont invest in the bigger things, or the meaningless toys. In the movie “I am” directed by Tom Shadyac, also the producer of many great movies, says that when he bought a new, bigger house, he wasn't any happier than he was when he had a smaller house. This is also is investigated in the movie “Happy”. People were asked what would make them happy, and a lot of people said money. But as said by Clare booth luce, “Money can't buy happiness, but can make you awfully comfortable while you're being miserable.” But during the movie “Happy” it also showed what true happiness looks like. The movie showed a man that had pretty much nothing, he ran one of those carts where a person pulls you around, but he was happy. He was happy because he had a family that he loved very much, and that’s why he was happy. Bigger doesn't always means better, you should be happy with what you have, because money can’t buy happiness.
As a nation, we need to reach a state of equivalency to become happier. Comparing the happiness between countries to our own, we rank the seventeenth happiest country in the world. Now that may sound okay, since there are a lot of countries out there, but we must consider that Mexico is happier than the united states. But is everyone happy in the United States? What are we doing wrong? I believe The United states need to become more equivalent. What I mean is that we need to not be so spread out, financially and socially. People in america are very spread out, from hobos to football players, hillbillies to movie stars. America needs to stop paying people who barely do anything so much and start appreciating the people who basically run this country. If everyone worked with one another things could get better. As my dad said “The people who wear denim built this country, and the men in suits are wrecking it.” But if we fixed this, if we made people more equivalent, then things would be better. If we made everyone participate in both the dirty work and the fancy work, we would make a lot of people happier. Everyone would be helping out and making our nation a better place, and helping in making the nation a happier place will make people more equivalent, than make people happy.
As a culture, we need to make our citizens realize the disillusion that money can make people happy, when it usually doesn't. We need to teach people to look for a meaning, not for ultimate happiness. With meaning, I believe, will come happiness, so we need to search for the more important part of our role as a society, to find meaning.
Its critical to examine how we achieve happiness. Why? Examining happiness can help people out of their problems. By studying happiness we can understand how to help people out of a bad time, and then help them find their own personal meaning. If we find what makes people happy, we can better understand everyone, and maybe, just maybe, finally make everyone live happy lives wherever you are.
For my Happiness art piece, I drew picture of me in front of a swimming pool, because swimming makes me happy. In front of the water is the recording of my favourite song. Within the recording are things my friends value and make them happy, from rock climbing, to love, to family.