Ruiz 1

Amanda Ruiz
Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102-017
27 September 2015

!
Reflection
Writing this proposal was more challenging than I anticipated. I found that my inquiry
question opened up something of a pandoras box. There are now a plethora of additional
questions and Im concerned about how to tackle all of them in the space of ten pages. I need to
decide which questions are the most essential to answering my colossal question of the
achievement of happiness. Im hoping that this inquiry is not too far reaching and that I can
adequately cover all of my bases while still keeping the reader engaged.

!
Pursuit of Happiness
Happiness is a choice. You are the only person that can make you happy. Youre as
happy as you choose to be.- Rick Warren

!
The word happy is derived from the Icelandic word happ, meaning luck and chance.
So, is that what happiness comes down to? Luck? Chance? According to Pastor Rick Warren, no.
It is not by chance that one becomes happy, it is by choice. Modern science defines happiness as
the positive range of emotions that we feel when we are content and full of joy but if I were to
ask you to define happiness, what would you say? It is undoubtedly a difficult task. I feel as

Ruiz 2
though I, along with much of the population, am constantly searching for happiness. But how do
you find something that you cannot define? This leads me to my inquiry question, what is, and
how can one achieve true happiness?
According to the Dalai Lama, the very notion of our life is towards happiness. How to
get there, however, has always been the question. What makes us happy? Are some people
genetically predisposed to being happier than others? If this idea is true, can this baseline be
adjusted? How? The objective of my paper will be to determine what causes this positive range
of emotions? Is it health, wealth, outlook, relationships etc?
How does comparing our situation with that of others affect our happiness? H.L
Menckens' definition of a wealthy man is one whose income is $100 more than his wifes sisters
husband. There is no doubt that our feelings of contentment are strongly influenced by our own
tendency to compare. So, what shapes our perceived level of satisfaction? Does it matter with
whom we are comparing our situation to?
Is happiness determined by ones state of mind more so than external events? For
example, I suffer from a sometimes debilitating auto-immune disease, yet I am happier than most
healthy people I know. I have had a few close calls with death and once faced with my own
mortality, I realized I was actually happier than before. I felt more grateful for every minute I
was given and was less distracted by unimportant things. It caused me to rethink the meaning of
my life. So, do we need more than pleasure to live the best possible life and obtain happiness?
Are most people transformed by tribulations, or is this a fluke?
As you can see, I have many questions concerning this topic. It is one that has always
been of particular interest to me. Initially, after I posed my question I thought, can happiness be

Ruiz 3
measured? How was I going to research such a subjective matter? The topic of happiness used to
lie solely in the hands of philosophers. Now, we employ the works of psychologists, economists
and neurologists. The study of happiness now examines both the cognitive evaluations of life and
the affective enjoyment of life. Magnetic Resonance Imagery measures cerebral blood flow.
Electromyography can measure the activity of the smile muscles in the face and simply asking
someone to rate their perceived happiness on a scale serves as a form of measurement. The idea
of happiness has long been a subject of curiosity. There are an abundance of studies, journals,
books and even movies regarding the matter. There is even an app, Tracking your Happiness,
which follows more than 15,000 people by iPhone, posing questions several times per day about
their activities and emotional states.
While I have my own ideas and opinions on the subject, I intend to use a variety of
sources for my research spanning back to the B.C. era with the works of Socrates. The Art of
Happiness by the Dalai Lama, which takes a more Buddhist approach to happiness will also be
included. I have been reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin which is a chronicle of
one womans attempt to test drive every tip, principle and scientific study that promotes
happiness, as well. In addition, I plan to take advantage of the countless psychological journals
and studies available.
There have definitely been advances in the scientific approach to this inquiry however,
there is nothing novel about the quest for happiness. The philosophical pursuit of happiness
began 2,500 years ago in China, India and Greece with Confucius, Buddha, Socrates and
Aristotle. Confucianism concluded that following the Dao, or the way would bring happiness.
This idea was based on having a deep connection with nature and that joy was an ethical

Ruiz 4
response to features of the world. For Buddha, the path to happiness began with understanding
the root causes of suffering and to train the mind not to dwell on the past or the future, but to live
in the here and now, the realm where we can most readily experience peace and happiness.
Socrates was the first known figure in the West to argue that happiness is obtainable by human
effort by taking rational control over your desires and harmonizing the different parts of your
soul. Aristotle used the term eudaimonia to describe happiness as experiencing the good life
through virtuous action. He insisted one should strike a balance or a mean between excess and
deficiency. After all of this time, we as humans are still trying to figure it out, still searching for
more answers on acquiring this seemingly elusive state of being.
Simply stated, I want to know if attaining genuine and long lasting happiness can be
done. What if there was a way to teach happiness and contentment rather than prescribe a pill for
it? I feel as though learning how to maximize your happiness is important to everyone. It benefits
not only the individual but their family and society, as well. I hope to prove that one can indeed
develop and sustain happiness by not only training the mind but transforming the attitude,
outlook and approach to living as a whole. John Lennon once told a story about an assignment he
had in school. The teacher told him to write what he wanted to be when he grows up. He wrote
happy. She said he didn't understand the assignment. He said she didnt understand life. If
happiness is our main goal, shouldnt we all know how to achieve it?