Rodgers

Lauren Rodgers
Professor D. Jizi
UWRT 1102
25 January 2016
Double Entry Journal
Citation:

Parfitt, Matthew, and Dawn Skorczewski. Pursuing Happiness. Boston:

Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016. Print.
Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

She is galvanized to take action, while you

are sluggish and passive (pg 179 paragaph
2)

This sentence seemed kind harsh, but it that

is the point of it, to get our attention and
maybe even connect with what the reader is
saying to us.

happiness is not out there for us to find

Its inside of us (pg 185, paragraph 2)

I think others could take something from

reading this quote, like I have. It is a common
saying that people need to go and find things
for happiness. In reality they need to look
inside them for what makes them happy.

elements that determined our happiness in

the past, and can make for future
happiness, are with us right now and are
right here waiting to be taken advantage of
(pg 185, paragraph 3)

People blame others and outside

circumstances for their unhappiness but it is
their reactions to these circumstances that
make all the difference. Just taking a couple
minutes to reflect, many can find their
happiness by clearing their thoughts.

the first step you should take toward

reaching greater lasting happiness is to put
those things aside in your mind for nowtry
not to reflect on them (pg 186, paragraph 1)

I know that clouding my mind usually made

more stressed out and think about my
unhappiness more. I found that when I took
the time to clear and distract my mind and
relax I felt better afterwards.

A susceptibility to clinical depression has

also been found to be partly rooted in our
genetic makeups (pg 186, paragraph 3)

I never would have guessed that depression

was connected to our genes. I thought it was
environmentally influenced. I was diagnosed
with depression but no one else in my family
was so it never crossed my mind.

The correlation between happiness and

income is very small (pg 188, paragraph 2)

I figured this to be true because people who

are poor dont have to be depressed and
people who are rich dont have to be happy.

identical twins were extremely similar to

each other in their happiness scores, and

Identical twins have the same genes, which

doesnt surprise me that they would develop

Rodgers

remarkably, the similarity was no smaller if

the twins had been raised apart (pg 189,
paragraph 2)

the same characteristics and similar

happiness capacities.

each of us is born with a happiness set

point, a characteristic potential for
happiness throughout our lives (pg 190,
paragraph 1)

I never though about happiness as being a

set scale or level that we are born with. I
thought everyone had the same potential for
happiness, some people were just higher
than others.

Our genes do not determine our life

experience and behavior (pg 190,
paragraph 3)

Environment determines our experience and

behavior. Behavior by definition is learned
from society and close associates.

The stressful experiences led to depression

only among those participants who carried
the bad short allele of the 5-HTTLPR gene
(pg 192, paragraph 2)

To think that a simple gene can cause a

person depression over others who have the
more superior gene is interesting. Some
people are genetically programed to be more
depressed in certain instances than others.

depression is associated with a particular

gene, 5-HTTLPR, long and short (pg 192,
paragraph 1)

A specific gene is connected to depression,

and it is associated with the length of the
gene and not the abundance of it.

each of us has a natural set pointhappy

people show greater activity in one side of
their brain than the other. (pg 193,
paragraph 1)

I have read articles about parts of the brain

that are activated by different stimulate.
Different parts of the brain light up on an eeg
to show happiness and sadness when their
specific chemicals are produced.

Happiness consists in activity. It is a

running stream, not a stagnant pool (pg
194, paragraph 1)

I take this quote as the mind constantly has to

be a work and being active in things a person
likes in order for someone to be happy.

The foundation of happiness is not in

changing our genetically determined set
points, for they are, by definition, resistant to
change, influence, or control. (pg 195,
paragraph 2)

I found this to be a little contradictory from the

article. Throughout the article the author
mentions changing outlooks and finding our
happiness in ourselves, it seems like we are
trying to control ourselves to find our
happiness. It kind of seems that we are just
trying to find ways to deal with what we are
given.