Lezama 1

Elisa lezama

Professor Corri Ditch

English 114A

13 February 2019

What is happiness?

How can you define happiness, Is it all the luxury things that you have finally bought or

is it the people around you that make you as happy as you are today or tomorrow? ​Happiness can

be defined in many ways. In the book of ​ ​Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader​ it is

all based off the meaning of happiness and how other authors explain there side of the topic

based off their own expercerice. Like Sonja Lyubomirsky ​who is a professor of psychology at

the University of California, Riverside explains that happiness is a feeling that is taken by

action into your own life. ​Another author like David Brooks defines happiness as if we go

through some sort of suffering then we can know the true meaning of our very happiness.

In the other hand another author from the book which is Graham Hill, explains that

happiness as if you have less things in life it can mean much more than you actually

think. ​All of theses authors pursue nothing but defining happiness, but all three have a

different aspect upon the feeling of happiness and have similarities as well that they can

relate in one another.

In the articles the authors argue about true meaning of happiness and what they

believe happiness is in their own perspective.​ David Brooks an author from the book
 Lezama 2

explains that if you went to some sort of suffering you’ll know the true meaning of your

very own happiness, as he argues in the article tha​t​ “...the big thing that suffering does is

it takes you outside of precisely that logic that happiness mentality ecourges”​(Matthew &

Dawn 284). She defines happiness in this way because she believes that through suffering

we feel that we get a lesson out of it which makes us feel happier than not knowing the

feeling of pain at all​. Another author that argues about happiness is Sonja lyubomirsky,

she argues that “if you're not happy today, then you won't be happy tomorrow unless you

take things into your own hands and take action”(​Matthew & Dawn ​185). What the

author is saying about happiness here is that if we don’t take responsibility for our own

actions then we can never feel the feeling of happiness. Like the others Graham Hill,

talks about happiness in a way that having less can mean much more. Graham hill implies

in her argument by describing “Intuitively, we know that the best stuff in life isnt stuff at

all and that relationships, experiences and meaningful work are the staples of a happy

life”(​Matthew & Dawn ​310). What she is defining in the quote is that it is not about the

stuff that we have that make us happy is about the people around you and the people you

truly care about that builds up your very own happiness.

​ In all of those three articles they tend to only relate about one thing and that is

happiness.​ Sonja lyubomirsky and David Brooks can relate to happiness by taking action.

Sonja says that happiness is taken by motion. David Brooks relates to her argument

because through the suffering we still tend to take action towards becoming a happier
 Lezama 3

person.​ They relate because in the article of David Brooks he quotes “they can't

determine the course of their pain, but they can participate in responding to it” (Matthew

& Dawn 286). Like Lyubomirsky she goes into detail describing how when your in any

form of pain you must pick yourself up and drive through it and find your way into

happiness. “Happiness, more than anything, is a state of mind, a way of perceiving and

approaching ourselves and the world in which we reside”​(Matthew & Dawn 185) ​. This

relates back to Brooks because that is what responding to any pain really is, its taking

action towards your suffering. Graham Hill also relates to these authors because in Hills

article he explains how having less can mean much more. “I’m into gadgets, clothing and

all kinds of things. But my experiences show that after a certain point, material objects

have tendency to crowd out the emotional needs they are meant to support.”​(Matthew &

Dawn). This goes with the other authors because when you do have less that drives you

to take action towards your suffering which eventually leads to true happiness.

These authors have some of the same point of view on happiness but yet still have

their own unique views on the subject. Like Brooks he argues that without pain we

wouldnt know the true meaning of happiness, his argument upon on his own perspective

is more on the emotional side. Like in the article he says “people shoot for happiness but

feel formed through suffering”(284). ​Meaning that his kind of happiness relates to how

we feel and how pain can really increase the feeling of how happy you can really be over

time​. Unlike Hills he tends to respond towards happiness as more on a physical scale.This
 Lezama 4

means that he sees happiness as the things that we have in life don’t define our happiness

but with having less in our lives can really express what being happy can really feel.

Lyubomirsky, on the other hand confronts happiness into something you have to chase

yourself. As she says in his article “the fountain of happiness can be found in how you

behave, what you think, and what goals you set everyday of your life. There is no

happiness without action”(Matthew & Dawn 196). ​Defining that she believe that we can

really know how happiness feels if we do it ourselves, by taking actions towards your

job, school, career and anything you put your mind into.

These authors have individual aspects on pursuing happiness they as well have

similarities but what makes them different makes them exclusive towards their argument

of happiness. All three authors have a different visual towards the feeling of happiness.

Like Graham Hill talks about having less in life is much richer than having so much

more. He defines this as finding more value towards pursuing happiness. David Brooks

as he explains that we wouldnt understand happiness if we didn't go through some sort of

suffering. And lastly Sonja Lyubomirsky an author that believes we will only know what

true happiness is all about if we take action towards what we love. All theses authors only

have one purpose and that is the argument of “Pursuing Happiness”.

 Lezama 5

Works cited

Sonja Lyubomirsky. “How Happy Are You and Why?”. ​ Pursuing happiness: a bedford

spotlight reader. ​ edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski

p.179-197

David Brooks. “What Suffering Does”.​ Pursuing happiness: a bedford spotlight reader.

edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski p.284-287

Graham Hill “Living with Less. A lot Less.” ​Pursuing happiness: a bedford spotlight

reader. ​edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski p.308-313