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Guide to Happiness

Through my college education I have learnt various ways to seek happiness, be mindful

of others as well as how to come up with reasonable and logic thoughts. My guide to happiness

will encompass the main aspects that is essential for an individual to be happy. I don’t believe

that having money, sexual pleasures, beauty, and power can make a person happy. It is evident

that rich and powerful people in the society seem to lead a happy life, but according to my guide

to happiness it is because nobody has had the courage to challenge them if their prominence

increases their level of happiness. Most scholars have come up with studies about how to be

happy as well as how to buy happiness using money. However my article will specify a guide to

happiness in relation to the works of Epicurus, Socrates, Norton and Wallace as well as how

friendship, freedom, thinking and caring of others, and living an analyzed life can bring

happiness.

The first key to happiness is having friends. According to Epicurus, the worldly pleasures

are not the real source of happiness. Anybody can be happy, and that is why he deflects our mind

to philosophy when seeking happiness. Ideal friendship can make you happy, and this can be

possible by enjoying the companionship of real friends and always having the heart to share our

hard-earned wealth with friends. According to Epicurus, to be happy, we must first consider

ceasing to take our snacks and meals alone without sharing with our friends. The second key to
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happiness is freedom. Being free in the sense of being financially independent and free from the

busy and competitive city life as well as not answerable to our work bosses on a daily basis.

Being free starts with feeling self-sufficient even when other people think otherwise. People

don’t need to lead a luxurious life to be happy; happiness can be characterized with simple but

free life.

Another key to happiness is living an analyzed life. This entails always having free time

where we assess the aspects that worry us and resolve our anxieties. We always need time for

ourselves which can only be found by taking a step back and move from the noisy and

distracting city life and live in a quiet and favorable place first. Epicurus does not disagree with

the fact that having money makes people happy, rather he argues that if at least you do not have

money it is not a reason for being unhappy as still you can have friends, a simple but self-

sufficient life and most importantly time for yourself. It is true one can have money and be

happy, but the level of happiness will be stagnant at a certain level because life will be full of

anxieties. Therefore, the three ingredients of happiness by Epicurus are very crucial for a person

seeking a happy life.

How we think can have a positive or negative impact on our happiness. For instance, we

always feel overwhelmed when we pass through the city streets and see items being advertised

owing to the fact we cannot afford them Epicurus studied this aspect, and he portrays that the

sellers use our minds, the way we think to tempt us to buy their commodities. Once our mind is

deflected to worldly pleasures, we lose our freedom and consequently our happiness. That is why

he prefers living his life in the remote areas where not much will distract his liberty. According

to Epicurus wealth cannot buy nature, but nature can make you feel wealthy.
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To be independent, we must be ready to think logically about our lives and turn a deaf ear

to what people think about us. To be happy, we should come up with strict measures to enable us

to have confidence in our beliefs without being swayed by other people’s ideologies. According

to Socrates, Human beings are similar to sheep in that, people like following the habits of others

passively and having the fear to break from the group. This is because of the perception that the

people viewed as great in the society know what they are talking about as well as what they do.

Another way to seek happiness according to Socrates is to be courageous and to

challenge the prominent individuals in the society who are often perceived to be happy even

when we know it will not augur well with them. By challenging these famous people, we will

come to realize the inadequacies in their answers as well as their way of life which will increase

our confidence in our beliefs towards being happy. Self-confidence is essential in being free as

well as being happy because it enables us to dig out the truth as well as have the foundation to

challenge lazy assumptions. Therefore, to be happy we only need to be self-confident and stand

on what we believe in. This involves challenging the existing beliefs, ideologies, and traditions.

Contradictorily, Socrates asserts that not all opinions are worth standing for. We need to

critically think of our ideas before taking a stand that we are willing to protect. We need to assess

for exceptions of any point before describing it as true. Our opinion should be the hardest to

disapprove to be regarded as trustworthy and watertight thoughts. According to Socrates, we do

not need education to think; every person can make a logical and reasonable opinion.

Money can buy happiness only if it is spent in the right manner. Money has been known

not to bring happiness to people. However, it all depends on how the money is spent. Money has

been said to turn most people antisocial and not prosocial. To be happy with money or to

increase the level of happiness using money is possible only if the money is spent to sustain both
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personal and other people’s needs. This is evident from the experiment that was carried by

Michael Norton whereby people were given equal money and later asked on how they spent the

money to assess their happiness. Individuals who spent money with others seemed to be happier

than those who spent the money for their personal needs. However, he insists that we feel

happier when we spend on other people without expecting any benefits unlike when spent for

personal gain.

Finally, all individuals will be happy if only we took our time to think about others than

we think of ourselves. Real freedom entails knowing how to think including seeing a positive

side in all situations. According to David Wallace, being free involves having awareness,

discipline, and attention and having the heart to care about other people and being ready to

sacrifice without any expectations or payback over and over.

In conclusion, the key ingredients to happiness include friendship, freedom, and leading

an analyzed life. Another key to being happy is having attention, discipline, and awareness as

well as caring for other people while being ready to sacrifice for them without expecting any

payback. Happiness has been given various definitions by different people depending on the

aspects they believe make them happy. Some have gone for money, sexual pleasures, beauty and

even power in the hopes of being happy. However, there exist people who have all the pleasures

people seek and still lead an unhappy life. By following the guide to happiness discussed above,

one will be undoubtedly happy even though they lack money, sexual pleasures, beauty, and

power.
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Work Cited

"David Foster Wallace, In His Own Words." 1843. N. p., 2008. Web. 10 Aug. 2018.

"Socrates On Self-Confidence - Philosophy: A Guide To Happiness SUBTITLED." YouTube. N.

p., 2018. Web. 10 Aug. 2018.

Epicurus on Happiness - Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness." YouTube. N. p., 2018. Web. 10

Aug. 2018.

Norton, Michael. "How to Buy Happiness." Ted.com. N. p., 2018. Web. 10 Aug. 2018.