Definition Essay On Happiness

Experiences Elate Everyone

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul,” Democritus philosophized that happiness is not something to be found; it is something to be made. Two thousand years later, research proved his ideas to be correct. While the media may argue that material possessions are the keys to happiness, life experiences evoke more pleasure because they are invaluable, satisfying, and self-defining.

First of all, what is happiness? Happiness is being able to create the best out of what life gives an individual, the positive and negative, to have an overwhelming satisfaction with his life (Williamson). Defining happiness to fit everyone’s beliefs about what gives them a sense of fulfillment

When a person starts to plan an outing or adventure, the anticipation of this event causing the positive emotions to commence even before the trip. Contrastingly, when a desired object that one has idealized for so long is obtained, the final result is frequently disappointing and dissimilar than what was imagined or hoped for. However, with experiences, our satisfaction and happiness levels raise over time due to the mind’s ability to reinterpret a memory. For example, if an argument erupts during vacation because the apathetic teenager’s vacuous surmise intimated that the event planned for the day will cause him misery, and continues for an hour, the memory of that argument becomes less important as the individual recalls the event. Thomas Gilovich proves this to be correct through his research findings, which concluded that, “Previous experiences, exist only as mental representations. As one forgets incidental annoyances, these mental representations can be reconfigured to create a much rosier retrospective view” (1200). People may argue that memories fade, but possessions last forever; therefore, they must bring more happiness. Once again, science deranged their arguments. A nebulous paradox arises when speaking on lasting pleasure in possessions; the assumption that our contentment with the product

“In identifying subjective well-being across people in the real world, it was found that roughly 40 per cent of happiness is determined by daily activities” this means that the how one approaches and fills his day is of supreme significance (Thompson). Even when an unfortunate event occurs, usually if experienced with another person, it will transform into a comical memory. Also, if a person tends to have more experiential purchases, rather than material, they are regarded by society in a positive aspect, which is based on the fact that, “experiences may contribute more favorably to one’s identity because they satisfy intrinsic goals relating to personal growth (Kasser & Ryan, 1996) more than material possessions do and are therefore more self-actualizing” (Gilovich and Van Boven). In summation, society regards experiences as having to do with furthering one’s growth while obtaining numerous material possession can lead to the conjecture that he is