What is happiness? According to Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, the purpose of mankind lives is to pursue happiness. Whatever age we are, we always look for pleasure. When I was a child, I was happy when playing with my toys and eating delicious food my Mom cooked. As growing, I went to school and found joy with friends. Now, besides my childhood delights, I am happy when I feel myself helpful, and when I spend time with my family. Happiness is intangible. We can’t possess it, but we feel it and live with it. And because it is a human feeling, there is no one fixed definition for everybody. Different people’s happiness can come from different sources such as: having money, power, traveling, working, family, or helping people. Depending on each …show more content…
Keeping moving on the right road or breaking the line depends on one’s discipline. It is not necessary for us trying to reach the highest level of happiness if we can’t go on the right way. Instead, step by step, building our small pleasures, along with concerns for others, is likely to escalate our level of happiness. Last summer, I volunteered at Second Harvest Food Bank, a community service. My job was very simple: sorting and packing food to distribute to people in need. I had a chance to work with other volunteers, sharing fun and experiences. Many nearby companies such as: Cisco, Samsung, Intel came there to volunteer also. Despite not having reached the first four needs of Maslow’s hierarchical model, I still felt a sense of little achievement when engaging myself to help people. I could see the happiness from people who volunteered with me. They are not rich, even some are very poor. Even so, they worked passionately because they knew that their pleasure was another’s happiness. Coming back to the assumption that I have won the lottery, using this lucky wealth, I would improve my self-actualization, inspiring me to social activities, and searching for the ultimate purpose of life. But in reality, I haven’t won the prize. Can I get self-actualization? Based on what I discussed above, the answer is “Yes, I can.” The true happiness does not …show more content…
People all over the world are living to pursue their meanings of life. Even Buddha or Jesus, all have the same will which is the happiness of mankind. It is an inspiration for the development of human being. However, like other tangible assets, we can have happiness, but we can also lose it easily if we don’t know how to keep it. Detached from moral principles, Bernie Madoff threw himself into a circle of illegality. As a result, his family was the one who had to pay the price for his misdeeds. All of his flamboyant happiness turned into a tragedy. For me, happiness is like a process. We have to build it, maintain it, and develop it properly. To Aristotle’s philosophy, it must be based on “cultivation of virtue”. This measure of virtue could be interpreted by our own courses of actions, which is in accordance with the profound comment about happiness of Dalai Lama “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own