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Don T Gloomy: The New Science Of Happiness

876 Words4 Pages

Since the 1990s psychologists have changed their focus to what is called positive psychology, rather than focusing on mental disorders. In doing this, people are able to look more closely at how negative emotions are really affecting people. The mood of a person changes all the time. Their day could be going great, then one small event changes how they look at life and other people. The opposite is also true. A person can be having a bad day and something happens that instantly cheers them up. There are numerous theories on what actually makes people happy. In the article “The New Science of Happiness,” author Claudia Wallis states, “Our overall happiness is not merely the sum of our happy moments minus the sum of our angry or sad ones”(Wallis 3). The truth is that happiness is a complex emotion and is nearly impossible to measure by what happens in a person’s life. Many would think that the ideal situation for a human would be to be …show more content…

It takes away the mental filter in a human’s mind that allows them to realize what they are doing could be unhealthy. According to Susan David, the author of the article “Don’t Worry, Be Gloomy”, “It’s not too big a stretch to suggest that being excessively happy could kill you. You might engage in riskier behaviors like drinking too much, binge eating, skipping birth control, and using drugs”(David 124). Neglecting the negative effects of certain actions could change a person’s life for the worst in a drastic way and could even result in death if taken too far. Therefore, being overly happy and cheerful acts as a blinder for people when it comes to certain things. Because of this blinder, people are more likely to indulge in dangerous activities, leading to destruction and negative outcomes. Overindulging in dangerous activities, like David mentions in her article, are the reasons why people should be careful about how much happiness they seek in

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This is achieved through adding a sense of realism as to how happiness should be experienced. Thus, it provides tangible means for people to grasp an abstract concept such as happiness. As a result, this enables her to persuade readers to take up her advice. For example, she draws links between the need to experience happiness with others through studies and real-life evidence regarding the lack of the time spent with others e.g., only 24 hours a year spent socialising (Whippman, 2017). This shows us the real-life implication of our actions in search of isolated happiness which has caused an unintended outcome on us as we are supposed to share joyous moments together.

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It can turn a person 's whole world upside down. Throw them into a dark place leaving them with no hope and a since of helplessness. They believe they will never get better. They become insecure about themselves and even dislike themselves. It takes the joy right out of experiencing the world.

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160 Words | 1 Pages

In his article "In Pursuit of Happiness: Better Living from Plato to Prozac," Mark Kingwell describes how there has been many debates on the meaning of happiness for many years yet still a singular, justifiable definition eludes society. The pursuit to define and understand happiness has invited several debates, questions, arguments, and suggestions alike. In 1996, a hand full of genetic and behavioral studies suggest evidence that one’s achievable degree of happiness is genetically decided, with evidences showing that no achievement will change your happiness, you are either happy or you’re not. Some studies demonstrated a correlation between dopamine levels in the brain and expressions of personal satisfaction, while others indicated that

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As technology improves, so do human capabilities of altering nature, which in turn creates increased responsibility. This directly relates to genetic engineering, which is beginning to morph into a reality. There are advocates for both sides that convey their personal opinions about the hypothetical results, but neither is clearly superior since both arguments speculate upon an unknown future. Hungarian psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, outlines this topic in his essay “The Future of Happiness,” which focuses on the history of selective breeding and compares the goal of happiness with genetic engineering. Csikszentmihalyi alternates between viewpoints regarding genetic engineering but presents a perspective dominated by warning.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Happiness has evolved past a simple mechanism to sustain and reproduce; instead, it has become a driving force in social interaction and various abstract behaviors. The vast array of emotions blend together to create human interaction with the world. Motivation, personality, and attitude all being determined by the dance of various hormones, orchestrated by the most astonishing human organ--the brain. Happiness is remarkable because its influence permeates throughout ones entire life. A fundamental characteristic that changes based on this emotion is someone's affinity towards cordial exchange; people have preferences towards isolation or togetherness because of what makes them feel joyful.

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Not many achieve happiness in their lifetime. Either they do not live long enough to witness it or they are not prepared for what their happiness is. Happiness is very subjective. Each person’s version of happiness is different. This version of happiness is universal.

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Should cheerleading be considered a sport? Absolutely! I love the sandbox! “Cheer encompasses many different aspects - - - from physicality to showmanship” (Gray).Cheer is an activity that involves physical exertion and skill (Gray).“The skill cheerleaders have such as routines that require one or two people to lift their body weight, if not more, in the air quickly and with precision. ”(Gray).“Cheerleading is competitive, with athletic requirements rivaling those of other team sports”(Bennett).

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The fact that happiness is a state of well-being pursued by humans since the beginning of humanity is not new. Since the ancient Greek philosophers, happiness has always been a goal for people. However, the definition of happiness is still subjective and controversial as Mark Kingwell, an award-winning social critic, essayist, and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, presents in his article “In pursuit of Happiness." The author begins to build his credibility by calling everyday facts and emotions, also by citing philosophers, researchers, and other authors. Using the sources effectively in a persuasive piece, Kingwell demonstrates, through examples and science researches, the difficulty in defining happiness, which can result in unhappiness.

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I believe that pursuing happiness as a goal has detrimental effects. As a society, we tend to believe that we need to be full of joy at all times, but that isn't realistic - life happens. By attempting to be cheery all the time, you will never be genuinely content. You will always be searching for more and won't be satisfied with what you have, creating a permanent cycle of gloom rather than bliss.

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he movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness”, there was a problematic family living in San Francisco in 1981. The main character, Chris Gardner worked as a salesman invested his entire life savings in portable bone density scanner to support his family including his wife Linda and a five years old son Christopher. However, Chris’ business was not doing well and his wife was forced to work. Day after day, Linda was suffering and she always quarrelled with Chris and blamed him for didn’t play the role as a responsible father and a good husband. Luckily, this was not the end for Chris.

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Child labor is over all hands down immensely irresponsible. There is absolutely no reason why any underage child should be used for the manufacturing of products. Especially with help possibly from the U.S. not purchasing products from these despicable companies. As the U.S, knowingly we should no longer support the mistakes that continue to occur with the abusive businesses. Of course the U.S shall no longer allow this form of child abuse to continue.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

People miss the fact that happiness comes from within. In an attempt to find joy – we must also be cautious about over excessive desire to acquire material objects and wealth. There is a delicate balance that must be reached between the pursuit of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. While there are many conditions that fulfill ones emotional wellbeing, happiness and how we acquired it, depends upon the

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It de-motivates people and also their self confidence. They start to think, am I right? Am I good enough for this world? Can I do any better? How should I change?

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899 Words | 4 Pages

well, it’s just feeling good­enjoying life and wanting the feeling to be maintained” (Schoch). It is strived for in relationships, in successful endeavors or actions, or in taking up particular hobbies. Happiness is an amazing thing and makes one feel great, but can too much happiness be a bad thing? Too much happiness is a surprising statement, but is nonetheless true, because too much happiness can have negative impacts on one's life. Negative emotions, despite the fact that they are less coveted than the positive emotions, serve just as vital a role in terms of giving perspective, creating arguments, and preventing unnecessary risk.

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1224 Words | 5 Pages

A collection of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches had attempted to define happiness and analyze its connections. Researchers have found that about 50% of people happiness depends on our genes, based on studies of identical twins, whose happiness was 50% correlated even when growing up in different houses. About 10% to 15% is a result of various measurable life circumstances variables, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, health, income, and others. The remaining 40% is a combination of intentional factors and the results of actions that individuals deliberately engage in to become happier. Studies have also found that most of us are born with a fixed “set point” of happiness that we fall in throughout our lives.

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