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The Steps To Arthur Brooks 'Happiness In America'

1421 Words6 Pages

Patrick Overby

Professor Powell

11/May/2016

English 101

The Steps To Happiness

Happiness is very important in someone 's life, because in order to have a good life you must be happy. But certain needs have to be met before a person can truly be happy, in Maslow 's hierarchy of needs you must first have your physiological needs met in order to move onto the other steps to happiness. This means if someone doesn 't have access to food and water they will be unable to be happy. The next need is their safety. If they are in danger then they can not move up the scale of happiness. Next is the love of other and after that is esteem needs. When all these are met then the person is able to climb the ladder even farther and become even more happy. Not only that, they will be able to reach transcendence which is the top and this will enable them adapt to a wide variety of situations better (294).

An example of someone who doesn 't have their basic needs met and is unable to be happy, and live a high quality life is Mary from The Waltz. She suffered from a mental illness called obsessive compulsive disorder …show more content…

In Inequality and (Un)Happiness in America by Arthur Brooks the author talks about how when we feel successful in what we do, whether it be in a job or not, it can cause us to feel happier. This probably affected my happiness when I was in track because after you run a few miles you feel accomplished in what you have done. The author then goes on to say that if you feel like a failure you are more likely to be unhappy than those who feel successful (392). The reading says that if you earn something you will feel proud that you earned it and didn 't have it just handed to you. Money doesn 't bring happiness success does. Those who are poor and believe that job opportunities and advancement are able to actually happen are more happy than the rich who think that the ability for job advancement and higher pay for the more poor and unfortunate people

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