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Pt. 23

Pt 23 So this is it. The last week. Over the course of this semester I have learned so much and have really been able to put into practice what I have been teaching and have found that I am happier, maybe the happiest I've been in years. The topic that I have been researching about the topic of happiness. What makes people happy? Is the million dollar question. Everyone has different tips and tricks on how to achieve happiness and what determines what is the right and wrong ways to go about being happy. But when it all boils down to it, the ability to be happy and to stay happy, is to be respectful of others, learn to love them, to look beyond ourselves. This whole idea of looking beyond ourselves is something that took me awhile to understand but it's now something that I fully believe in. It is what will bring us happiness. Being aware of ourselves, others, the environments we are in, what is happening in the world around us, are all apart of it in that present moment. It requires looking beyond ourselves. A recent issue that has come up recently and that my friends are all talking about is the incident last week with United Airlines. Many people I have talked to have expressed anger towards the airline and sympathy towards the man. When I hear this point of view, it is easy for me to tell that people associate more with people. This company is taking a blow because they are an establishment versus 1 doctor. How I look at it is that being able to fly is a privilege, united airlines is good at what they do, they fly people all around the world each and everyday, and nobody is perfect so there are bound to be mix ups. Untied recognized their error and offered to pay the man as an apology for their mistake. This man however refused. He didn't respect the service in which the airline was trying to provide. There are other ways of travel. But to me the fact that they are offering the service commands more respect than it deserves. Why report all of those flights that went perfectly and landed on time? It is only the bad that most people are interested in. Being happy is much like this incident. If there was just a little more respect for one another the entire mood of that situation oils have been changed. And you know, people aren't perfect. So we can't always expect them to be. When mistakes are made, help people see their mistakes in a polite manner and find ways to help them fix those mistakes. Because that's what it's all about. Look beyond yourself, try to understand other and how they are feeling. It is so easy to get caught up in ourselves in this world, and even more so now that we have the ability to be entertained with our own little world when surrounded by other people, human beings who have emotions, stories to tell, different experiences that have led them to this point. But there has been a decline in those small conversations between people. These tensions are running high between others because everyone is becoming so self absorbed. To solve this, we need to all be more aware of those people who are struggling around us, wether it be big or small those around you should always want to be in your company because they know that you are a friend who is looking out for them, and if yo do so, you'll find that maybe they will treat you with that same level of respect in return. I have really enjoyed researching this topic and will no doubt continue to do so. This has been a fantastic semester and I had a great time maybe just collecting and sharing some of my thoughts, ideas, and findings with you all. :)

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Pt. 22

Everyone has worries, anxieties, and fears. And there is no way to completely avoid these feelings, they are a part of life and are natural. However, it is possible to limit the number of these kinds of feelings we experience. I would say that that way is to learn exactly who you are, and learn how to self evaluate yourself. These two characteristics are skills that aren't easy to learn, but once accomplished, you will have a greater outlook on the world and will not be as affected. First learning who you really are, or being true to yourself, self discovery, there are many different names for this characteristic, but regardless, it will lead you to happiness. Learning who you are, and staying true to that person will allow you to resist those feeling of self doubt and worry. Because knowing who you are allows you to get a glimpse of who you want to be, and that will give you a perspective that is not only in the moment, but also a part that is in the future. That perspective is key because it will influence your choices in the present, owing to the fact that you now have an idea of the future outcomes of that choice. It also influences the way that you think about yourself, positive thinking will lead to positive actions and results. Your fears will begin to diminish as you have a newfound strength to fight against them. This understanding of your true self worth will help inspire you to make good decisions with your future in mind. It is so easy to get so caught up in our feelings in the present to lose sight of what's ahead. And I have been always talking about living in the moment, which can be confusing so to help you understand the difference I'll explain real quick. The ability to live in the moment and the ability to understand self worth are different, but have the same outcome if both are executed correctly. Living in the moment allows you to not miss anything, a feeling, sights, sounds, tastes, it helps us relish in it using our senses. It is all about the feeling that are felt and the memories that are made. But it also requires you to understand that not everything will last forever, this is where the idea of self worth comes in. You be the person you want to be. You experience the experiences you want to. Allow yourself to be happy with that future self in mind, and when doing this, you will able to see what in the present moment matters. They go hand in hand. Both helping propel you forward to achieve happiness. Self evaluation can be an invaluable tool in understanding our true self. It allows us to sit and think. Stop and wonder: how can we better ourselves? The answers will come, you will be able to see what things you can work on that will allow you to be a better person. I requires a lot of self discipline, patience, determination, humility, and honesty to understand where you are struggling, the things that you're good at, and the things that need work. Because life is too short to you "worry about things later" it really is a gift that should be honored and treasured. If you use self evaluation properly, you should be able to look back in the future and be proud of the kind of person you were, the kind of person other people will remember only good things about. Never take a moment for granted. Because there is just not enough time to worry and be afraid. Look inside yourself, and find the person that you want to be. And then go for it. And don't look back on the bad, just bow to change. Because life is all about change, so it might well be a positive change.

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Pt. 21

Today I picked up the book I purchased several weeks back, "Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment-Authentic Happiness" by Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D and flipped through it searching for a topic that I might enjoy reading about. After looking for a few minutes I came across a section entitled "Forgiving and Forgetting" Seligman talked about how we all have memories and within them things that we are and aren't proud of. And memories that we aren't fond of, we often remember more. Because of the mental torment that we suffer when recalling those memories. One way that we can ease that mental torment, is through forgiveness. Forgiveness allows us to mentally let go of those negative feelings. forgiveness is a quality that benefits both the perpetrator and the victim. Forgiveness to the perpetrator allows them to feel reassured even though they may have wronged somebody, it is okay, the victims are willing to look past it and forget. The ability to forgive is a quality that is valuable to have. It is a quality that will allow you to be happier as mental torments from past mistakes and misgivings can be forgotten. Seligman in his book quoted: "you can't hurt the perpetrator by not forgiving, but you can set yourself free by forgiving" forgiveness is a quality that is often overlooked in moments when negative emotions are present: hate, anger, jealousy, pride, all these emotions can blind us and make us forget to look at the bigger picture. We need to not let these emotions control us. We need to control them. Emotions can be controlled through self discipline, patience, and determination to change. Seligman says: "The human brain has evolved to ensure that our firefighting negative emotions will trump the broadening, building, and abiding-but more fragile-positive emotions. The only way out of this emotional wilderness is to change your thoughts by rewriting your past: forgiving and forgetting." Emotions are a wonderful and amazing thing. They allow us to experience the things around us on a much deeper level. Not only are physical senses recalled in memories, but because of emotions, so are mental moods and senses. So it is important to remember that feelings are great, but also need caution exercised when negative feelings are present. Being able to understand others feelings is a quality that is also difficult to master, and is also highly beneficial to ones level of happiness. Understanding how others feel allows us to feel empathy towards them and to help them. And this all ties into looking beyond yourself. Because that is what will bring us the most happiness. Now those abilities to forgive, show empathy to others and look beyond ourselves are just a few of the many different ways to be happy. There is no definite right or wrong answer, but there are hundreds of suggestions of how to be happy. So picking and choosing between all these suggestions can be difficult, but really there are 3 main ways to be happy, helping others, living in the moment, and being grateful. Each of these will bring us happiness as we strive to improve these qualities within us. By being grateful, we are able to live in the moment, and if we are able to live in the moment, we are able to find those around us who are struggling and will be able to bear them up and help them. To love and care for them. Doing all of these components requires us to look beyond ourselves and it is there that we will find true happiness.

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Pt. 20

This week I read an article on a study done by Philip Brickman, Dan Coates, and Ronnie Janiff-Bulman of Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts. They wanted to know how life changing events affected people's happiness. Big events that happen in our lives wether positive or negative will affect us in the way that we live even if it's in the smallest way, something in our lifestyles will change. These professors chose the events of winning the lottery and accident victims. Both of these events are life changing in major ways. Lottery winners now have an unexpected amount of wealth that was never previously available to them, and the Accident victims observed are cuteness that are now having to deal with disabilities such as paralysis or missing limbs. Now when looking at both of these outcomes it is clear which we would rather have in the two, believing it will make us happier, but the results of this study say otherwise. Part of our happiness comes from the things that happen to us, the things that are out of our control. But the main source of our happiness has to do with the perspective in which we are looking at the problems. It's our take on the situation that determines the main contributor to our lasting happiness. In the case of this study, both have to do with the theory of adaptation. That no matter what happens to us, we will naturally without even being aware adapt to the things that happen to us. Those who won the lottery experienced many positive feelings around the time of their winnings, but eventually the novelty wore off. Those victims involved in accidents are a little bit tricker to judge, this is my opinion, because I can see that this event can all be based on perspective. I've been lucky enough to not have such incidents happen to me but I could only imagine the frustration and sadness that such an event could bring. The loss could be devastating, or enlightening. All Because of the perspective. Or what I would call gratitude. Those who show gratitude and look at situations with an open mind are happier. But that is more of a trait that I will talk about later. With both of these life changing events, of those observed on both sides showed signs of indifference when it came to their levels of happiness. After it was said and done, both patients observed showed that they were at equal states of happiness their minds adapted. So to do to i.e. on what I was talking about before, if our minds naturally adapt after life change events positive or negative, how do we achieve happiness? Well that all lies within us, and our perspective. Our attitude greatly affects our levels of happiness. Our outlook on things determine how happy we are. If you find yourself wanting to be happy but feel like you cannot do so, sit down and evaluate yourself. If you are frustrated often, use self control in situations of high levels of frustration and try to look at things from a different point of view. Be grateful for the things that you are given. Don't take things for granted, especially the things you love. Always be open to new and different ideas and be understanding of others. Taking this perspective will not only enrich your life with higher levels of happiness, but those around you as well. Because we all socially feed of of each others moods and attitudes. If there are more positive attitudes present, then that's what will be the majority of everyone's moods. We all without realizing it will naturally follow those who we believe are good influences, once again even that all comes down to perspective. So we are really happiest when we are able to use our best judgement to help those around us. When we think of others and are aware of the things that they are going through. That's when we can offer our help, and that in turn will make us happier.:)

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Pt. 19

life throws lots of curve balls at us. And it's hard to know how to react and which choice will lead us where. There are too many choices in life to predict what could happen next. And it's hard to stay positive in those times of doubt and hardship. What we need to remember is to stay true to ourselves in those times of suffering, to remember who we really are and look at the big picture. When times get tough we also need to remember that there are people around us who care deeply about us and would be willing to help us in anything that we are going through. And if you don't have anybody like that, Stop and evaluate yourself. And if you do have somebody like that, Stop and evaluate yourself. Self evaluation is a great skill to have because it allows us to better ourselves. Doing so will push us to do new things, get outside our comfort zones and experience life just a little more than we had been before. Doing so will naturally draw others toward you and you will be able to bear each other up as your relationship develops and you will have somebody to fall back of whenever you need them. It had been seen through a study at Harvard university that people who are are in relationships are able to fall back on those people to help support them in times of need. Even when they're experiencing pain, have the knowledge that you have somebody there to be with you naturally eases some of the pain. So what I'm trying to get at is, stop and look around yourself. Find people that you share interests with. And send out things that are positive, because whatever you put out will always come back to you. So always treat others with that same kindness you expect in return, and you will receive it. It can be hard to know how things in life will turn out. But always make sure that you are able to put yourself in a positive environment and situations. If you find that things aren't going the way you planned, like everything is slipping between your fingers, stop. Take a step back and evaluate your present situation and trace back the choices that led you to this moment. There is no perfect way of doing things, so even if you mess up, no matter how badly, there is hope. Never for a second think that there Isn't hope because as mentioned before, there are people out there who care about you. Who will always be rooting for you, and want you to succeed. Don't give in to anything. And don't let others tell you what to do, (but still consider any advice that is given to you!!) be your own person and constantly strive to be better. Set goals and always work towards something. Everyone need something to look forward to, cause that's what pushes us further. Pushes us to go out and try new things. And that is one of the greatest feelings in the world, new experiences are what we live for as human beings and is what we crave. Even if it may be a little scary or nerve racking, just go for it! Try to always push yourself to new heights and strive to become the best person that you can be. So be aware of those curve balls, wait for the perfect moment, and then go ahead and take a swing at it! Even if you miss, there is always another chance. You can always get back up to bat. So there may be a missed opportunity because of different circumstances and choice we make, but that isn't the end! Sure you will may never get that specific opportunity, again. But that is one of the great things about life: we can create more opportunities for ourselves. So never thing that there is an end. Because we can always find ways to be happy, with just a little patience and determination we can create new opportunities for ourselves and that really is one of the best ways to bring happiness into our lives, find those who make us happy, and find new ways to better ourselves. :)

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Pt. 18

Happiness Comes when we relish in the moment. It really is so easy to get caught up in the distractions of the world. Distractions don't necessarily mean they're bad, rather it sometimes can be hard to focus on what's important. But really, upon reading from different sources and experiencing different things for myself, it is easy for me to say that being aware of ourselves and others in the present moment is what will keeps us happiest. But I also believe in the importance of self confidence and self discovery. It is crucial to be happy to be comfortable with yourself both physically and mentally. Understand your strengths and weaknesses and plan accordingly. Be grateful for your strengths, find ways to deal with them and be happy with your weaknesses as well. Because they too are gifts. As I have experienced much in my 18 years of being alive, I know I've got a long way to go, but I have sort of developed this saying that I repeat so often in my head:"Live for the small victories" Living for those moments, those moments that make us happy are victories. A small victory can be anything. maybe taking a step outside, realizing where you live, and how lucky you are to be here. Reviving a package. Enjoying some grapes. Giving advice. High fives. Learning something new. Talking with others. Secrets. Having a dry towel when you get out of the shower to sink your face into. Listening. Receiving a smile. Holding hands. Laughing. Phone calls. Enjoying a book. Answering a question. Brushing your teeth. Running. Listening to music. Naps. Victories are all around us, everyday occurrences that we overlook. Live for them. Recognize and relish in them. Sometimes even the smallest victory can be the difference between a good day and a bad one, the difference between a life and death. However, loss and suffering are also tools to better ourselves. So when those feelings of sadness head our way, we should be able to look at those from an outward perspective. Recognize the feelings and try to find why you are experiencing those feelings "why are you feeling this way?" "What choices led you here?" "How can you turn this into a positive situation?" :) life is too precious to waste. Live everyday for those little victories, live everyday for those moments. Because they can be anything, once you recognize this, you will realize all the many things that you are blessed with and should rejoice for the life that you have been given. Recognize that it is a combination of your efforts and others that have led you here. And be grateful. Help others to live for the small victories. Go throughout life learning to love, not judge. To speak good of, not gossip. To listen, and then act. Everyone has their own struggles and we are on different levels. But we're all going to the same place and are all the same inside. Once you realize this you will be able to love others and see the hope that we all have inside of us if we just work together. People may not always make you happy, put yourself in their shoes. Think about how they're feeling. Be aware of their feelings. Looking beyond yourself is how to stay happy. Stopping to serve somebody is a little victory. You can live for that. So if you're struggling at least live for others. Because they in themselves are living victories. Live for those small victories and never give up, life is so precious and is a gift. The fact that you are here in this moment is a victory, so live for it, learn from it, and love it, every second of it. :)

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Synthesis Paper

In the growing age of the 21st century, the study of Psychology has increased at an alarming rate. This new surge of wanting to understand the human mind and emotion has led many to pursue the study of Psychology, learning more about the way that people think.  However, it seems that with the more we have come to understand it, there has been an increased number of people suffering from these mental diseases that we now have just began to discover and care for. People have been searching for the key to happiness, wanting to enrich their life, and cure the psychological torment they suffer from. There have been books upon books written, study after study done, but it seems that there is no way that will guarantee happiness. Happiness is a quality that we all strive form it's something that we all hope to achieve. To discover for ourselves true happiness can be difficult. After drawing from different sources, reading about what others believe brings happiness, I have been able to understand how we can achieve happiness. Happiness, true happiness comes from the ability to look beyond ourselves.

In order to look beyond ourselves, there are three crucial components. The first is our ability to love and care for others. Study after study have shown that those who are able to empathize and serve other people are happier. Humans are hardwired to work together and interact with one another. Robert Waldinger, a Psychiatrist and Professor at Harvard University gave a TED talk and in it he said:”...social connections are really good for us, and that loneliness kills. It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected…”(Waldinger) We are meant to socialize with others. By being selfless and helping one another, we are able to strengthen our relationships and become closer to one another. Humans are programmed naturally to experience joy and happiness by being with others. When we look beyond ourselves and help others we will be able to experience some of the highest levels of happiness.

Often, we get so self absorbed in thinking what is best for us, what will bring us happiness, we forget the others around us. In the book “Authentic Happiness”  by Martin E. P. Seligman a professor at Pennsylvania University explains that his class asked the question “does happiness come from exercising kindness more readily than it does from having fun?” In response to the question, Professor Seligman gave an assignment to the class to engage in one pleasurable activity and one philanthropic activity, and then document their experiences. After receiving the results Professor Seligman said:”...the ‘pleasurable’ activity (hanging out with friends, or watching a movie, or eating a hot fudge sundae) paled in comparison with the effects of the kind of action. When our philanthropic acts were spontaneous and called upon personal strengths, the whole day went better.” (Seligman) Being more aware of the others around you will help you understand their problems, their feelings, their goals. Developing this component of learning to love and care for others will help grow and strengthen your relationships with those around you, aiding you on your path to true happiness.

Second, is the ability to live in the moment. This is a component that requires much dedication, patience, resilience, and self mastery. However, once acquired, this skill becomes invaluable as the results are the feelings of joy and happiness. Living in the moment means that all past and future conflicts are out of mind, no worries or anxieties. Enjoying the here and now with those things you love. Matt Killingsworth, a Ph.D. happiness researcher said:”...happiness has an awful lot to do with the contents of our moment-to-moment experiences. It certainly seems that we're going about our lives, that what we're doing, who we're with, what we're thinking about, have a big influence on our happiness…”(Killingsworth) Focusing on the present emphasizes the things around us and we will be able to appreciate them more. If we live for those small victories, we will find more to love in life and be happier.

If we are not focused on the here and now, we may neglect certain opportunities that present themselves. Living in moment allows you to be aware of your surroundings and therefore, more aware of the possibilities around you. David Steindl-Rast is a monk who gave his idea of how to achieve happiness, he said:” We can avail ourselves of this opportunity, or we can miss it, and if we avail ourselves of the opportunity, it is the key to happiness. Behold the master key to our happiness in our own hands. Moment by moment, we can be grateful for this gift.”(Steindl-Rast) Like David says, we already have all the tools to be happy, it is just of a matter of learning how to use those tools that holds us back. Living in the moment requires us to look beyond ourselves, not to the distant future, but to those around us. When doing so, we will be able to better ourselves and those around us.

The last of the component of learning to look beyond ourselves is to have gratitude. A myth about gratitude is that it only comes to those that are happy. Gratitude does not just instantly come to those that are happy, rather being grateful requires taking a step back and evaluating all that you have. It is your attitude about your present situation that makes you grateful. We often overlook the things that we have, good friends, family, electricity, running water, shelter, clothing, cars, our ability to talk, bodies that allow us to do things like see and hear,  there are too many things to even list. David Steindl-Rast said:”By experiencing, by becoming aware that every moment is a given moment, as we say. It's a gift. You haven't earned it. You haven't brought it about in any way. You have no way of assuring that there will be another moment given to you, and yet, that's the most valuable thing that can ever be given to us, this moment, with all the opportunity that it contains. If we didn't have this present moment, we wouldn't have any opportunity to do anything or experience anything, and this moment is a gift. It's a given moment, as we say.”(Steindl-Rast) Happiness does not bring gratitude, rather, gratitude is what brings us happiness. Recognizing that every moment is a blessing in which we can be choose to be happy, being grateful for these moments will cause us to want the very best from them. By being grateful, we are able to live in the moment, and if we are able to live in the moment, we are able to find those around us who are struggling and will be able to bear them up and help them. To love and care for them. Doing all of these components requires us to look beyond ourselves  and it is there that we will find true happiness.

To close, I want to share a quote from Dan Gilbert, a Psychologist and considered to be a happiness expert, he said:”...our longings and our worries are both to some degree overblown, because we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity we are constantly chasing when we choose experience.”(Gilbert) Happiness does not come through physical things, happiness is not something tangible, but it is something very real to all of us. Something that we all strive for. Our ability to be happy lies within us. Once we make that decision to change, it becomes easier to practice those components that will allow us to look beyond ourselves, and experience true happiness.

Bibliography:

-Waldinger, R. (2016, January 25). What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI&feature=youtu.be

-Killingsworth, M. (2012, November 05). Want to be happier? Stay in the moment. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://ed.ted.com/lessons/want-to-be-happier-stay-in-the-moment-matt-killingsworth

-Seligman, M. E., Ph.D. (2013). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York, NY: Atria Books.

-Gilbert, D. (2012, April 26). The surprising science of happiness. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1dgn_C0AU&feature=youtu.be

-Steindl-Rast, D. (2013, June). Want to be Happy? Be Grateful. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful

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Pt.16

Tumblr Blog Pt. 16 Last week, I was able to read a demo of a book called Authentic Happiness by Martian E P Seligman. I really liked what I read in those few short pages that I actually went to amazon within the hour and bought the book, and so far, haven't been disappointed. After only reading 12 pages, I've read about 10 scientific studies and have learned more from their research more than anything I've read in the past 9 weeks of the semester. To start off, the first subject I read about was how you "end" things with others. This study was lead by Daniel Kahneman a professor at Princeton University. To test this experiment Kahneman no joke gave men colonoscopies. (I'm going to go ahead and already assume that you know what that is, if not, maybe do a quick google search:/) The idea was that the selected number of patients were split into two groups. One group experienced it the same way everyone has by having the tube go in, move around and then be taken out. The second group however, had the same process but had an extra minute added onto the end where the tube is stationary making the process less painful. By adding this extra minute, those who were given it showed more positive signs after receiving the colonoscopy than those who didn't and to go a step further, were more willing to get one in the future. In my opinion, this was a pretty strange and sort of out there way of testing this, but the results still show that depending on how we end things determines what we will remember about them in the future. Seligman goes on to say"in your own life, you should take particular care with endings, for their color will forever tinge your memory for the entire relationship and your willingness to reenter it." So one of the way to stay happy is to always end things on a good note, those relationships or memories will be more wholesome and will allow us to look back on them remember the good rather than the bad. Seligman goes onto talk about what kind of things makes us happy saying:"suppose you could be hooked up to a hypothetical "experience machine" that, for the rest of your life, would stimulate your brain and give you any positive feelings you desire." What he found is that most people would refuse the machine. Because the initial reaction is that we as humans want to feel "entitled" to our own happiness. Part of feeling happy is the knowledge that we earned it and this happiness is our reward. But as always, somebody has found a way to break the system, to get as close the the boundary as possible, without crossing it. They come in the form as what Seligman calls them: Shortcuts to happiness. Shortcuts are things like drugs, alcohol, loveless intercourse, etc. These shortcuts are all things that are optional, and don't require much effort to participate in, but still give us that "rush" of happiness that we are naturally drawn to. While these shortcuts provide what we are looking for physically, they are providing no substance to what we are looking for mentally. They give us only temporary happiness, but one that temporary happiness is over, we drop to lower states of mind than we were before. those things that provided us with physical, temporary happiness, did not provide mental us with that mental happiness we were looking for. If we don't partake of the shortcuts and experience those feelings naturally, we are compensated for our patience efforts with a more rewarding feeling of happiness that elevates the very way that we think. To find other ways that we feel elevated in the way that we think Seligman assigned his class to go home and experience a pleasurable activity and a philanthropic (action for the benefit of others), and then write about their experiences. The students reported that the philanthropic activities helped them in all aspects of their day and helped them be more aware of the others around them. Humans are programmed naturally to experience joy and happiness by being with others. When we look beyond ourselves and help others we will be able to experience some of the highest levels of happiness.

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Pt. 15

When trying to find the source of happiness it seems that one of the main ideas behind it is being able to enjoy the present with the people you care about. However, a common belief is that being rich and famous is what will lead us to happiness. But that idea just is not true. Happiness does not come from physical, material things. Being successful and living in good living conditions will make you happy, but it will only take you so far. According to Berkeley Wellness, an author who also wrote an article regarding the sciences of happiness, she said “money increases happiness until about $75,000 annually, and after that our emotional well-being doesn’t increase with income.” Wellness was not the only other author to bring this up, across several articles, they all agreed that physical things can only bring a temporary state of happiness. Brooks’ states that becoming successful in life is what will make us happy, but his way of thinking is incorrect. It is clear after looking at several other sources that one of the major contributors to happiness is being able to live in the moment. To just be happy and grateful for everything that is happening around you in the present moment. To really just forget all of your worries, anxieties, and regrets to just bask in the moment and take it all in and be thankful for all of it. Developing this skill is difficult and takes practice to be able to get just right. Over time, the individual who allows himself or herself to be much focused and attentive to those around them, and this will allow an individual to really be able to connect with others because they are living there in that moment just to spend time with that person. These are the true roots of where happiness comes from. It comes from being able to live in the here and now and to enjoy it spending time with those that you interact with, those that you love and care about, that is what will make us happy. Being able to focus on the here and now is so difficult to do. It requires a lot of self-discipline to change your entire mindset to think like this and often can be difficult to ignore past of future events. With this study, it shows that we are not all as different as we think we are. Many of us suffer at different times, but we all learn for our experiences and need apply what we have learned to better our present self. This will benefit us while we learn to apply those teachings to our present selves, to better our future. That kind of seems like it maybe contradicting, but if we are able to think of both of those to influence our actions in the now, we will be able to enjoy it more knowing that we have an idea of what the future may hold for us. Those who leaned onto their relationships with friends, family, and their community were the happiest in retirement. And quite honestly this makes sense. When we are building our relationships, it is important to consider how others feel and to put ourselves in their shoes. To be able to understand what they’re feeling, why they’re feeling it, and how they are feeling it. Being happy in this life not only means that you are happy, but the others around you are also happy, because that goodness will always come back around and what you put out is what you will get back. It is always important to stay positive, remember others and how they are feeling, be aware of that. no matter what happens in our lives, whether it be good or bad, will only temporarily affect our happiness. Happiness is not determined by us getting our way, but rather is determined by our attitude towards the situations that happen in our lives. No matter what we choose, we will be happy in the end, as long as we have a positive attitude towards what are the consequences of our choices.

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Pt. 14

Blog post 14 This week I read from a book called "Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment" By Martian E. P. Seligman in chapter 3 how why we should even bother to be happy. We base our very lives around trying to be in great, emotional states. That idea of perfect happiness is a lure that surly anyone is wanting to grab hold of, but only few understand the concept of what gets them there. To grasp that, we first need to understand that our emotions, while being complicated and difficult to understand at times, are mainly separated into two categories: positive feelings and negative feelings. Negative feelings such as sadness, fear, and anger help us act a certain way. Martian says "Fear is that danger is always lurking, sadness is the signal that loss is impending, and anger signals someone trespassing against us. We as a species rely on negative feelings as our defense mechanisms. Negative emotions are a driving force for our ancestors who lived in a constant states of negative emotions. This allowed them to survive and pass on these traits. Well then what is the point of positive emotions? If negative emotions are so powerful, why not only experience those? I believe the reason why is because those emotions are so powerful, that dwelling in a constant state of negative emotion would not let one think clearly, it would cause people to become near sided in the way they approach situations, not willing to take other's point of view into account. Positive emotions are here to counter balance this. Positive emotions, like regular emotions are powerful, but cause us to feel and act in ways that help us keep a clear mind, and help us not only like what we are doing, but to enjoy it. Just as happiness is the overall goal, an is a positive emotion, sadness is the exact opposite. But experiencing both is completely normal, but how you choose to experience it is what makes the difference. Your attitude is dependent on your mood, but it also can be controlled. Being sad or depressed helps us see more of what is happening, and being happy can make us blind to certain things. A study like this was conducted in which patients that were very happy and depressed were brought in. They were placed in a room with a button that supposed turned on and off a green light. This light however, was not controlled by the button being pressed, but was controlled by an outside source beyond the room. After spending some time with the button the patients were observed. Those depressed patients found that they had no control over the light. The patients that were happy however reported that they had around 35% control over the light. The depressed patients turned out to actually be wiser in this case, but being happy shouldn't make you any less wise, should it? To quote Martian once again:"a positive mood jolts us into an entire different way of thinking from a negative mood" We act differently as we experience different emotions. Those who were happy, realize that maybe they didn't have total control but believed that they were given some control. Those who were depressed knew that they had no control over the light and were able to recognize what was happening before them. Negative moods force us into a mode of thinking and allow us to focus on what is wrong. A positive mood causes people to be in moods that promote creative thinking, constructive, generous, tolerant, and open moods. Our mood allows us to focus on either what is wrong, or what is right with our present situation, which makes a world of difference. It is important that we keep a positive outlook on things, it promote creativity and allows us to be more open minded with one another. This prompts us to be with other and talk to them, which is in short one of the crucial practices when it comes to being truly happy. To be with others and build strong relationships with them. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CM9tBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA30&dq=happiness&ots=0n20-QGbh1&sig=1VZKhT7TIAYHxn7gyh0OXOE41-k#v=onepage&q=happiness&f=false

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Annotated Bibliography

Citation: Barakat, J. (Director). (2014, August 25). Technology & Social Interactions [Video file]. Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwOVktZR2h8&feature=youtu.be

Summary: This video begins by how explaining that today, more and more family and friends have become geographically isolated. Through the innovative technology that we have today, we are now able to connect with those loved ones over long distances almost instantly. By using technology, we are able to meet new people, learn new things, and get to know people from all around the world. But with all of these new ways to connect with other people, our ability to interact with one another socially in real situations has been greatly diminished. It mentions that we need to be able to interact with those around us and it is important that we balance the amount of time we spend on our devices.  

Analysis: The video does a good job of explaining the situation and the issues that are at hand. Using only words, it was able to effectively communicate the issues of technology. I whole heartily agree that now more than ever our ability to socially interact with one another is not what it used to be, and it is all because we are constantly using social media as an outlet to communicate with one another. Technology is great, but it is important to use it in a timely manner and not to spend so much time on it.  

 Citation: Devlin, K., & Rosenberg, D. (2006, May). Information in the Study of Human Interaction. Retrieved January 26, 2017, from https://web.stanford.edu/~kdevlin/Papers/HPI_SocialSciences.pdf

Summary: Keith Devlin and Duska Rosenberg together studied how social interaction works and in explicit detail explain what is happening behind the scenes as we communicate and pass information to one another, breaking down our every movement and explaining how it affects those that are being interacted with. How everything from your body movement to how the other person processes the information. Each reaction is different, but it is predictable. They tested the connections of information when it passes between two objects. With the results, it is easy to see that we associate the passing of information with the source that we receive it from, if we were to spend less time today on devices we would be able to interact with one another better as we share information.

Analysis:

 Humans using words can then exchange information with one another and are able to bond through communication. We live in an age where sharing information has progressively got faster and quicker as it moves from person to person. Boats, cars, planes, and the internet allow us to exchange information quicker than ever before. Allowing us to share news with each other even though thousands of miles could be separating us. Because of the invention of the internet humans have become able to communicate within seconds and anybody can use it. However, as new kinds technology is developed and continue to advance, other forms of communication are slowly disappearing and becoming irrelevant. We now use the very thing that would allow us to do more and be more productive, to become even less productive than ever before. This kind of communication is valuable, but is destroying our ability to talk to one another face to face. I feel like I have seen that become worse and worse as I’ve gotten older. Sometimes when people have free time, they pull out their phone even if they only have a minute or two of free time. It has become sort of an unspoken social norm that you don’t have to talk to anybody, but I wish it were not this way! Even if it’s just for a minute or two, getting to know someone new is always fun and exciting and even more memorable than being on your phone. Taking that first step to breaking the awkward silence is always the hardest part. But once you get the ball rolling, it becomes so much easier and you get better at it the more often you practice.

 Citation: Reidy, H. (2015, December 20). How social interaction helps people with mental health difficulties. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyjkn2JN8wE&feature=youtu.be

Summary: Reidy a PhD Graduate in Sociology explained how humans are dependent on social interaction and need it in order to live a happy life. People who are deprived of this social interaction often turn inward and become anti-social. Reidy studies how using new Virtual Reality(VR) technology can be used to treat these patients. VR technology is not a total replacement for social interaction, and also requires a social intervention. A social intervention study that she participated in called the “Connecting People” study in which they measured people’s “Social Capitol” or their ability to call upon certain people in times of need, and tried to help them find ways to increase it. They found that increasing levels of social capitol showed improved results in all aspects of the patient’s life.

Analysis: The entire idea of using Virtual Reality technology to treat patients that suffer from mental illness is kind of mind blowing and seems like instead of helping people improve their social skills it would do the opposite, but the treatment works when being paired with this social intervention helped those people re-establish their ability to socially interact with other people and increase their social capitol. Being socially connected is important, so it is important that we place ourselves in situations that will cause us to branch out and meet more people to interact with.

 Citation: Graham, A. (2014, November 10). How social media makes us unsocial. Retrieved February 02, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5GecYjy9-Q&feature=youtu.be

Summary: Alison Graham is a screenwriter that has worked on several big projects at big film corporations. She spoke about how in today’s technology centered world, we are becoming more unsociable than ever. As there has been an ever-rising popularity in the social media that have been created, people are in search of finding new ways to communicate, via new interesting social platforms that still bring us further apart, rather than being more connected with the world around us. This digital age is affecting the rising generation more than anything, it is important that today’s parents help teach their kids what it is like to not live a life in front of a screen. To look up, and notice the world around them, and interact with the other people in it.

Analysis: Social media, and having that instant gratification of being entertained in seconds slowly causing us to lose those skills to interact with others, and it is happening fast. In the TED talk a study was mentioned that ten years ago, on average everyone surveyed said they had 10 close friends. The exact and study was done today and results yielded that on average we have 2 close friends. Social media is slowly replacing and changing the way that we connect with each other. The increase in technology is affecting the rising generation more than anything. I long for the days where you had to memorize people’s phone numbers, or when you spent hours creating a single CD full of your favorite music. Now, it is all at our fingertips, and can be accessed in a matter of seconds. By making us more connected, it is making us less willing to interact with others around us.

 Citation: Millar, P. (2013, September 13). A year offline, what I have learned. Retrieved February 03, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trVzyG4zFMU&feature=youtu.be

Summary: The subject of this TED talk is this man named Phil Millar, an American Technology Journalist who felt overwhelmed by all of the internet so he stopped using the internet for an entire year. By removing the distractions of the internet, he felt this overwhelming feeling of freedom, he had all this time that he never had before. Disconnecting from the internet help his personal life as well, his sister talked about how he was more socially invested, and he was able to build relationships with his friends that he never could have before. But being away meant that he missed out on certain opportunities online as well. Upon being back online, Phil was able to find a balance between his life online and his life offline, and finally be satisfied with his results.

Analysis: The decision to go offline for a year is a pretty admirable choice, but I think rather than taking away the internet in increase productivity, it would be more valuable and applicable to learn of to manage your time. The internet is a great tool and can be used for so much good. There is however, such a thing as having too much of a good thing. So being able to find that balance is what it is really all about and everyone can figure out how to balance it all in different ways, for Phil it was taking a year off the internet.

 Citation: Gilbert, D. (2012, April 26). The surprising science of happiness. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1dgn_C0AU&feature=youtu.be

Summary: In his lecture, Dan Gilbert spoke about how humans unlike any other animal have developed a large brain that possesses the ability to mentally simulate scenarios before they happen. This amazing and unique ability has aided the human mind to better plan out situations that will make us happier with the results. The two kinds of happiness’s that are produced are what are known as Natural Happiness and Synthetic Happiness. It is natural happiness that is affected directly by our choices and synthetic happiness is affected about how we react to our choices.  

Analysis: This lecture’s central message is that no matter what happens in our lives, whether it be good or bad, will only temporarily affect our happiness. Happiness is not determined by us getting our way, but rather is determined by our attitude towards the situations that happen in our lives. No matter what we choose, we will be happy in the end, as long as we have a positive attitude towards what are the consequences of our choices.

 Citation: Waldinger, R. (2016, January 25). What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness. Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI&feature=youtu.be

Summary:

Analysis:

 Citation: Killingsworth, M. (2012, November 05). Want to be happier? Stay in the moment. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy5A8dVYU3k&feature=youtu.be

Summary: This TED talk was about a study that was done that involved 15,000 people from all kinds of different backgrounds. This study accumulated over 650,000 data entries, that were measuring the feelings moment to moment. By sending out daily questions via texting, Killingsworth wanted to know if his patients were focused on what they were currently doing, if they were not, he called this “mind wandering.” The results of the study showed that those who often found themselves mind wandering were not focusing on their current tasks were significantly less happy than those who were.

Analysis: Being able to focus on the here and now is so difficult to do. It requires a lot of self-discipline to change your entire mindset to think like this and often can be difficult to ignore past of future events. With this study, it shows that we are not all as different as we think we are. Many of us suffer at different times, but we all learn for our experiences and need apply what we have learned to better our present self. This will benefit us while we learn to apply those teachings to our present selves, to better our future. That kind of seems like it maybe contradicting, but if we are able to think of both of those to influence our actions in the now, we will be able to enjoy it more knowing that we have an idea of what the future may hold for us. Finding a balance might be difficult, but it will be worth it in the end.

 Citation: Seppälä, E. (2016, April 14). Breathing happiness. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvli7NBUfY4&feature=youtu.be

Summary: Stress is such a powerful emotion in our lives, that sometimes it can take control of our day to day activities. Emma Seppälä spoke about how we may not be able to control everything that happens to us, but we can control our state of mind. By studying and perfecting berating techniques, Seppälä found ways to help reduce stress just by berating. Conducting an experiment teaching patients how to control their breathing, showed positive results and the techniques stuck with those patients so long that even a year after the experiment, they were still able to use the techniques and gain the benefits from them.

Analysis: The idea that we are able to fall back on this breathing technique in times of stress and be able to use our breathing to help control our emotions is invaluable tool. Not letting your emotions control you is such a hard skill to learn, but is so beneficial to have once you understand how to use it.  

 Citation: Fern, A. (2013, August 13). Why Happiness Is A State Of Mind. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://elitedaily.com/life/what-even-is-happiness/

Summary: Throughout life, we are often searching for the answer to a common goal, Happiness. Trying to achieve happiness is not easy or small goal, but requires lots of time, effort, and patience. There is no right or wrong way of achieving happiness, no guidebook, just other people’s advice. An advisable way to gain happiness is from surrounding yourself with people that you care about and people that will lift you up. Surround yourself only with those who will help elevate you and make you feel happy. You do not need to make yourself miserable just by keeping around a person who only brings negative things to the table. Happiness does not happen overnight, it requires a lot of work. Find the things that make you unhappy and remove them from your life.

Analysis: The ideas that were share in this article ring so true to me. I have had times in the past when I have felt unhappy but haven’t been able to figure out why. It was not until I took a great step back to realize that the things that were making me unhappy were my “friends.” When I had cut ties with them I was able to begin to feel happy again and was able to improve more aspects of my life to feel even happier. Finding happiness is not easy, but if you are willing to work for it you will be able to find that happiness that you had been searching for.

 Citation: Caillet, A., Hirshberg, J., & Petti, S. (2014, December 08). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2014/12/how-your-state-of-mind-affects-your-performance

Summary: The article spoke about finding ways to help control your emotions and thoughts. They have given the following 4 practices that will bring your happiness: thoughts and feelings, physiology, external environment, and health and well-being. First, thoughts and feelings is the idea of being in total control of your feelings within a few short minutes of reviving them. Physiology is a physical way to calm down and control your emotions. Being aware of your external environment is crucial, put yourself in a place that will help you control your breathing. Listening to using for deep reflection, to control your anxieties and re adjust your focus on the task at hand. The idea of being physically healthy and being positive in your well-being.

Analysis: Actively engage yourself in what you are currently doing and immerse yourself fully. Appreciate the fact that you are able to do whatever it is you are doing and realize how fortunate you are in being able to shape your own life by being able to use techniques and practices to your benefit. If you are able to just let go and breathe a little bit, you will be able to slow down and enjoy those precious moments in life.

 Citation: Ryff, C. D. (1989, December). Happiness Is Everything, or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Well-Being. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://coursedelivery.org/write/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2-Happiness-is-everything-or-is-it.pdf

Summary: Trying to understand exactly what makes humans happy can be difficult, because there is no sure way of understanding perfectly what brings happiness. Sociologists wanted to know how present cultural phenomena were affecting the happiness of those who were following it. Finding that those who were aware of what was going on were more stable and happier than those who were not aware of cultural phenomena.

Analysis: Feeling that you are a part of something and are connected to others is an important idea to remember. Humans need be social with each other to be happy, because we have always grown up in the company of others and it is in our nature to want to feel included and like we belong to the group.

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Rhetorical Analysis (B)

           One of the idea that humans are constantly striving for and improving each day is the that idea of happiness. To be able to go throughout life with the ability to always remain happy, even if everything is not going the way we hoped it would. Studies upon studies have continually undergone research and everyone is trying to understand how the human race is to achieve happiness. In the past several years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of books, articles, documentaries, studies, and more research is continually in the works. They all are hunting to find the answer to that age-old question: “what makes humans happy?” and “how can we achieve that constant state of happiness throughout our lives?” Arthur C. Brooks from the New York Times is one of these researchers searching for the answer, and in doing so, informs his readers with facts that leads them to think that happiness can only be achieved through earned success.

           At first glance when reading the article, you have the usual title, author’s name, and the date published, but the very first word of the article is “HAPPINESS” with all the characters capitalized. This immediately gives information about the article and drives home the topic of the article. Upon seeing the introduction to the article, and looking up several other articles by the New York Times, none of them started off in this same way. With this information, it is easy to see why the author chose to begin his article in this way. To grab attention, and to make this seem like it has a greater importance.

           The following sentence Brooks uses uncommon words such as elusive and evanescent to make him seem intelligent, which commands the attention and forces them to think a little harder while reading this paper, and to go even a step further, almost exhaust the audience so they are more open minded and easily convinced to the things that he is arguing.

           He goes on to use a quote in the introduction to his article in which he bases the following paragraph on. He quotes a man by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne (which he does not cite!) who said: “happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne) This quote seems very deep, and makes you think. He however, uses it to lead straight into his next paragraph, which contributes to the flow and makes a nice, smooth transition. This benefits his writing even more, and makes him seem even more intelligent and is more convincing.

When reading Brooks’ article, it was easy to spot the differences between his writing, versus some of the similar articles that were published discussing the same topics and ideas. Brooks does use facts and research to support his arguing points, just like everyone else. The way he structures his paper is very strategically done. He uses a technique that I remember learning about in a high school English class, which we dubbed the “Bump, Set, Spike”. How he uses it is he give a little background information, then he uses a quote or gives a statistic that supports his article, and gives his opinion on it and talks about how it affects him and the others around him.

           As the article goes on, Brooks begins to break down what he believes determines our happiness. He then goes on to give evidence that our happiness is mainly decided based off of three different categories. He says “About half of happiness is genetically determined. Up to an additional 40 percent comes from the things that have occurred in our recent past — but that won’t last very long.” (Brooks) According to the information that Brooks collected, only about 10% of our happiness we can control, and to a certain extent, he is right. Past events and genetics can affect our happiness but upon reading other articles, they all think differently.

           When comparing several other articles to this one, the other articles all recognize that a major contributor to being happy is to live in the moment, to just be happy and grateful for everything that is happening around you in the present moment. Brooks, however doesn’t even mention it in his article. This breaks a lot of what his argument says because he claims that most of our happiness come through past experiences and earned success. When comparing other articles, they speak more on how good social connections and being able to recognize the things that you are grateful for are main contributors to this overall goal of archiving happiness. Instead, Brooks says that there are four basic values that determine that remaining 10% of our happiness. The four values are: faith, family, community, and work. As he explains these in more depth, he says “the secret to happiness through work is earned success.” (Brooks) according to the other sources however, this idea that success brings happiness is false.

Being successful and living in good living conditions will make you happy, but it will only take you so far. According to Berkley Wellness, an author who also wrote an article regarding the sciences of happiness, she said “money increases happiness until about $75,000 annually, and after that our emotional well-being doesn’t increase with income.” (Wellness) Wellness was not the only other author to bring this up, across several articles, they all agreed that physical things can only bring a temporary state of happiness. Brooks’ states that becoming successful in life is what will make us happy, but his way of thinking is incorrect.

It is clear after looking at several other sources that one of the major contributors to happiness is being able to live in the moment. To just be happy and grateful for everything that is happening around you in the present moment. To really just forget all of your worries, anxieties, and regrets to just bask in the moment and take it all in and be thankful for all of it. Developing this skill is difficult and takes practice to be able to get just right. Over time, the individual who allows himself or herself to be much focused and attentive to those around them, and this will allow an individual to really be able to connect with others because they are living there in that moment just to spend time with that person. These are the true roots of where happiness comes from. It comes from being able to live in the here and now and to enjoy it spending time with those that you interact with, those that you love and care about, that is what will make us happy.

Bibliography: -Brooks, A. C. (2013, December 14). A Formula for Happiness. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/opinion/sunday/a-formula-for-happiness.html

-Wellness, B. (2015, November 09). What is the Science of Happiness? Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-mind/mind-body/article/what-science-happiness

- Nathaniel Hawthorne https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nathanielh393626.html

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Pt. 11

Tumblr Blog post pt 11 This past semester I have been enrolled in a Philosophy Ethics and Values class at UVU and have been able to study what human behaviors and state of minds allow us to be happy. Today, I wanted to expound on that. I looked up a lecture from dr. Sadler who studies philosophy and listened to him explain about Aristotle and his teachings. Aristotle was a great philosopher and many people look to his ideas for knowledge and guidance. He came to the conclusion that to really understand happiness there are 5 practices or categories that determine our happiness: Wealth, Honor, Pleasure, Health, Virtue (Activity), and Wisdom. To truly be happy Aristotle believed that an individual must balance all of these different ideas or practices behind happiness. Wealth was first, and is often what our minds draw towards when we think of what will bring us happiness. Or the feeling of being successful. We want to be able to be successful in order to become wealthy, and if we are caught in this mindset, it can be difficult to focus on the everyday things that are happening around you. And once you become successful and own things like A nice car, a big fancy house, expensive clothing, all of these physical goods can bring us happiness, but only a happiness that is temporary, eventually these things will just become everyday objects around us. It will become second nature and won't allow us to have that true feeling of happiness. Humans also seek out that approving praise-like feeling of honor. Honor can also bring us happiness. It is our desire to not disappoint or fail. This one can also fall under the category of becoming successful, respectable, or maybe even just well-receive . We sometimes do things in order to impress those around us, or are searching for that general feeling of acceptance. This is because we long to feel honorable. We want others to see that we are successful, we want others to respect us, we want others to accept us. And people often spend a lot of time worrying about this in the wrong kind of way. (This will connect back to one of the others so bear with me.) The third idea is that our happiness is driven by pleasure. We feel pleasure when we do the things we like, even if they are not good for us. The professor uses the example of smoking cigars, cooking, and eating food. While those are good, too much of those materials can cause damage over time. This idea of happiness is the most "animal" or "primal" feeling of them all. Because it is an initial gut reaction to something to decide what is good and what is bad, What makes us feel happy and what causes us sadness. But pleasure can also a be good thing, if you engage in activities that make you feel pleasure you will continue practicing those activities. As hard as it sounds, keeping your overall physical health in good condition is crucial to living a happy life. If you are healthy then you don't have to worry about your physical needs and can focus more on your mental health and the others around you. The pursuit of wisdom is also a cause for happiness. Being knowledgeable helps you understand the world around you more and prompts others to come to you with questions and seek advice. But in order to be happy from wisdom, you need to be able to be willing to share your wisdom with others. The last idea of happiness is from what Aristotle calls Virtue. Dr. Sadler says that virtue is excellence in mind and in character. To have virtue you need to be able to express yourself, Things like being generous or courageous. These character traits help define who we are. And they aren't things that you just pick up overnight, they require a lot of careful observation and patience in order to improve. And over time, the character traits bring us joy or pleasure when we are able to share them with others. We will seek out opportunities to apply these traits in situations in order to benefit ourselves and others. Those who value their family and friends and share these character traits with them allows us to be happier, and in turn, makes exercising these traits more pleasurable and makes us feel more honorable which will lead us to living even happier lives. Aristotle teaches that practicing these 5 ideas will lead us to living the happiest lives we can. https://youtu.be/pvAoxLz7gBI

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Pt. 10

Tumblr Blog post pt. 10 Today I spent the time to look up two different articles and read what they had to say concerning the subject of happiness, as well as some of my own thoughts on the subject. The first article first began addressing the definition of happiness. They said: (Happiness) is the ability to take what life has given you and personalize it in a way that benefits you. I really love the way they worded this statement. First, they said "(Happiness) is the ability to take what life has given you" this quote may seem off or not finished, but if I could change just one word, it is the basis to the entire idea of happiness. "(Happiness) is the ability to LOVE what life has given you" Life is hard. It's full of so many ups and downs and I know that I am not alone in saying this: that it can sometimes feel that we are barely able to keep our heads above the water. But once you stop caring and worrying so much about what is awaiting in the future, and begin on focus on the here and now, you will realize all the blessings that are a part of your life that you love. Once you have been able to put yourself in that mindset, you will be able to become more aware about the things that are happening around you, and once this starts... you will slowly be propelling yourself away from that pit of sadness, and begin rising and soaring higher and higher into the heavens, where you will be blue to see the beauty in everything and be in a constant state of happiness. Or that the overall goal anyway, but you can keep yourself from being pulled down by growing your relationships with those around you, being a constant positive state of mind, and are able to put your needs above others. The second half of that quote, "and personalize it in a way that benefits you" has never rung more true. There is no true and clear way to achieve happiness, there are different ways to approach it, but in doing certain things you learn more about yourself, which helps you really determine and differentiate between who you are, and who you want to be. It will help you see you strengths and weaknesses as you come up with forms of defense against the ever raging war between happiness and sadness. If you aren't sure where you stand, try doing some of the things mentioned above, they will help you on your path to discovering who you really are. Because once you find that out, and are able to know what you are good at and what you may need to work a little harder for in order to become your best self. Discovering your true self will allow you to look beyond yourself and I'm going to say this once again because it's so important, to help others in their needs. Moving onto the second article, they talk about how even if you are having a rough day, you are able to use your state of mind to calm your mind and learn to appreciate the things around you. To achieve this, they have given the following 4 practices: thoughts and feelings, physiology, external environment, and health and well-being. First, thoughts and feelings is the idea of being in total control of your feelings within a few short minutes of reviving them. Do things like recalling certain memories, engage in meaningful conversation, focus your attention on something else. Next, physiology. This is more of a physical way to calm down and control your emotions. Things like stretching and deep, controlled, breathing will help calm down your body so you can focus more on conquering you feelings. Also being aware of your external environment is crucial, put yourself in a place that will help you control your breathing. (This one is huge for me) try listening to using for deep reflection, to control your anxieties and re adjust your focus on the task at hand. The final practice is critical to controlling your thoughts and feelings. The idea of being physically healthy and being positive in your well-being. This includes getting good amounts of sleep, eating a balanced diet, and getting good amounts of exercise. Doing all of these will help you increase your chances at improving the overall state of your mind o you need achieve happiness. I want to close by sharing something from the first article, "Happiness is not something that will be delivered to your doorstep. Embrace the journey d re lessons you learn from it. Focusing on the present moment is crucial; if you spend your time wallowing in the past or worrying about the future, you are only going to stress yourself out. Actively engage yourself in what you are currently doing me immerse yourself fully. Appreciate the fact that you are able to do whatever it is you are doing and realize how fortunate you are in shaping your own life" if you are able to just let go and create a little bit, you will find that not only will you be happier, you will be able to slow down and enjoy those precious moments in life, because those are often what we miss the most.

[eng1ishb1og-blog]

Pt. 9

Tumblr Blog Post #9 Okay here we go, just one more ted talk, because I've actually watched all the ones that I found super interesting.:) this week, I watched a ted talk entitled: Breathing happiness by Emma Seppälä. Emma started off talking about as we go through life, there are many things that we can't control. Many external events that take place beyond our control that affect us and our moods. However, there is one thing we can control. We are able to control our minds. She saw this as she taught at Stanford university. Where the students there were living in great conditions, nice wether, attending a great school, able to get out and enjoy the luxuries around them... however, they were some of the most stressed people that she met. These college students were under the influence that success brings happiness. Which is true, in some cases, but upon being financially successful can only get you so far that happiness begins to die away just after a few short weeks of achieving success. She talked about how these different emotions have at least one thing connecting all of them, and this was the pattern and rhythm in which they breathed at. Feelings of anger or jealously causes the heart to pump extremely fast, slow breaking helps issue the feeling of relaxing. Learning to breath properly can be a helpful lesson that will allow you to control your state of mind. There was a study done by a professor in which he measured how certain students were breaking as the experienced different emotions. After recording and measuring, he brought in even more students and asked them to breath as if they were experiencing that emotion. And the students upon doing their best to re create the breathing patterns associated with those emotions, they slowly began to feel that emotion inside. This idea of learning to breath properly a pretty amazing and critical discovery that was made by this study. Because we all have times when those emotions just burn so deeply that I can be difficult to talk ourselves out of them. if we are able to become masters of our emotions, we will be that much closer to understanding what truly makes us happy, and will be able to more easily achieve it. After asking these students to participate in this study, they were asked to be in a weeklong class that they called sky meditation. Sky meditation classes helped the students learn proper breathing techniques and learn to help use it to control their emotions. After this class, the students had dramatically reduced levels of anxiety and were able to sleep better. These results were very good, but to see the lasting effects, the students were brought in a month later, and they were indeed calmer and had less levels of anxiety. And to see even further results they were tested a year later and the students still showed positive results. These techniques they learned were indeed a permanent improvement that the students were able to use to keep themselves happier. The idea that we are able to master our breathing is an invaluable tool because we have access to it at all times, and will be able to apply it in those times of need. Happiness is something that we all strive to achieve, but it is not something that we gain without any hard work, it requires a determined state of mind, a feeling of optimism, and the ability to forget the future with all of its worries and stresses... and just be able to live in the moment. If one enables himself or herself to be in this state of mind, they will find themselves often happier with their lives. Through a stable state of mind and our social relationships we can achieve that idea of happiness. https://youtu.be/Uvli7NBUfY4

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Pt. 8

Tumblr Blog post pt. 8 Today when I was researching for my topic, I was asking the question: "what is true happiness and how do we achieve it?" While I googled happiness. An a basic idea behind finding the best way to be happy I saw that a general idea of being able to "live in the moment" to not worry about what other future engagements will bring, but being only focused on the here and now. And I clicked the videos tab and one of the first things was a ted talk discussing this issue (heck yes!) The ted talk is entitled "want to be happier? Stay in the moment" by matt killingsworth. He starts off talking about how people are always looking for something in life, but none is more prominent that looking for how to be happy. Quoting Aristotle he says "(happiness)The chiefs good. the end, to which all other things aim." The reasoning behind this quote is because we always feel like there are things that will bring us happiness whether that be a fancy car, a big house, being famous, or becoming rich while those things can bring happiness, it is an instant gratification, happiness that is rather bought than earned. This illusion that happiness lies within physical things is just a myth because in reality, the only thing that is holding us back is ourselves. Killingsworth next talked about how in the United States over the past 50 years have experienced greater living conditions than ever before, we are healthier, wealthier, and have a level technology that would have been thought to be unimaginable in the past. But even with all these new benefits that we are living and with enjoying, we still aren't happy. Many studies have been conducted and talk about we shouldn't take a single moment for granted. To live in the moment, and for years this question has been asked over and over again with no scientific proof. Killingsworth was the head of a study done to accomplish exactly that. Using the technology we have today(smartphones) Killingsworth was able to measure people's day to day moments of happiness. By sending out questions that would ask the patients about their current mood. 15,000 people from all ages, races, backgrounds, social status & classes, income levels, marital positions, educational degrees were all observed in this study. And this study accumulated over 650,000 data entries, each containing the amount of happiness that each of the 15,000 people were feeling moment to moment. One topic they observed is what they dubbed "mind wandering" which is when human brain is able to recreate a new environment that is not physically in front of it, but is an imaginary place in which it is able to wander around. And the question is: do humans possess this ability that no other animal has, to create a new reality, one that is much happier than the one they are currently living in? By using the tracker that was previously mentioned, Killingsworth was able to get some data by asking the patients if they were happy, what they were currently doing(out of 22 options), and if they are focused on their current task or thinking about other things (weather they be good, bad, or neutral.) and results showed that those who were happiest were focused at the task at hand, those who were mind wandering were actually reported that they were significantly less happy. Killingsworth theorized that the cause for this lack of happiness because mind wandering is because when our minds wander we think of negative things: stress, regrets, anxieties are what we often think about. When checking the data from the patients if was easy to see that those who reported mind wandering were later reporting that they were feeling unhappy. And this all begs the question "why are so many people unhappy?" And the answer is this: mind wandering is a contributing factor to our happiness and limits how happy we are the more we are not currently thinking and are focused on the task at hand. With all this collected data 47% of those observed reported that they were mind wandering! And with this, it was observed which patients were observing good, bad, or neutral mind wanderings and what they found is that 30% of the time, we are unhappy with the way our mind wanders. So the question was answered, if we are able to focus more on the here and now, are able to enjoy what is happening in the moment, we will be much happier in the long run. https://youtu.be/Qy5A8dVYU3k

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Pt. 7

Tumblr blog pt 7 Okay here we go again and yes once again I have watched another ted talk, this ted talk however was one of the best one i have heard yet. The speaker's name was Robert Waldinger and he is a director for a Harvard study. Well actually the 4th director for this Harvard study, because it is one of the longest studies ever conducted by Harvard. This study has been on going for 75 years observing 724 patients and 60 of those patients are still alive today (Or at the time of the ted talk) who are 90 years old. Each year the team studying these boys and men contacted them and asked them questions, they interviewed them and their parents, and recorded things about them. These 724 patients were separated into two groups: 1 group was of 19 year old Harvard sophomores (who were observed for 1 year before participating in WWII, but were still sent questions and questioned once they returned) and the other was of a group of boys from Boston, the areas in which they grew up in we're not particularly nice neighborhoods, and year after year were interviewed and tested (even went through medical tests, and those who were married, their wives were also observed) the boys from Boston were constantly asking the same question:"why do you want to observe me? My life is so boring!" The Harvard student said the exact opposite. Now each one of these patients didn't live perfectly happy lives, some turned into alcoholics, developed mental diseases, but upon looking at the evidence from the study the main lesson to be learned is this: "Good relationships keep us happier and healthier".((period!) For effect) In this study, they deprecated the results into three categories to what makes a person happy. The first is that in order to be happy, we must be socially connected. (See? I told you that my old topic would pop up again!) People who are in contact with others live more fulfilling lives, and are happier because of it. Those that feel lonely, are affected in mid-life by it, it affects their health, and overall... they live shorter lives because of it. He goes on to say that at any given time, 1/5 Americans report that they are feeling lonely. And you can be lonely in a crowd, or you could be lonely in a family, and that's where the next category comes in. The second category is that on top of being socially connected with other people, the number of close relationships that you make doesn't matter, but the quality of each one of those close relationships is what matters. People who are living in constant conflict ended up being even more sad and it affected their health even more. And over time, this study helped them determine at age 50, about how long they were going to live, based on what close relationships they had. Those people that had good close relationships at age 50, were the healthiest people at age 80. It even affected them physically. Those who were in physical pain, but in a healthy, good close relationship, had the same good moods. While those who were in physical pain and where in unhappy or abusive relationships suffered more and their bad moods were magnified. And the third is those who are in good close relationships have stronger brains that are protected and feel happier. Those who have good relationships had better, clearer memories as they knew they had somebody that they could talk to. Even if they argued all the time, those couples were still happy because they knew they could count on each other when things got rough. The people who that were happiest in life were turning those peers into friends. Those who leaned into relationships with friends family and their community were the happiest in retirement. And quite honestly this makes sense. So when we are building our relationships it is important to consider how others feel and to put ourselves in their shoes. To be able to understand what they're feeling, why they're feeling it, and how they are feeling it. Being happy in this life not only means that you are happy, but the others around you are also happy, because that goodness will always come back around and what you put out is what you will get back. So always stay positive and remember others and how they are feeling and be aware of that. And if you are able to develop this skill you will be able to grow and strengthen your relationships with those around you and that will truly make you happy. https://youtu.be/8KkKuTCFvzI