Happiness is a state of being that all individuals strive to attain. Though many succeed in their pursuit of a blissful state, the achievement of their goal can neither be explained nor measured. Attempting to define happiness is futile, as very rarely do two individuals share the same definition of the term. Author Mark Kingwell (2016) describes the idiom in his essay “In Pursuit of Happiness” as the epitome of the idiom ineffability in which, “nothing meaningful can be said or written” (p. 531). This is because true happiness is something that occurs naturally over the course of one’s life, and it is the culmination of a variety of unique components that each person possesses. Throughout the essay “Pig Happiness?” author Lynne McFall (2016) expresses that predisposed outlooks make us more inclined to conclude that people such as the mentally challenged and Adolf Hitler are “not truly happy” (p. 528) primarily due to every individual having a different interpretation of happiness. Although attempting to define the term is nothing more than vain, there are still common principles such as achieving financial security, finding flow in every day life, and most importantly, understanding the value of the joyful state of being, that all serve as the foundation for a person to attain true happiness.
A common principle that helps an individual achieve personal happiness is attaining financial security. Though the phrase “money cannot buy happiness” has been proven true through countless examples of unhappy opulent individuals, being financially secure can allow a person to purchase things they would otherwise lack the ability to. This ability also includes not having to agonize over stress-inducing financial obligations such as house payments or even student loans. While money does allow someone to attain materialistic things such as clothes or even a car, these items do very little to augment a person’s overall level of happiness. Instead, author Cass R. Sunstein (2016) suggests in his essay “Yes, Money Can Make You Happy” that individuals should strive to spend money on subjective experiences because they “provide the basis for valuable memories that endure” and, “can help define the texture of life” (p. 551). Sunstein continues to express that people tend to eventually adapt to commodities, such as a new car, as opposed to a marvelous vacation that will have lasting effects on the individual. Memories are something that endure the tests of time, and money can provide the gateway to creating experiences that a person will continue to reflect on. Similarly, author Kristin Lewis’ (2015) article “Can Money Buy Happiness?” describes an opulent family that sold their million-dollar home and donated half of their profits to a charity, which in turn, made their lives, “more joyful and fulfilling” (para. 7). The primary reason this family was able to donate such a large sum of money was because of their financial stability, which allowed them to aid those in need. Like an enjoyable vacation trip, generous acts can also allow a person to feel happy, as they know they were able to help another individual in some way or another, and in doing so, can make two people feel a sense of joy as opposed to just one. Though money alone is not enough to attain happiness, financial security can allow an individual to purchase things they would otherwise lack the ability to. It can also completely remove stress related to finances in one’s life, allowing them to focus on more important things that bring them true joy.
A second principle that can aid in a person attaining happiness is finding flow in one’s life. Flow as a psychological term is commonly defined as performing a task solely because it is inherently satisfying or pleasing to the individual. Though common duties such as mowing the lawn or even performing well at work can at times seem tedious and dreadful, actively looking and striving for the best in any situation can ultimately help an individual become happier. In “High Performance Happy,” author Cliff Oxford (2016) thoroughly details the differences between human resource happiness and high-performance happiness, while also showcasing the differing attitudes and results received from employees in the two distinct workplace environments. Oxford suggests that in the case of H.R. happiness, human resource employees strive to increase the overall morale by engaging in shallow conversations and pretending to be interested in the staff members, which can make the employees feel disengaged and want to search for a way to make work more tolerable.
On the contrary, Oxford conveys that high-performance happiness can lead to better workplace morale and forges deeper bonds, as employees are equipped with the attitude that says, “we are on a mission that is bigger than any one of us” (p. 563), which displays that if management gives employees more responsibility, they are “happy to show that they are the best” (p. 564). Oxford’s definition of high-performance happiness is the epitome of flow itself. Employees that enjoy their work and actively strive to perform well ultimately yield better results than those that do not, which displays the effect happiness can have on an individual’s performance. This idea is furthered in Caroline Coppel’s (2017) article “Happy Days,” which states that individuals that are engaged in their work are “more than twice as likely to be happy” (p. 16) than those who are not. Both authors showcase the importance of flow in not just the workplace but in every part of one’s life. Finding joy in any situation, both good and bad, can help a person find tranquility and attain true happiness.
Finally, the most important principle to achieving true happiness is to understand the value of the feeling. Individuals often overlook the importance of other emotions, such as sadness, in creating the merit of the feeling itself. However, this notion does not imply that an individual should be perfectly competent with constant negative emotions and should strive to be more joyful altogether. Throughout her essay “Happiness: Enough Already,” author Sharon Begley (2016) details Eric Wilson’s attempt to attain a blissful state by exchanging a persistent scowl with a “sunny smile” (p. 555) and entirely altering his behavior, which resulted in very little change to his overall level of happiness. Following his unsuccessful endeavor, Patrick Wilson describes society’s obsession with the state of being as a, “craven disregard for the value of sadness” (as cited in Begley, 2016, p. 555). Though sadness is often thought of in a negative connotation, the complete absence of the feeling can diminish the value of true happiness, as a person can start to view the state of being as a commodity rather than an item of rarity. Along with this notion, times of suffering are what ultimately makes an individual want to become happy. In “What Suffering Does,” author David Brooks (2016) conveys that when people speak about when they achieved happiness they often focus on the “ordeals that seem most significant” (p. 566) as opposed to the penultimate moment itself, showcasing the significance of the period of struggle. Both authors reiterate the importance of moments of despair and how they can serve as the drive or reasoning for a person to want to achieve true happiness. Sadness makes individuals truly understand the value of happiness when they lack it and appreciate the feeling when they finally secure it.
In closing, happiness is a state of being that can neither be defined nor measured and is something that a person naturally achieves over the course of their life. Author Joseph Mindling’s (2008) article “On the Way to Happiness: Our Vocation to Beatitude” describes the feeling of happiness as the state of a person who “feels that his or her needs and desires are satisfied” (p. 249). Mindling’s thoughts perfectly displays the parallel of the feeling itself and inner-tranquility, in which an individual is perfectly balanced. As Simon Critchley (2016) states in “Happy Like a God,” the feeling cannot be instilled into an individual through behavioral therapy, but instead, happiness is the “feeling of existence” (p. 561) that is culminated with “the experience of time” (p. 561). Critchley’s thoughts perfectly encapsulate the notion that the blissful state of being is a culmination of a variety of components that every individual naturally amasses over the course of their life which aids a person in achieving happiness. Though these elements can be unique, there are still common parts of life such as achieving financial security, finding flow, and most importantly, understanding the value of the feeling, that can help a person achieve happiness.