Happiness Essential Questions
Below you will see the essential questions from our unit. Think about the articles you read. What do the different writers and researchers have to say? How would they answer the questions? What details/studies/quotes in the articles relate to the questions?
Directions: Pick those questions that you think are most relevant to the articles you read. For each article you read, create a post in which you discuss a relevant connection to the questions you picked. You can include any of the following in your post, but DO NOT SIMPLY REPEAT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE ALREADY SAID:
1. You can paraphrase what you think the author would say in response to the question.
2. You can connect specific evidence from the article to the question.
3. You can connect a specific quote from the article to the question.
4. You can connect a specific example from the article to the question.
5. You can take what someone else already posted and develop their idea with
another piece of evidence from the article.
6. You can respectfully disagree with what someone else already said and use
evidence from the article to back up your idea.
Important: Be sure to identify titles, authors, and researchers (if you are quoting any studies). Do not just list info., evidence, or quotes from the article. You must discuss the text details you use and clearly connect them to an answer to the question. Also, remember this is an academic blog, not a text or a tweet, so use clear, respectful, and formal language, and proofread!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR POST ON A WORD DOCUMENT OR GOOGLE DOC FIRST & THEN COPY/PASTE IT INTO THE REPLY BOX. REMEMBER TO SIGN INTO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT BEFORE YOU POST OR YOUR POST WILL BE LOST!
The text we create together will be useful to you
as you start to come up with ideas for the up-coming paper!
EQ #1:
ReplyDeleteWhat is happiness?
What does true happiness look like or feel like?
How does true happiness compare to fleeting moments of pleasure or mild contentment?
How can we measure happiness?
“Flow”
DeleteHappiness can mean a lot of different things to many different people. Dr Csiksentmihayli thinks that the actual act of creating seemed at times more important than the finished product. To me, my state of Flow is achieved when I play baseball. I enjoy everything about the sport, the practice, the failure(so I can learn from my mistakes) and of course the success it brings me. Dr. C notes that flow can make you lose reflective self consciousness which is good because you won't be so critical of your work which leads to more happiness.
Happiness relates to flow directly. Low skill required activities usually are have lower flow and less long term happiness. “One may find still greater happiness working towards long-term, meaningful goals”(Flow, Line 7). To have long term happiness you need to enter a state of flow by doing something that is beneficial, not too difficult (but must be a challenge), and you enjoy.
DeleteHappiness to someone can be attached their social life especially to teenagers, “Being alone rates the lowest level of happiness, while being with friends corresponds to the highest” (“Flow” page 3). True happiness can look like a group of friends doing an activity while smiling and laughing. True happiness is something that will make you happy looking back at it, while fleeting moments of pleasure or mild contentment are something that will only make you feel happy for a while then regret later. Happiness can be measured by how much a flow a person has and you need to have an activity that you voluntarily do, while having some degree of difficulty with goals set for those activities.
Delete“The futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner
DeleteHappiness is how content we are with the outcome of our decision. How happy we are can depend on the decisions we make depending on if we're in a “hot” or “cold” state. Being in a hot state we have more anxiety, courage, fear, etc. Where being in a cold state we are calm. In the moment, what ever state you are in can lead you to a decision that will either make you happy or not in the end.
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Delete“Flow”
DeleteI agree with this article that you can get happiness when you achieve your goals. The article talks about high flow and low flow. “The high-flow teenagers on average reported more time spent on active leisure” (“Flow” page 3). Having low flow like watching TV, and playing video games can cause depression. To keep happiness you have to keep having high flow and achieve your goals, and have to stop sitting down and watching TV.
"Flow"
DeleteA state of happiness where you just lose yourself in what you're doing is what flow is described as in this article. I completely agree with this and it can apply to many different situations in life but, there are other ways we can be happy described in other articles. Happiness has many different forms and appearances and really what happiness looks like is based on your own take on happiness and what it is. Happiness usually carries the same theme through everything though, you lose yourself in the moment because there's nothing else you want to be doing. True happiness lasts through our memories and the things we do right for not only ourselves but, those around us as well. Those "fleeting moments of pleasure or mild contentment" are like a high, it doesn't last, so you need to feel it and experience it all the time just to be happy. True happiness is just being able to find happiness from a memory. To me there really isn't a way to measure happiness in a moment because no matter how you react I believe you feel the same way deep down inside about every happy memory. I do believe though that happiness can be measured over time in how well and how strong a happy event is in your memories.
EQ#2:
ReplyDeleteWhat are the things that contribute to happiness?
What are the things that take away from our ability to be happy?
How is our environment connected to our happiness?
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteApparently, money has less to do with our happiness once we reach a certain income level ($50,000 according to a TIME magazine poll). In fact, for the middle class, a comfortable living standard led to more "reference anxiety" where people judge their own lives by comparing themselves to others, usually the very wealthy (2). As a result, they are less happy with what they have. So that environment created by our materialistic culture has caused more anxiety and less happiness.
“Happiness is a glass half empty” by Oliver Berkman
DeleteThings that can take away from our happiness is ignorance or stubbornness. In this article, Berkman explains that “we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions- or, at the very least, stop running quite so hard from them.” We need to learn from our mistakes to progress and not regress by making the same ones.
Oliver Burkeman “Happiness is a glass half empty”
DeleteOne of the biggest points the author makes in this article is that a huge cause of unhappiness is our “relentless effort to feel happy, or achieve certain goals”. If this is true, Then what is the point of trying to achieve happiness? Burkeman goes on to explain that it isn’t the quest for happiness, but the attempt to “eliminate or ignore the negative”. The author makes the suggestion that in order to be truly happy, we need to embrace our failure and negative emotions.
EQ#2: What are the things that take away from our ability to be happy?
Delete“Happiness is a glass half empty” by Oliver Burkeman
Oliver Burkeman’s claim was that facing our failures could actually lead to true happiness. Therefore by not confronting our shortcomings it could take away from our ability to be happy. Burkeman explains that not looking at our failures can lead to a “distorted picture of the causes of success” (Burkeman p. 5). We should learn from our mistakes so that we will not make the same ones down the road, as a result learning what also makes us successful and what does not.
EQ # 2. " Happiness is a glass half empty" by Oliver Burkenman
DeleteI agree with Liam. One of the author's main points in the article was that we run from our failures too much. Because we avoid failure, whether it is ours or someone else's, we make mistakes that could be easily avoided. Take the Museum of Failed Products for example, they have almost every modern failed invention or idea but the author states that “product developers are so focused on their next hoped-for success- so unwilling to invest time or energy thinking about their industries failures”. (Pg 2) If we took the time to look back at previous failures it could prevent us from future failures and make us happier because we succeeded.
“Happiness is a Glass Half Empty” by Oliver Burkeman
DeleteOne of the points the author makes is that to feel happiness you have be able to embrace your failure. He goes on to say that if you are too optimistic about things you’ll only be more disappointed when they don't go the way you want them to. The main point of the article is to not be afraid to feel negative emotions because ultimately they will lead to your happiness and success.
Money is something that can affect a person's happiness depending on how that person spends it. If someone has a lot of money but wastes it all on material items and then loses the money that can make a person unhappy in the long run. “Psychology research has shown that experiences bring people more happiness than do possessions” (Buy Experiences , Not Things line 20-21). Comparing our possessions to other people's possessions can take away from our ability to be happy because we see someone with something better and want it. Being in a good environment where you need to wait for experiences your mood is more positive and you look forward to it, while waiting for a material item you get frustrated because you want it that second and more likely to react badly.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete
DeleteMany people take failure really hard and and it let it take away their happiness, but in “Happiness is a glass half empty” by Oliver Burkeman, we learn to try and become familiar with failure. The author talks about how we need to not be so scared of failure and look at the bright side, he says “This involves learning to enjoy uncertainty, embracing insecurity and becoming familiar with failure.” (4) This shows how failure can be used as a tool to find happiness and not to take away from it.
"Buy Experiences, Not Things" by James Hamblin
DeleteAccording to a large array of psychologists, experiences bring people more happiness than possessions do. Experiences are things we look forward to, have fun doing, and then remember for a long time to come, creating a great happiness. Professor Daniel Gilbert says, “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” because we often think and imagine worse things to happen rather than good things. As Hamblin explains to us, true happiness comes through living in experiential things, like having a good time with your friends or going on a trip with your family.
"Buy Experiences, Not Things"
DeleteThe author of this article explains to us that experiences are what make us most happy, not possessions. Our experiences are our biggest source of happiness and we are the reason for them. We are what contributes and takes away from our own happiness. We make the decision to buy either something like a new pair of shoes that might make us happy for a week or to buy a concert ticket that can create a whole array of good memories that will be with you forever. You choose to either have the memories of a material thing or the precious time you spent having endless fun with your friends. Your environment can also effect how happy you are, but only if you let it. You have to find the best of every situation and environment you're put in. Making the best of what you have can effect your attitude overall and just make you a generally happier person.
Delete“Buy Experiences, Not Things”
In the article they talk about how when you anticipate, it can cause happiness. When your mind is wandering, it goes to dark, not whimsical, places. In the article they say “a wandering mind is an unhappy mind” (“Buy Experiences, Not Things” page 1). In our environment our happiness comes from people who are positive.
EQ#3:
ReplyDeleteHow much control do we have over our own happiness?
What kinds of life choices will lead to happiness?
Is happiness possible even in circumstances in which we have no control?
"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner
DeleteAs unfortunate as it is, we humans are very bad at predicting the future. We are awful at accurately predicting how we will feel in the future. We are bad at this prediction because our brains prevent us from making an accurate decision. Why? you might ask. Well the answer is because we need equilibrium or stability. The brain will regulate your emotions no matter the situation, positive or negative.
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DeleteEQ#3: What kinds of life choices lead to happiness?
Delete“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner
Apparently, we as individuals have a difficult time determining what will bring us happiness. That claim is proven in this article and to answer this question I will use a quote from the last paragraph. It is describing a situation where someone needs to choose between two jobs and this is how the person should ideally think and make a choice that will lead to happiness no matter what. “I’ll adapt to either circumstance pretty well… no use in killing myself for the next week” and “It won’t really make a difference” (Gertner p. 9). We should just take advantage of the choices we make and not worry or think about where the other path or choice could have brought us. We adapt to different circumstances quicker than we can imagine.
EQ#3: How much control do we have over our own happiness?
Delete“Flow” by the Pursuit of Happiness
We have a great amount of control over our happiness. The author of this article describes activities with low and high flow. They describe low flow activities as sitting on the couch and high flow activities as playing a sport, studying etc. The author states that low flow people have more fun yet “high flow kids end up having greater long term happiness” (Flow p. 3) and success in life. Therefore we are in complete control of our happiness in terms of the ways we chose to spend our time and the things we chose to spend it on will matter in the long run.
"The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner
DeleteIt is hard to say what life choices will make us happy, according to the article The Futile Pursuit of Happiness by Jon Gertner. This is because humans are bad predictors of what will make us happy. Often, a person will see something that they think will make them happy if they bought it, but after the purchase is made, the initial happiness starts to decrease as the person adapts to their purchase and, as a result, there is not a net gain in overall happiness.
"Flow" by The pursuit of happiness
DeleteAs human the choices we make and the actions we take can either give us grief or joy. We as humans have a choice to make the life the best it can be for ourselves, according to this article about the flow of happiness we can do low flow activities or high flow activities. People who do more high flow activities are more likely to have long term happier lives (Flow pg 3). Flow can appeal to any personal behavior including how we choose to live our lives, we can appeal it to our own personal lives (Flow pg 5). Choices that make our lives better physically and mentally our the best choices to make our lives happy.
EQ# 3 "The Futile Pursuit of Happiness" by Jon Gertner
DeleteIn this article the author talks about the countless studies that Daniel Gilbert did on humans ability to predict our feelings. One of things that he focused on was not only how we feel at the moment, but also the feelings that you will have about the same experience in the future. We predict that after a meaningful experience, whether it is good or bad, the feeling will continue for a long time, but in reality those feelings will start to become less meaningful as we become accustomed to the experience. We do not have control over these feelings because our brain just adapts to the change in environment and we add it to our daily routine and it dulls.
“Happiness is a Glass Half Empty” by Oliver Burkeman
DeleteIn situations where people do not have control, many people think that happiness is very unlikely and may not even be possible. According to the article, “Happiness is a Glass Half Empty”, this is not necessarily true. In the article, failure and its impact on happiness is a major topic that is discussed and studies are mentioned that discovered that it is not failure and lack of control that causes unhappiness but the way that the brain interprets these issues. Ways to deal with failure mentioned in the article include altering your mindset and understanding that there is always a chance of failure and that while a failure can be a setback, it can be dealt with. These methods can help make a person happier in situations that are out of their hands.
“The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner
DeleteIt’s hard to know how what choices you make in your life will correlate with how happy you are. In this article it explains that people cannot predict the happiness that they will feel in the future because they don’t always know what they want. The article also goes on to say that things and situations always matter less than you think they will. People always predict that when a bad situation happens they won’t be able to get over it or move on but almost always people react a lot better than they thought they would.
EQ #3 How much control do we have over our own happiness?
Delete“Flow” by the Pursuit of Happiness
I agree with Maddie. The author in this article describes two different types of flow, “high-flow” and “low-flow”. Most people end up picking low flow activities because they require less effort, whereas high flow activities involve more “skill and concentration.” (Flow p. 3) The type of flow you are involved in is ultimately your choice, and even though most people might not like participating in high flow activities, it does contribute to your control over your own happiness.
EQ #3 What kinds of life choices lead to happiness?
Delete“Buy Experiences, Not Things” by James Hamblin
Looking forward to an experience in the future is a lot more exhilarating than waiting for a material good. Apparently, “spending money on experiences provides more enduring happiness”(pg 1). Choosing to spend money on an experience, like concerts or vacations, would most likely result in greater happiness instead of spending a lot of money on a new phone. Think of all the anticipation when you first “buy the experience”, and all the stories to tell after you’ve lived it. It seems that “experiences bring people more happiness than do possessions” (pg 1), and the happiness from that experience will last longer than happiness from spending money on an object. Maybe it’s because experiences are more valuable and only come around every so often.
"Happiness is a glass half empty" by Oliver Burkeman
DeleteAccording to this article, we have control over our own happiness. Going down a “negative path” will lead to happiness. “In order to be truly happy, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions.” Almost everybody is going to experience failure and in the long run we will be happier. Happiness is possible in situations we can’t control because “of the way our brain interprets issues.”
We have a lot of control over our own happiness if we are someone who is a giver, giving a gift is something that makes us happy. Making life choices that will lead to long term happiness will make us happier because that happiness can last a long time. Sometimes we can't control everything that happens in our life but how we react to an event or situation can affect how happy we are long term.
Delete
DeleteJon Gertner “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness”
Jon Gertner makes the point that we as humans are terrible at predicting what will make us happy, or what will make us sad. This article gives logic to the idea of “living in the moment” and not worrying about the future. The author goes on to explain that we often get only fleeting moments of happiness from material objects and possessions. One could make the point that we are sabotaging our own happiness by hoping it will bring us joy.
Personal happiness is everyone’s individual control. Your mindset is key to being happy. In Happiness is a glass half empty it showed how trying to avoid failure is a bad idea, accepting failure is the first step to success.
Delete“Flow”
DeleteUs humans have a great control over our own happiness. When we experience flow, “state in which a person is completely immersed in an activity with an intense focus and creative engagement, “ as the author stated. We lock onto whatever we are focusing on, in order to achieve our goal or target. What we choose to lock and focus onto tends to be something that makes us happy or satisfied. Using flow is a great example of being able to control happiness because you completely immerse yourself in whatever you are engaged in with an intense focus.
EQ#4:
ReplyDeleteWhy is happiness important?
What benefits (physical, psychological, social) do happy people enjoy?
"Buy Experiences, Not Things" by James Hamblin
DeleteJames explains to us how materialistic things are not where happiness lies. These things may give us momentarily joy or contentment but it is in moment to moment experiences where the content of happiness is found (James pg 1). Happiness is important in this way because it is in these moments that we are truly happy, such as going to a concert and meeting new people. Which benefits socially and psychologically because meeting new people and doing things that are fun and give us joy are what life is about. These experiences will stay with you for as long as you live, whether they be good or bad experiences and that is what is important because it is what matters.
EQ#4 Flow
DeleteHappiness is a crucial part of our lives. In the article “Flow” the author talks about the countless advantages to a high flow lifestyle. When you have a high flow lifestyle, you generally live happier and have a higher self esteem. When a person is involved in a high flow activity, they are doing something that they enjoy, so it does not feel like a chore. Because of this they are more inclined to do more work because they are enjoying what they are doing and are not thinking about any of the things that trouble them. The scientist that performed these studies, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, performed studies on teenagers, athletes, and employees of companies. In all cases the subjects who had high flow lifestyles were happier, had higher self esteems and in the case of the employees, more efficient and a better work environment.
“Flow” The Pursuit of Happiness
DeleteIn the article “Flow”, many benefits of attaining a flow state, characterized by concentration, loss of self consciousness, a sense of control, experiences being rewarding and a merging of action and awareness, are explained. Some of these benefits include higher productivity, creativity and wellbeing, as well as increased overall happiness if flow is experienced often. These benefits show that happiness is very important because being happy can lead to greater wellbeing and workplace efficiency and creativity.
“Flow”
DeleteAccording to the article happiness can be measured by the amount of flow that you have. You achieve flow when you have “the loss of self-consciousness that happens when you are completely absorbed in an activity.”(1) If you experience flow often, you will overall be more happy. The article states that high-flow activities, such as homework or sports, leads to more long term happiness than low-flow activities, which could be watching tv or playing video games. The article also states that in addition to long term happiness, high flow produces higher levels of self esteem and success in school, relationships and careers.(6) The article shows that the benefits of having high flow will lead to a more positive, successful and creative life.
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Delete"Flow"
DeleteHappiness is important because it leads to a state called flow. There is two flow states, "high-flow" and "low-flow". “Teenagers who experience this “high-flow” state spend more time on “active leisure” activities.” “High-flow” teenagers have benefits such as, “having greater long term happiness and success in school, also better social relationships and careers.”
“Flow”
DeleteAccording to this article, “flow” is highly correlated with our happiness. The article goes on to outline the physical and emotional benefits of flow. The author outlines many significant studies and scientists who have researched flow and its effects. Happiness is clearly important to our emotional state, however this article outlines benefits to our physical health as well.
Happiness is important for so many different reasons. In “Flow” we learn how being in the state of flow is directly related with your happiness, the more Flow you experience the happier you are. In paragraph three the author talks about effects of flow and says “people who experience a lot of flow regularly also develop other positive traits, such as increased concentration, self-esteem, and performance.”(3) Because being in the state of flow is pretty much being extremely happy, that shows how you can gain more positive traits from being happy.
Delete
Delete“There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” by Emily Smith
Emily referred to a short piece from a Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist saying, “It is a characteristic of the American culture that, again and again, one is commanded and ordered to be happy.” Happiness is something that every person cannot live without. Happiness is how we all get through everyday, because without it, even this country would not be where it is today. This happiness that we all experience is physically and psychologically beneficial because look at what we all have accomplished in our lifetimes. I bet none of that could have been possible with a mad or angry mentality.
"There's More to Life Than Being Happy"
DeleteThe focus of this article was on the point that life is not about finding happiness, but finding meaning to life. Those who strive only for themselves to be happy are focusing only on themselves and generally living a more selfish lifestyle. Those who have meaning are more giving and more caring of others happiness rather than their own. They get happiness from knowing others are happy and they made an unselfish decision. Happiness gives us a better outlook on life and can effect the way we interact with others and the way others interact with us. Happiness can also push us to be more successful in everything we do and do what we can to help others feel just as happy.
EQ#5:
ReplyDeleteWhat role does technology play in terms of our pursuit of happiness?
Does it help us find more time or ways to be happy, or does it distract us from true happiness?
Technology has been trying to help achieve happiness but it's been doing the opposite. Though it may seem people are happy on their phones or other devices constant posting and contacting others may make you focus on what you don't have. This is like the reference anxiety described in Money: the real truth about money.
DeleteTechnology plays a huge roll in our happiness, but not necessarily “real happiness” In “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” by Jon Gertner he says the line “In other words, we might believe that a new BMW will make life perfect.”(4) But in reality it won’t, it will bring you short term happiness. You can have all the brand new technology in the world and still not be truly happy.
DeleteEQ#6:
ReplyDeleteIn what ways is a democratic government responsible for the happiness of its citizens?
Does our government have an obligation to the ability of its citizens to pursue happiness?
"Money: The Real Truth About Money" by Gregg Easterbrook
DeleteWhile the middle class is worrying about keeping up with the wealthy lifestyles they see on tv and in the media, the very poor are struggling. According to the article, "being poor causes unhappiness" because of the "relentless frustration and stress of poverty (2)." Clearly, if we believe in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we could be considered hypocrites if a large number of people are caught in the web of poverty. I would need to find actual statistics on the number of people living at and below the poverty line to pursue this claim.
EQ#7:
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to live a meaningful, fulfilling life?
What role does happiness play in that type of life?
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DeleteEQ#7:
DeleteWhat does it mean to live a meaningful, fulfilling life?
“Money: The Real Truth About Money” by Gregg Easterbrook
Gregg Easterbrook addresses the idea of engaging in activities that will create real fulfillment in life like creating friendships and helping others. Living in the moment when you’re doing something you love with the people you love is how you live a fulfilling life. Easterbrook also addresses the flip side by talking about a feeling called “reference anxiety”, (Easterbrook p. 2), which I believe most people do not feel but, those who are not living a fulfilling life tend to look at what the next person has and feels jealous as a result. I would like to conduct a survey on how many people I know have felt “reference anxiety”.
"There's More to Life Than Being Happy" by Emily Smith
DeleteThis article tells us how there a lot more to life than just being happy. Emily goes on to explain that happiness is a emotion that we get from a simple action of joy or a lack of stress in our lives. She explains how leading a happy life makes us a " taker "(Smith pg 3) but, when we live our lives with meaning it corresponds with being a "giver." When we give onto to others, or in other words we care for others and put them before ourselves to make their lives better. In doing so having a meaningful moment is found to last a lifetime while living a happy moment can barely be remember.
EQ #7 What does it mean to live a meaningful, fulfilling life?
Delete“There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” by Emily Esfahani Smith
While most people wish for a life full of happiness, the rest hope for a meaningful life. People are so caught up with just being simply happy, that they are distracted by the good that they could be doing. If Americans “put aside our selfish interests to serve someone, or something larger than ourselves, we are acknowledging that there is more to the good life than the pursuit of simple happiness (6).” This way, people can still achieve happiness, and feel good about what they are putting forth in this world.
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Delete
Delete"There's More to Life Than Being Happy"
In this article the author talks about the difference between a meaningful life and a happy life. they say in the article “The happy life is also defined by a lack of stress or worry” ("There's More to Life Than Being Happy" page 3). A meaningful life is having a good physical life, and that you can be able to buy the things you need and want.
EQ#8:
ReplyDeleteIs there a question related to happiness that you don't see here, but would relate to an article you read for this project? Write your own question and respond to it.
What is the difference between a happy life and a meaning ful life?
Deletewhich life is better?
"happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others, wjile people leading a meaningful life get a lot of joy from giving to others" -the Atlantic; theres more to life than being happy
It depends on what you want in your life. Some people who prefer to be happy will choose that path, vs the people who want to find meaning. no life is better, but you find happiness in a meaning ful life, but not neccessarily meaning in a happy one.