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Bruce Camacho

Professor Ditch

English 115

24 September 2018

What is in your Happiness?

There are different perspectives on what happiness is and how people obtain it easier than

others. Whether it is internal or external happiness that drives the personal fire within people

going through their own individual troubles. According to four different authors happiness is

within everyone but the way they unlock it, may vary depending on every specific individual.

Although, there are different views on what drives happiness and what truly brings it out to a

person, all authors have great evidence, that support their claims as to why happiness can be

acquired internally or externally. The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, David Brooks, and Sonja

Lyubomirsky believe that happiness truly comes to a person internally. The Dalai Lama argues

throughout the article, if they look hard enough for their happiness they can find it naturally

within themselves and not in materialistic objects. Following this belief Brooks argues that

suffering is something that isn’t as bad as it seems because people recover and are molded to

appreciate and become happier with their inner self. Lyubomirsky also argues that their state of

mind is what evidently controls personal happiness, and that the person can control their state of

mind. While on the other hand, Graham Hill believes that something like happiness comes to

people externally, through what individuals decide to include in their lifestyle and how they live

their daily lives and not so much from the internal part of the person. Happiness altogether,

comes through the way you decide to live their life, luxurious or simple; people evidentially
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choose what they want in life and how to go about the way they choose to live their life while

making themselves truly happy.

The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler Article “The Source of Happiness” gives various of

perspectives on internal happiness throughout the article and gives personal stories as evidence

the internal happiness. These stories furthermore show how people have different struggles to

overcome and still manage to show their internal happiness. A great example of this is their

friend they mention that’s says, “I just seem to appreciate everyday things more, and I’m grateful

that so far that I haven’t developed any severe AIDS symptoms and I can really enjoy the things

I have.” (The Dalai Lama 22). Happiness does not always come from good things like in this

case, this man was diagnosed with AIDS and this helped him transform his happiness, he learned

how to accept it be grateful for what he has despite the virus. Accepting this helped him grow as

a person and learned how live his best life despite is difference. While other people are blinded

by the idea of materialistic items or by their annual gross income increasing yearly. Many people

become dissatisfied soon after reaching their goals and set new ones like mentioned “This

Happens, for instance, when our income suddenly jumps from 20k-30k a year, but it’s not the

absolute amount of income, and discover that we won’t be happy again unless we’re making 40k

a year.” (The Dalai Lama 23). When you begin to have a steady income, you forget what you

have, and you adjust to it no matter what it is and begin to want more of it. Soon money doesn’t

motivate you and you begin to set higher goals and it becomes a chain affect, leading you to not

settle down and always keep at your feet, it’s all a mindset.

This goes along with David Brooks who also agrees, Happiness comes through the

internal power of the individual. Similar but different, Brooks argues Happiness is more so

acquired through suffering and getting to know yourself truly as a person. Brooks believes that
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when someone goes through a time and suffers greatly they benefit from it just like he said,

“Recovering from suffering is not like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out

healed; they come out different” (Brooks 286). Not all good outcomes are created from good

things happening to you, sometimes you must experience a setback so that you can transform

temporary happiness into true happiness. Sometimes to become happy you have to go through a

dark stage for you to be molded into your happy self, “People shoot for happiness but feel

formed through suffering” (Brooks 284). As a person you should live your life from experience,

and how at a point throughout your life remember what it feels like to suffer before, to gain full

experience of the happiness after.

According to Lyubomirsky through research she shows us how happiness is acquired

through genetics and what people make happiness out of. According to the pie chart by

Lyubomirsky uses, there are three major components that in our makeup of happiness. These

consists of ten percent circumstances, fifty percent set point, and finally forty percent intentional

activity (Lyubomirsky 184). This is how Lyubomirsky explains the transformation of happiness

that we all have control over. The Forty percent represents the actions that you take to help you

find your happiness within yourself. Then it’s the ten percent circumstances that defines what

variables affect your happiness “I would be happier if (fill in) or I will be happier when (fill in)”

(Lyubomirsky 185). The third portion is their set point, and this describes that aspect of how

people believe they are born with happiness or not at all. There are various things that play a

part, but each person has their main pursuit of happiness. Just like in Angela’s instance “Her

daughter Ella, to whom she is extremely close, brings her endless joy.” (Lyubomirsky 180). This

shows us that even without money or lavish lifestyle that is struggle free she still considers

herself a happy person, because she realizes and is grateful for what she has. Having the right
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state of mind is a great way to start but there is more, “Happiness, more than anything is a state

of mind, a way of perceiving and approaching ourselves and the world in which we reside”

(Lyubomirsky 185). Happiness is something that we have within us physically and mentally.

You can’t be truly happy if you can’t think positive and learn to accept and grow knowing that

forty percent of your happiness is made up of intentional activity.

Graham Hill believes there is also that feeling of enjoying life at a greater state not in a

lavish way rather, enjoying it by being happy eliminating as much materialistic items as possible.

This allows them to see life through a different perspective other than being temporarily happy

because of what money can buy. Sometimes it takes finding your significant other or a close

individual to help realize what happiness they have been overseeing. “But I was just going along,

starting some start-ups that never quite started up when I met Olga, an Andorran beauty, and fell

hard.” “My relationship quickly came apart.” (Hill 311). Before Hill connected with Olga he

was in love with the materialistic side of things that had no real meaning and when he met his

girlfriend he was transformed and different, realizing all that didn’t matter and was preventing

him from being as happy as he could to be. After years of minimizing getting rid of unnecessary

items with no real meaning to them and gave only temporary happiness Hill finally reached the

point he wanted. He came to realize “My space is small. My life is big” (Hill 312). After years of

becoming a more conservative person Hill finally realized that majority of the things he owned

that Money bought him only offered him temporary Happiness. Taking a step back and down

grading, minimalizing the Lavish life and living on a strict budget helped him realize the bigger

picture to life.

All four authors contain a piece of the truth to unlocking and transforming this happiness

they all have within themselves one way or another, whether it’s through their state of mind that
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helps us transform our happiness like stated by The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. Maybe even

experiencing suffering to a point that you realize the true meaning to your purpose with life and

come to peace with yourself as the way to becoming a happier person just like David Brooks

believes. Possibly even realizing that happiness truly comes within you genetically and doing

what it takes to spark the flame to your internal happiness helps with becoming the best version

of yourself like Lyubomirsky’s research states. While externally speaking Hill believes that

finding true happiness lies beyond the temporary happiness that you get from the materialistic

items. Instead exploring and finding your peace of mind in more meaningful things is what will

get you to the happiness you are seeking for. Every person is definitely different when it comes

to levels of Happiness, some may be happy from the start others have to try to be happy and few

may even be convinced they aren’t as happy as they can be. This is what all four authors do a

great job in demonstrating in their articles that everyone has their own version of happiness. The

only difference that makes every person unique Is that they all have their own special something

that burns the flame for happiness and it is just a matter of realizing, understanding, and

transforming your happiness to fit your type of lifestyle.

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Works Cited

Brooks, David “What Suffering Does” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 284-287

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler “The Source of Happiness”

Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski Bedford/St.

Martin’s, 2016, pp. 21-33

Hill, Graham “Living With Less A Lot Less” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 308-313

Lyubomirsky, Sonja “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 179-196