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Stephanie Miranda

Corri Ditch

ENGL 115

21 September 2020

Achieving the Possible

Our perception of happiness has been tainted by societal expectations and the pressure

that is with becoming happy however, almost none of it has to do with external factors rather

than the content of our character. In the articles, How happy are you and Why? By Sonia

Lyubomirsky, Living with Less A lot less by Graham Hill, The Sources of Happiness by the

Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler they all discuss what affects happiness by using different

sources. Hill utilizing his past experience to how he found his happiness, the Dalai Lama and

Howard Cutler identifying and talking about the psychology of materialism and the differences

in people's circumstances that can affect their mindset, and finally Lyumbomirsky conducting

various studies and utilizing logos as the forefront of her argument. ​Lyumbomirsky provided the

most effective argument as she not only compares and contrasts peoples lives in order to support

her analysis of happiness but she also goes into depth as to how happiness may be predetermined

genetically all while including the various hardships that innocent people have faced and how

they see the silver lining which many can relate to or draw inspiration from, this o​pposed to

Sources of Happiness which mostly offers advice and Living with Less A lot less who has a very

specific situation the vast majority can't relate to.

Lyubomirsky's article centers around various circumstances of different people then goes

into details as to what determines happiness. She uses a pie chart to state “50% of your happiness
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is from your happiness setpoint, 40% from intentional act, and finally 10% is circumstantial.”

(Lyubomirsky 184) Then she states the myths that come along with happiness and how to obtain

it, to debunk these myths she uses practical scenarios and her background in psychology to

provide as to why they don't hold up when someone is genuinely trying to achieve happiness.

Finally she goes into detail as to why these percentages are what they are. The vast majority of

her argument is attributed to the logical explanation of happiness, utilizing past scientific studies

and her own experience in the psychology field to back her claims as to why we are happy and

what factors they stem from. This provides a stronger argument as opposed to The Dalai Lama

and Cutler and Hill for various reasons. However Dalai Lama and Cutler, just as Lyumbosky did,

compared people's lives yet limited it to one comparison of two different lives. One being

someone who had been diagnosed with HIV and the other who had just come into a lump sum of

money. Their contrast lies in their perception of life despite given two drastically different

circumstances. Additionally the Dalai Lama and Cutler continue to conduct logical observations

to further support their argument by asking two different groups of people to repeat two

sentences, one having a grateful outlook on life and another stating what they were longing for

then collecting data as to how they felt after repeating each sentence. Finally Hill's article

provides little no logical evidence to support his claim as to why materialism is not the path to

follow when seeking permanent happiness, instead he provides his own past experience to

describe his own hardships however that does not mean it is a proper source when analyzing the

contents of happiness. While the Sources of Happiness does highlight logos and uses

observations to support their evidence Lyubomirsky goes into better depth in her observations
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and is a more reputable source when discussing the psychological aspects of happiness because

of her background.

In How Happy are You and Why? Lyubomirsky compares the lives of various people,

one specifically that had emotionally stuck out to me was the ons of Angela, “Angela is

thirty-four years old and is one of the happiest people that I ever interviewed. You wouldn't

guess it, however, from all she’s had to bear.” (Lyubomirsky 180) From being bullied, physical

abuse to divorce and going bankrupt, Angela had her fair share of misfortunes in her life. The

reader can look back on their life and compare this passage to find ourselves appreciative that we

haven't gone through what she had but if you were to endure what she had you would feel for

her. By appealing to the audience's emotions Lyubomirsky shows the reader that there are

terrible things that can happen to someone, you empathize for Angela whether you had gone

through the same or simply felt a fraction of the pain Angela endured when you envisioned

yourself in the same situation. Angela finds humor is what she had gone through and comfort in

spending time bonding with her daughter. Again just as the author provided a real instance where

happiness can be accomplished by those in the worst situation The Dalai Lama and Cutler also

use a story of someone who has had their fair share of hardships. In Sources of Happiness The

Dalai Lama and Cutler include this man's inspirational story to show despite previously being a

“confirmed materialist” and to now, his entire mindset of viewing the world changed when

learning they had HIV, a treatable but not curable disease. “But over the past year coming to

terms with my mortality has opened a whole new world...It makes me excited about just getting

up in the morning, about seeing what the day will bring.” (The Dalai Lama & Cutler 22)

Additionally in Hill’s article he speaks on the obstacles he faced when submerging himself in the
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never ending world of materialism. In Hill’s article he expressed “Somehow this stuff ended up

running my life, or a lot of it; the things I consumed ended up consuming me.” In my opinion

Hill would have the weakest argument because of its subjectivity, Hill has the privilege to live a

minimalist lifestyle and the hardships were because of external factors but because of his own

spending. You feel for these people and what they had endured, all authors use these stories to

appeal to the rhetorical strategy pathos, however Lyumbomirsky had the most examples of

people and their own hardships. This article makes the most effective argument by providing

various different situations in which the author is bound to find one and be struck in the heart.

Lyubomirsky has a thorough and rebitable context when it comes to her sources and

claims. In the beginning of How Happy are you and Why we, the readers are given a small

biography of Sonja Lyubmirsky, “...a professor of psychology at the University of California,

Riverside...earned a PhD in social psychology from Stanford..” (Lyubomirsky 179). Additionally

when talking about her research and finding she provides more than just texts, she uses charts

and graphs to further her viewpoint as to what affects our happiness. Additionally she cites her

own research work and with whom she had conducted this research with, “I was a research

assistant for a psychology professor named Paul Andreasson..” (Lyubomirsky 191) One can

conclude that she is a reliable source and her work is not up for debate. Additionally the Dalai

Lama is seen as one of the most well known religious figures. His entire existence revolves

around being the reincarnation of Happiness thus his words can carry their own weight but only

to a certain extent, in addition to the Dalai Lama being the author Cutler also inputs his own bio

in the introduction. Although unlike Lyubomirsky, Cutler does include that many reputable

accomplishments that would add to his credibility instead it states “Cutler is an American writer
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and psychiatrist with a particular interest in bringing together Buddhist Spiritual practices and

Western psychology.” Lastly there's Hill, not much is said for his academic accomplishment but

they do mention how he has his own startup, which later stands important for understanding how

he obtained such a large amount of money. All in all the reader can infer that Lyumborsky has

the most reputable course along with background when providing the most effective argument of

how to become happy.

To reiterate Lyumbomirsky provided the most effective argument as she not only

compares and contrasts peoples lives in order to support her analysis of happiness but she also

goes into depth as to how happiness may be predetermined genetically all while including the

various hardships that innocent people have faced and how they see the silver lining which many

can relate to or draw inspiration from, this opposed to Sources of Happiness which mostly offers

advice and Living with Less A lot less who has a very specific situation the vast majority can't

relate to. With Lyubomirsky's article one can find the best evidence and inspiration as to how to

not only achieve happiness but how to avoid the myths the media has integrated into us to

believe.
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Works Cited

Cutler, Howard and The Dalai Lama. “The Sources of Happiness” ​Pursuing Happiness: A

Bedford Spotlight Reader 2nd Edition, ​edited by Parfitt, Mathew and Skorczewski,

Dawn, 2019.

Hill, Graham. “Living With Less. A Lot Less” ​Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight

Reader 2nd Edition, ​edited by Parfitt, Mathew and Skorczewski, Dawn, 2019.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja, “How Happy Are You and Why?” ​Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford

Spotlight Reader 2nd Edition, e​ dited by Parfitt, Mathew and Skorczewski, Dawn, 2019.