Happiness
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Institution:
Happiness
Introduction
The emotional or mental state by an individual in manner to express well-being with intense joy is happiness. The state is categorical through emotional ranges from pleasant or positive contentment and is differential between individuals. In sharp contrast, happiness can be used through different meanings in explanation, since it is varied to many people. The common factors can only influence groupings within similar emotions, expression, and sources of contentment and joy. Various researches have been used to define happiness through different scientific disciplines, psychology, and derived meanings. What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein is an article, which tries to express the meaning of happiness based on the developed research of two psychologists. The author uses the enabled arguments especially in the use of money being a source of happiness. The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness by Douglas Preston is a personal experience used to enable understating of the true meaning of happiness. Through the analysis of What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein and The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness by Douglas Preston, happiness is ambiguous and cannot be measured.
Discussion
Experience and research studies do not offer comprehensive explanation on the meaning of happiness. Experience is enabled through witnessing and personal accounts of events, while based research and study is reliant on the conclusions arrived from the participants according to relevance. In relevance to the level, it is the personalized experience, which enables the measure and expected outcome. What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein uses the study methods, findings, and purposeful conclusions on the happiness by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, who were psychologists. In comparison, The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness by Douglas Preston is a personal account on the events from his role in the visit by the dignitary (2014). In the latter, relevance of happiness is derived from the analyses experience and emotions expressed by the Dalai Lama during the visit. Comprehensive generation of happiness is therefore not achieved in the two.
Happiness can be attributed to material possession and acquisitions as well as enabled experience. Cass Sunstein uses questions to deliver the differences especially when the value of money is in question. He states, “Dunn and Norton offer five general principles. Of these, the preference for experiences over commodities may be the most important (2013).” Alluded happiness is thus generated from the material possessions or expected generation from them. On the other hand, Douglas Preston is concerned with the emotional experience garnered from happiness in an individual’s life. In his accounts, the generated time of watching Dalai Lama through his encounters with people and derived joy and humility depict the level of happiness in the experience in hi understanding. The resultant effects in both methods show that happiness can be generated through material possession or simple anticipation. while undergoing the experience. Happiness is dependent with an individual especially to the levels acquired.
Attention and anticipation are different representations of happiness by the two authors. The influence in the two forms depict that the authors differ especially when material commodities are associated with sources of happiness. What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein states, “Our affective states are greatly influenced by what we attend to, and we attend to what is new, not what is familiar (hence the idea of “re-virginizing) (2013).” In Cass Sunstein’s explanation, humans have the ability to adapt to any situation either bad or good depending on the circumstances. On the other hand, Douglas Preston delivers a stark contrasting experience. Through watching the Dali Lama in his daily excursions and treatment of the people, anticipation does not qualify as a standard measure of expected happiness. Instead, in the latter’s derivative explanation, happiness is through the moment o experience as displayed to others and emotional feeling.
Time is a common factor in enabling happiness despite the different circumstances by individuals. The two authors deliver the essence of happiness towards the developed emotion of contentment and joy in any situation. In The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness, Douglas Preston delivers the sentiments on the value of experience through time in order to depict the happiness within a period. He states, “The Dalai Lama was exhilarated from his visit to the top of the mountain. He questioned Abruzzo minutely about the sport of skiing and was astonished to hear that even one-legged people could do it (2014).” Even during the whole process of the tiring ski trip and agonizing experience as it was his first time, Dalai Lama had to value the time used and level of happiness forthwith. Cass Sunstein’s view is also echoed on the same as he questions on the amount required for purchasing of time for the lasting experience of happiness.
Happiness is personalized emotion as shown by the stylistic use of the two authors in their articles. In order for happiness to be experience at its fullness and measured, the ambiguity cannot facilitate the extent. Thus, any individual is capable of experience the effect as well as ensuring that it is expressed to the external inferences. In the conclusion part of The Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness, Douglas Preston leaves the question from Dalai Lama to the reader’s personalized analysis. Similarly, What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein begins by the delivered questions on relevance of money on happiness for self-evaluation. In both articles, the authors do not offer commanding repositions on the level, measure, and definition of happiness (Greve, 2012). The reader has to evaluate according to the questions delivered in order to determine the relevance of happiness.
Conclusion
The
definition of happiness has been age-old mystery despite the level of research
used across scientific disciplines. In the articles by What You Learn from the New Science of Smarter Spending: Yes, Money can
Make You Happy by Cass Sunstein and The
Dalai Lama’s Ski Trip: What I Learned in the Slush with His Holiness by
Douglas Preston both authors use questions, enabled analysis of anticipation,
expectation and time to deliver the level of ambiguity on happiness. Relevance of
happiness is a personal emotion, experience and the expressed form is reliant
on self-analysis since it is ambiguous.
References:
Greve, B. (2012). Happiness. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Sunstein, C. (2013, August 2). What you can learn from the new science of smarter spending: Yes, money can make you happy. [Review of the book Happy money: The science of happier spending, by E. Dunn & M. Norton]. New Republic. Retrieve from http://www.newrepublic.com
Preston, D. (2014, February 26). The Dalai Lama’s ski trip: What I learned in the slush with His Holiness. Slate. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com