Rosalba Frica
ENGH 1010
Instructor Trenton McKay Judson
4 August 2014
The Greatest Project
Do you know you are the one to decide to be happy? Can you be happy while having difficulties? I believe it is possible. My mother died from cancer when she was 44 years old. From the moment she discovered her sickness until the day she died, she decided to enjoy her last days and be happy. During the time she was sick, she used to sing, dance, and add humor to her life to make us feel happy. She always smiled and tried to make other people around her to smile. For most people, happiness is that pleasant feeling we get when life is good. Difficulties and unexpected changes may appear at any moment of our lives; it may be the loss of a loved one, our own sickness, the loss of a job, dealing with divorce, and many other sad or uncomfortable situations that human beings have to face on a daily basis. These types of situations cannot be avoided. But we do have the power to choose the type of attitude we will have when facing these problems. Feeling sadness when we are hurt is okay, we should even cry if it will help us feel better. After the sadness has passed through us, it is important to fill our lives with positive things that will bring us happiness. This is important because if do not replace the sadness with happiness, depression may come and stay in our lives. Feeling depressed is one of the worse sentiments we may have in our lives because it keeps us from enjoying any good thing that life may bring us. For me, creating something new is one of the most fun ways to improve happiness, it is the best way of releasing stress.
Many people associate happiness with fame, money, and other material possessions; however, scientific studies show that money cannot buy happiness. According to Psychologist Martin Seligman, director of the positive psychology center at the University of Pennsylvania, and founder of positive psychology (which focuses on the study of positive emotions) defines a formula for happiness: SCV. (S) Is your happiness set point? (C) Constitutes your life circumstances. (V) Represents your voluntary activities. The purpose of this life is to be happy, and our happiness should not depend on the circumstances around us.The philosopher, Aristotle, believed that “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and object of human existence.” (How to Be Happy). For many people, happiness has nothing to do with money or fame, they only want to be free from any type of oppression or harm, and feel satisfied with their religious and personal achievements which are governed by faith, morality, integrity, honor, truth, and love.
When we gather many ideas together in an
original way, we are stretching ourselves; when we help other people to do the same, we are strengthening our relationships. This is one of the best ways to increase our joy. The challenges that every human being has to face in modern life are numerous and complex. We need to learn how to concentrate our focus on problem solving ideas and manage the stress created by factors that are out of our control. This life is full of pressure, and everything we face, seems to be a trial of our attitude, diligence, and choices. All the choices we face on a daily basis can form a heavy load on our shoulders that is hard to let go. Many people sometimes do not spend their time and resources on practicing creativity. For busy people creating means relaxing and playing is like doing nothing. For many of us however, being creative means finding ways to unload our minds through relaxation, entertainment, and fun activities.
Creativity is the ability to produce ideas or problem to solutions that are unique, appropriate, and valuable. Gretchen Rubin, the author of the book “The Happiness Project” gives us many ideas on how to become creative. She says we should take notes of everything that catches our interest. Sometimes the notes will seem to make no sense, but eventually, we will find ways to make good use of those notes. She encourages us to follow our interests and let ourselves wonder freely through the possibilities of new discoveries in our way thinking, so we may go to places that are appealing to us. Several studies show that people who work or study careers that they enjoy, usually stay at their jobs longer than those who study careers based only on how much money they can earn. We should buy fun supplies and find ways to have fun with everything that is interesting to us or that we need to use during work, school, or any other activity.
Becoming happy, and staying happy is an attitude. Everybody needs to have fun and relax their brains from the constant wave of preoccupation and factors that surround us. Some people may say “I do not have time for fun, my life is too busy and having fun will not bring me any money”. Such individuals may have a greater amount of money in their pockets, but deep inside their minds they become lonely, sad, unsocial, self-centered, and indifferent toward other people. Many times they would say “it took me a lot of work and sacrifice to get here, so I will not go easy on anyone”. We should learn from failure, learn to take risks, and try to learn something new every day. We can also become a collector. If we have an idea or a project in mind, we should collect everything that inspires us, whether it is a toy or a CD. We should start a journal or a blog. Experts on this subject testified that the more we create, the more ideas we will have. If we draw a mind map, it will help us brainstorm with old and new information, then we may be able to visualize our needs.
Focus on kindness will bring us a lot of peace and happiness. Liggy Webb, author of the book “How to Be Happy” wrote a story about a man who was sat down next to a river, when suddenly, he saw a scorpion floating on the water. He decided to rescue that scorpion, because he knew it was going to die if he didn’t. But when he approached his hand several times, the scorpion tried to sting his hand over and over. Another man that was standing by, saw what happened and said to the rescuer to stop trying to save that scorpion because it would always try to sting him. But the rescuer answered him “it is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?”(Webb). The message here is very clear, we should not give up our nature of following the things we like, even when others may think that it is something weird or stupid. Being different will always get the attention of others. Some people will criticize what they see because they do not understand it, but others will recognize it and admire the good qualities of it.
One of the best ways to be confident and at the same time humble is by being honest with ourselves, and be willing to accept positive feedback from other people. Fear of failure is one the greatest barriers in achieving success because it limits us from taking risks that are necessary to succeed in almost everything. Williams Shakespeare wrote, “For there is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so…” It all depends on how we see life (How to Be Happy). Every new day we have an opportunity to make conscious decisions that will help us face each of our problems with a positive attitude. We must remember that we are our own best friends, but also our own worst enemies. Other people will see us and treat us the same way we see and treat ourselves. So, let us treat ourselves the best we can. Let’s work on our self-confidence until it is fully nourished, but we should be careful with it, so we do not let it become arrogance. We can choose what feedback to follow, because not all feedback is good or convenient for us, we should only consider the ones that will help us the most.
In conclusion, there are many things that we can do to enhance our happiness. Being creative, learning from our mistakes, and trying new things will help us increase our happiness. Let us take the time to do something we enjoy. Let us collect, write, and read things that are interesting to us. Let us be kind with other people, and especially with us. Let us give the best of ourselves in every situation, and in everything we do. Let us develop personal confidence, so if we work hard, we may expect to achieve anything we put our minds to. We can become anything we want, if we are willing to dedicate the time and effort needed to achieve what we want. That is how we can increase our happiness. It all depends on us. Happiness will always come as the result of how much sacrifice we are willing to go through first. It will never come by itself, uninvited, and for free. So, let us work with diligence to increase and maintain our happiness. Believe in yourself and be optimistic. One the things I thought I could never do was going back to school because I don’t understand the English language very well. I have 5 little kids, and college is too far for me. My friends told me, “You can’t do it, it is too difficult!”, but I am here today because I believe in myself.
