The Real Meaning of Happiness, Essay Example

Happiness is a word known to all, but is most likely not clear to each individual. The society today tries to determine happiness based on possessions and monetary earnings so as to empower the concept of commercialism that basically fuels the drive towards extensive development in relation to business growth among owners of corporations worldwide. The media even increases frustration among people as the system salutes people who have achieved much in life that they are able to enjoy the luxury of living under a well-defined system allowing them to access [the best things] that life could offer. Nevertheless, there will always be those who believe in the traditional meaning of happiness which is most often than not related to being able to live life to its fullest with full satisfaction of everything that one encounters with.

The capacities of people to think and become conscious about the things that are happening round them often cause them to realize the real meaning of happiness. For instance, each individual has a distinct understanding on what makes them feel satisfied. From such realization, a person becomes aware of what he wants from life and how he plans to get it. Relatively though, there are numerous elements in life that might affect the way he could attain his goals. There are the people surrounding him, perhaps his family, his friends and other individuals who may have an impact on his personal development. Their reaction on his decisions and his goals often affect the way he intends to push through with a particular goal. Upon reaching such goal, the reaction and response of these people surrounding him would also have an impact on the realization of happiness he expects to get from such personal achievement.

Another element that might affect one’s decisions specifically involving the formation of fulfilling goals is the resources that one has. Notably, this is where material possessions come into the picture. A person aiming to become a doctor cannot become a doctor unless he actually has the money for the education needed for the mastery of such profession. Given the fact that many among the people who form their goals do not have proper or at least the needed financial resource, some intend to settle for less. There are those, however, who remain realistic about their goals. Being more positive about their situation and having a better sense of acceptance about their status in life, these individuals see to it that their goals are within reach; this helps them avoid disappointments in the future.

Being realistic and positive in creating one’s goals helps a lot in attaining real happiness in life; question is, what does it take for one to be realistic and positive? Every person has his own strength and weaknesses; the capacity of one to accept the fact that there are things he can do and there are things he cannot, can help him create more reachable goals for himself. This will help him avoid unreasonable self-expectations that might crush him and bring him frustration rather than satisfaction. Taking matters one-step-at –time is also a distinct pattern that reasonable individuals take into account that often results to contentment and eventually, the realization of real happiness. One-step-at-a-time simply means taking things slowly but surely. Dreaming big might be good as it paints the picture of the future that one wants to embrace, however, being able to create smaller goals that would become the stepping stone towards the big dream shall make it easier for one to become more satisfied with his work and his achievements, no matter how small they may seem to others.

Additionally, people who are most happy are those who do not let themselves be dictated by neither the society nor the media. As mentioned in the introduction of this writing, it has been a common trend in the modern society to equate happiness with success. The term success is however often related to the capacity of one to earn high rate of salary and own particular properties that define their achievements in life. Serving as their trophies, their cars, their homes and at times even their families have become the representation of what they consider as ‘happiness’. With social media even fueling the said idea further, people see others who have their own cars, houses, those who have the capacity to travel to different places [sometimes even to different countries] are able to enjoy life to its fullest. With their photographs standing as evidence to such happiness, others are lead to believe that this is what happiness is all about. Embracing what the modern world offers and being able to grasp all that is being offered through commercial provisions often mislead people about the real value of happiness.

Other sources of happiness for some include their appearance and the way they are accepted by the society based on the way they look and the way they wear their clothes. Media, for instance, has created a reflection of beautiful women to be related to fit and sexy figures. Although such campaign may be considered a promotion of better health for women, those who are not able to achieve such body-shape often end up frustrated and depressed. The way they let the media dictate how they should feel about themselves prove to affect the way they understand what happiness is.

Through discussing all the different elements that make people happy, there is one common idea that identifies well with the real meaning of happiness; that it is a state of mind. Psychological studies have been accomplished from time-to-time to research on how the process of thinking actually affects the outlook of a person towards life. Relatively, compared to others who are more negative when it comes to accepting challenges in their lives, those who willingly accept challenges, troubles and problems as mere part of life become more accustomed to adjustments and are less frustrated with their own lives. These individuals often find the silver lining in every situation, trying to dig out every possible positive matter that makes up every experience that they encounter in life. The positive outlook that these individuals have affect the way they perceive unforeseen occurrences, thus allowing them to move on even though there might be instances when they also fell and disappointed themselves. Instead of wallowing about what happened or what could have been, people who have positive outlook in life would choose to pick the good things in every bad situation and utilize such positive elements into creating new pathways that they could take to move on from the dreadful situations they may have just experienced.

Considerably, a person who is able to see through better options and is easily able to accept personal mistakes and the mistakes of others as well as mere part of human life, are the ones who are able to experience real happiness. The contentment they get simply from being able to live life one-day-at-a-time and accept every little lesson it has to offer as a stepping stone for the future allows them to get more out of their everyday experiences and be happy with it. In a way, real happiness is achieved through a choice that one makes every day. In every situation, there is a bad and a good side to it. It is up to the person to decide on which side he would like to look at the situation and utilize such understanding to create a more positive perception about life as a whole. People who are unwilling to adjust and accept changes as part of everyday living are the ones who often feel frustrated and dismayed, thus robbing them off from the happiness that life has to offer them. Indeed, it could be agreed upon that happiness is indeed a state of mind that dictates one’s attitudes and behavior towards life.