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Jessica Jeong

Professor Corri Ditch

English 115

26 February 2018

Project Space Essay

In today’s society, people often express their emotions and opinion in different ways​.

One emotion people express is happiness​. ​Happiness is a positive and good feeling to have but it

can also be altered or influenced in order to make someone unhappy​,​ or not feel happiness in a

strong way​.​ For example, my happiness changes based on who I am with and my state of mind​.

When I am with my friends I’m happy, more energetic, and willing to try new things​.​ I’m also

make like this with my family, but I am more appreciative​.​ Although all three of the articles are

slightly different, they all have the common theme of happiness and how different things can

affect it​. ​My experience with happiness changes in different spaces such as social events with

friends or with my family​,​ because I feel different types of happiness that shows different parts

of my identity and personality​.

My personal happiness is affected by different situations ​that I am in​.​ While reading the

different texts and articles from ​Pursuing Happiness​ by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski​,

I learned and realized different ways I would be able to understand the way I am feeling and how

to grow and learn from my mistakes in different situations​.​ For example, I am normally happy

when I am with my friends because we are all relaxed and not thinking about stressful things like
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school and work​.​ We also forgot about the pressures of being teenagers in today’s societies and

knowing what we want to do in our futures ​career wise​. ​In the article, ​The Sources of Happiness​,

by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler​,​ they discuss how people’s confidence level is affected by

their state of minds​.​ ​The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler states, “Our feelings of contentment are

strongly influenced by our tendency to compare​...​we can see how our feeling of life satisfaction

often depends on who we compare ourselves to,” (23)​.​ The Dalai Lama and Cutler suggests the

idea that people tend to feel more unhappy than others when they compare their own lives to

others’ lives​.​ They use the phrase, “life satisfaction” which expresses the idea that this is

something that most people in today’s society strives for​. ​This also shows how people ​in today’s

society​ are constantly thinking about their own reputations​.

I​n the article, ​The Alchemy of Suffering​, by Matthieu Ricard, Ricard explains how people

experience suffering almost everyday but it is their choice whether or not they will let that

moment define the rest of their day and how they are feeling​.​ ​When Matthieu Ricard states,

“There can be no real beginning because ​nothing​ to cannot suddenly become ​something​.

Nothingness​ is a word that allows us to picture for ourselves the absence or even nonexistence of

worldly phenomena​,​ but a mere idea cannot give birth to anything at all,” (37)​.​ This idea

suggests that us as humans have the option of whether or not we are able to control our feelings

while being in a negative state of mind​. ​When Ricard uses the phrase, ​“​nothing cannot suddenly

become something” this establishes the idea that people are unable to lie about how they feel and

what they feel​.​ Because people in today​’​s society usually can not hide their feelings, it shows
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how people are honest and is willing to hurt other people’s reputations to make themselves

better​.​ This shows how someone’s happiness can change and does change​. ​I am able to make

positive changes in my life because I choose to surround myself with positive people. Everyone

in my group of friends, contributes to the friendship in a positive, non-toxic way. Even though

we tend to disagree and times, it helps our relationship grow and our bond to become stronger.

I believe that people’s opinions and feelings change based off of others​,​ the situations

they are put in, and also their own personality​.​ People tend to react differently in certain

situations and sometimes one is able to tell how someone is going to react and other times it is

unknown how someone will react​. ​For example, when I am with my friends and we are eating at

a restaurant​,​ we tend to forget about our other responsibilities for a moment and are able to enjoy

the moment​. ​I believe that during this time, we are our true and happy selves. ​In the text, ​The

Tao Te Ching​, by Laozi, the author explains and defines how the Taoist people see life and their

idea of a perfect life and mindset​. ​The text​ ​explains the Tao and the Path or the Way of life​.​ The

path is the way of life that Laozi believes we should follow ​on a daily basis​. ​Laozi​ states, “If you

look to others for fulfillment, / you will never truly be fulfilled. / If your happiness depends on

money​,​ / you will never be happy with yourself” (14)​.​ Laozi implies the idea that people should

be their own person and have their own personality and have their own reactions whether they

are a positive or negative reaction​.​ When my friends and I talk about different subjects that is

happening in today​’​s society and that are relevant with our own lives, we like to hear everyone’s

opinion​. ​Even though some may not agree with each other we keep it a happy and positive space
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where everyone is comfortable ​and where everyone has a chance to speak their mind​. ​When

people in my group of friends disagree​,​ we all remind them that no one should be rude ​or

intentionally hurt someone’s feelings​ because we are having a nice conversation​.​ Similarly, the

Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler states, “ ‘I should mention that when we speak of a calm state of

mind or peace of mind​,​ we shouldn’t confuse that with a totally insensitive, apathetic state of

mind’ ,” (25)​. ​This quote implies the idea that people are affected by others and what they have

to say about a certain topic​.​ When Laozi discusses a ​“​calm state of mind​”​ he believes that people

should have a calm state of mind especially when they are trying to explain something so that

others will not be confused about their intentions​.​ When people in today’s society go through

these different situations, different parts of their identity is revealed​. A​lso, the different ways

that people are able to react to different situations can reveal things about someone​’s ​personality

and what influences them on a daily basis​.

To conclude​,​ happiness is something that can constantly change​.​ Also someone’s mindset

can change every second based off the people who is around them and the conversations that

they choose to participate in​. ​When people do choose to be in different conversations, other parts

of their identity and personality are shown. ​From personal experiences, I learned that the people

around you help shape how you are feeling and the experiences you will have. Also, I learned

how someone’s state of mind can differ based on the people around them and the environment

they are put in. My happiness is affected by the people I surround myself with and the way I let

negative things affect me.

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Works Cited Page

The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. ​The Sources of Happiness​. Pursuing Happiness.

Laozi. ​From The Tao Te Ching.​ Pursuing Happiness.

Matthieu Ricard. ​ The Alchemy of Suffering​. Pursuing Happiness​.