Individual Seminar Prep: Happiness and Meaning

[10 process points]

DUE: By Email on Tuesday, 2/18 by 11:59 pm. Also, BEFORE class PRINT a copy to bring to seminar. Essential Questions:
1.

What is the purpose of your existence? 2. What is happiness and what makes one/you happy? 3. What does it mean to live a meaningful life?

I think that the movie Stranger than Fiction does an excellent job in explaining what the purpose of your existence is. For his entire life, Harold Crick does his same old routine every day. He works for the IRS and doesnt do anything fun in his life. When the voice that narrates his life tells him he is going to die, he starts to question the purpose of his existence. He realizes that he really has no purposeall he does is file taxes. He figures this out when working with the girl at the bakery who he has a crush on. After that, he pursues what is meaningful to him and what makes him happy; being with this girl and playing the guitar. He also gives back to the world and society around him by accepting to be a part of a tragic yet incredible book. I think this storyline very well explains how to find the purpose of your existence, for not everyones purpose is the same. Realize that you have no purpose, find what makes your life meaningful, by doing something you enjoy and it makes you happy, and give back to the world around you. Help yourself find purpose and be a purpose in someone elses life. What makes one happy is very well addressed by the movie, Happy. Pretty ironic, right? However, this movie does an excellent job of going over different aspects of our lives that can make us happy. They actually make a pretty good list: play, have new experiences, focus on friends and family, do things that are meaningful, appreciate what you have. For example, they talked to a man who just surfs all the time. He doesnt have much money, nor does he do much besides surf, but he is passionate about his play and loves to surf. You can tell that this guy is truly happy. They also showcased a woman who was run over by a car and had to get multiple reconstructive surgeries, and she was also sexually abused as a child. She focused on herself, and her friends and family, and she said that she had never been as happy before as she was. Ive really taken this list to heart and have tried to do these things in my everyday life. Im telling people what they mean to me, and focusing less on my work and my stress and more on my relationships with my friends, family, and nature. I am taking more me time to go out and play and do things I love. And Im finding myself to be a lot happier. I truly believe that list is the recipe to happiness, but it takes a lot of work and time to implement it into your life. I think that the TED talk How to Buy Happiness really explains what it is like to live a meaningful life. This podcast talks about how you can buy happiness, by spending money on others. They gave money to people to spend on others and to also spend on themselves. People who spent it on others, like buying their mom flowers, or paying for someones hospital bills, felt happier and were more grateful towards their lives. People who spent it on themselves getting coffee and petty things, had no rise and no decrease in their happiness levels. Nothing happened. They also gave people in teams money to either spend on themselves or on the whole team. The teams that spent money as a group came together more and succeeded at their task. I think that this is a great example at how to live a meaningful life. Spending money and helping others, is ultimately the most rewarding task. It can be so meaningful because you can directly see how you are affecting someones life. You can also lead a

meaningful life by getting closer to others and strengthening your relationships with friends and family. The problem is that it is hard to live a meaningful and happy life. You could give your whole life to helping African orphans, but youll be depriving yourself of your own happiness. Likewise, you could be very shallow and focus on only you and your happiness and not contribute anything to others or the world.

DIRECTIONS: COMPLETE PART 1 and PART 2 Part 1: Synthesis of Project Content and Essential Questions
Which readings/media best addresses the three essential questions? Choose a reading or piece of media that you think best addresses each. You MUST select a different source for each essential question. Write one full paragraph for each essential question explaining how that source addresses the question. Include TWO pieces of evidence (direct quotes) for each source to support your claim. Include the page # when drawing from readings.

Part 2: Ted Talk Selection and Response

Choose one Ted Talk from the table below. Google the title of it and make sure to watch it through the TED Talk website. In bullet point form, summarize the main points from the talk Write a paragraph reacting to the talk. Here are some questions to help guide your response: Do you agree with his/her ideas? Do they make sense with your own experience(s)? Did the say something(s) that inspired you that you think important to share with your partner? Write one question about the Ted Talk that you can pose during seminar.

Main Points in Happiness and its Surprises by Nancy Etcoff

We have a very profound connection with nature that brings us back to our inner selves Being happy is not just not being miserable Sex has something to do with happiness? Materialism makes you forget about the simpler, better things in life Happiness is genetics and in your control Social status

Nancy Etcoff talked a lot about how Freud and how happiness isnt just the absence of misery. Freud often thought that there really was no happiness in the world, and just more and less misery. Etcoff challenges that idea by going through how the brain systems react and interact to create happiness or misery. She also talked about how nature is a huge part of our lives and can heal us. She said they did a study were they made a sick patient look at trees or at a wall and the patients who looked at trees got well quicker. Lastly, she concluded the TED talk with some quotes that made you want to think happy thoughts and do happy things. Quite honestly, I think this TED talk was all over the place. She was jumping from topic to topic, so it made my thoughts kind of scattered. I do agree with her on the genetic stuff; that half of happiness is genetic and half of it is in our control, but I agree with her on most of the brain stuff because science has proven it. There was nothing to inspirational about this TED talk to be honest.

As a high schooler, right now, do you believe that your social status and what people think of you determine if you are happy or not? Explain, and be honest!

List of TED Talks

Title Happiness and its Surprises by Nancy Etcoff Description Etcoff reviews what we know about the biology of happiness, exploring the structure and chemistry of the reward and pleasure pathways in the brain and the dynamically interacting systems that govern positive and negative reactions to our environment. This "new science of happiness" based on brain research is changing the way Etcoff and her colleagues are thinking about traditional psychotherapy.

The New Era of Positive Psychology by Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, describes the shift in modern psychology from relieving misery to building happiness. As many psychologists move away from the traditional disease model treatment, is there more than one definition of a happy life and what types of intervention can build sustained happiness? The founder of the positive psychology movement reveals some answers in this powerful TEDTalk.

The Power of Vulnerability by Bren Brown The Origins of Pleasure by Paul Bloom

Bren Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. Yale University Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science Paul Bloom suggests that the pleasure we draw from fine wine, original works of art and hand-tailored suits may not be about status, but instead our beliefs about an object's origins and the human act of its creation.

The Surprising Science of Happiness by Dan Gilbert

Can we be happy with our second choice, third choice, or no choice at all? The happiness we may find when we don't get what we want-what Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert calls synthetic happiness-will challenge our basic assumptions about the value of choice, and for some, prove to be profoundly liberating.

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz

Psychologist Barry Schwartz draws a line between rising rates of depression and the explosion of choice in almost every moment of modern life. Is freedom of choice as we're experiencing it today too much of a good thing? Schwartz explains why this abundance of options is actually making us miserable.

Choice, Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce by Malcolm Gladwell

Food industry researcher Howard Moskowitz was in pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce. In explaining what Moscowitz discovered, author Malcolm Gladwell makes a light-hearted, but well-articulated case for embracing diversity and choice as a means to greater happiness.

List of Sources from our Project: Readings

Existentialism ideas (see the powerpoint) The Stranger

Podcasts/Ted Talks
How to Buy Happiness Ted Talk

Films
Salinger Happy Stranger than Fiction

The Catastrophe of Success +The Ambitious Guest August, 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains Franny Social Media SAC documents Jennifer Aaker: Happiness v. Meaning the lesson of the moth The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones Research on Gratitude from Harvard Health

Success Podcast NPR (5 talks) Science of Happiness: An Experiment in Gratitude Happiness Ted Talk selection