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Sophia Markarian

Professor Ditch

English 115

1 October 2018

The Source of Happiness

Happiness has different meanings for different people. Some define it as having material

belongings and some explain it as having a mental state of peace. No matter the way it is found or

formulated, eventually some will find that happiness and be faced with their own sort of inner

peace. The authors, The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, David Brooks, and Sonja Lyubomirsky,

all explain in their articles how they see happiness and how they believe we can reach it, whether

it is found within us or around us. On another view, Graham Hill relates his article to the other

authors, however, he explains how he believes that our happiness is from our external experiences

and belongings that we have gained in our lifetime and how we can use those to be happy.

Each of these authors have similar views on where happiness comes from but have their

own way of explaining how to access it. The Dalai Lama and Cutler focus their writing on an

internal space and how we have the ability for happiness inside us. In The Dalai Lama’s and

Howard Cutler’s article “The Source of Happiness”, they go on to explain how they believe

happiness is a state of mind. “Will it bring me happiness?” (The Dalai Lama and Cutler 32). The

Dalai Lama and Cutler say that if we approach life everyday with this question, we can shift our

focus from what we believe that we need in our life to finding what actually matters. “Happiness

is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events.” (22). The Dalai Lama wants

to show that we have the ability within ourselves to create our own happiness. We must keep a

stable and persistent state of happiness despite all of our life’s ups and downs. The Dalai Lama
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shows us the story of the young HIV patient who realized that the material things in life have no

value versus having a positive mindset and having the everyday experiences while thinking

positively about life and experiencing literature and spirituality. “I’ve started exploring spirituality

…, reading a lot of books…discovering so many things that I’ve never even though about before.”

(22). The HIV patient explains that although she had something horrible happen to her, she has the

strength and peace of mind to keep her happiness by thinking positive. The Dalai Lama believes

that we should keep an attitude of moving forward to bring us true inner peace. “This underlying

sense of moving toward happiness can have a very profound effect; it makes us more receptive,

more open, to the joy of living.” (32). The authors are trying to show that our happiness can be

found locked up within us and only we have the key to open it up. They are also trying to show

that we need to keep their priorities straight of what can actually make us happy.

As well as Cutler, David Brooks argues in his article, “What Suffering Does”, that all

people have the unfortunate reality of going through some sort of trauma that most people need

that experience to push themselves to reach their highest potential. Brooks proves this by

explaining several stories such as Abraham Lincoln’s story of how he suffered through the

immense struggle and pressure of conducting a civil war with the lives of many people of his

shoulders and how he came out of that trauma with the idea for the Second Inaugural (Brooks

286). The story of Franklin Roosevelt was also used to show how he remained strong throughout

his polio diagnosis and was still able to run a country and try to survive through it. (284). “The

suffering involved in their tasks becomes a fearful and very different than that equal and other gift,

happiness, conventionally defined.” (287). Brooks explains that people must through physical or

mental trauma in order to come out of it stronger and more at peace. “Recovering from suffering

is not like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out healed; they come out different.”
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(287). Some people might not even have a physical or mental trauma. Some have a decent

childhood and a decent life growing up, but each person is fighting their own battle no matter how

big or small. Some pain can’t be found within our mental state but found in our genes.

Sonja Lyubomirsky also writes that we have happiness within us in her article, “How

Happy Are You and Why?”, but she defines it as our genes and describes how some people may

be predisposed to happiness and others may not be. “Happiness is not out there for us to find. The

reason that it’s not out there is that its inside us.” (Lyubomirsky 185). Lyubomirsky goes on to

describe a study done on sets of twins who have similar happiness scores on the happiness scale

whether they were raised together or apart. This can be an example supporting her argument that

we may have our happiness found in our genes. (189). “Happiness, more than anything is a state

of mind, a way of perceiving and approaching ourselves and the world in which we reside.” (185).

Lyubomirsky is trying to show her point of view that external space is not nearly as powerful as

internal space. Lyubomirsky explains her research of happiness being a genetic predisposition and

how some of our surroundings can help to implement that happiness. “To understand that 40

percent of our happiness is determined by intentional activity is to appreciate the promise of the

great impact that you can make on your own life through intentional strategies that you can

implement to remake yourself as a happier person.” (185).

While the other authors speak about mental state of mind, Graham Hill expresses in his

article, “Living With Less. A Lot Less.”, that happiness can be found in more interactions and

experiences. “It took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the inessential things

I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less.” (Hill 309). Hill expresses how he

believed that in order to be happy he needed a big house with expensive items that he later realized

he didn’t need. “I sleep better knowing I’m not using more resources than I need. I have less- and
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enjoy more.” (312). Hill then goes on to explain how many Americans struggle with hoarding

belongings they don’t need. Hill cites a UCLA study where 32 middle-class family’s mothers

struggled with their belongings and dealing with them. (311). This is an example that people who

have more belongings can be more stressed because they have to deal with them. Unlike the other

authors, Hill explains that in order to be happy one must travel and have experiences; however, in

order to do so one must have the means and the wealth to accomplish this. “I wouldn’t trade a

second spent wandering the streets of Bangkok with Olga for anything I’ve owned.” (312). Hill

says that his experience travelling around the world gave him peace and happiness, but Graham

Hill was fortunate enough to have his wealth. Hill proves his point by writing about a study by

psychologist Galen V. Bodenhausen claiming that consumption of material things is linked to

antisocial behavior. “American consumer activity has increased substantially since the 1950s,

happiness levels have flatlined.” (311) and then Hill goes on to further his point by stating that

“The average size of a new American home in 1950 was 983 square feet; by 2011 it was 2,480

square feet.”. The average American believes that they need a bigger house to feel like they are

happy and with that Hill explains that he downsized his house to contribute to saving the

environment which makes him feel happy. “Intuitively, we know that the best stuff in life isn’t

stuff at all and that relationships, experience and meaningful work are the staples of a happy life.”

(311).

All these authors have the same common goal; inner peace and happiness. The Dalai Lama

and Cutler, Brooks and Lyubomirsky all give their views of an internal space, where they believe

happiness is already found inside us whether its genetically or in our mindset. Hill explains his

side as an external space where the happiness we have comes from the experiences around us
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instead of within us. There are many definitions of happiness defined in these articles, but they all

show that happiness is possible for everyone.

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Works Cited

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader, by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan Education

Imprint, 2016, pp. 284–287.

Cutler, Howard, and The Dalai Lama. “The Source of Happiness.” Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford

Spotlight Reader, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a

Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 21–32.

Hill, Graham. “Living With Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader,

by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan Education

Imprint, 2016, pp. 308–312.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight

Reader, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan

Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 179–196.