Happiness And Well-Being

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Happiness and Well-Being

Introduction

Every person wants to lead a peaceful and happy life. People go to great lengths in order to search for happiness. Some seek happiness in different things, some find happiness in spending time with family, some seek happiness in partying, some find peace of mind in reading, while others find solace in charity. However, happiness is not a material thing that can be bought from the market; nor it is a trait or characteristic that can be developed in a person. Happiness is a very important topic of discussion in the areas of psychology and philosophy. Many experts, scholars, researchers, psychologists and philosophers have been struggling to find the actual reason behind happiness. The upcoming details discuss the theory of happiness presented by a successful researcher, Ed Diener, and its comparison with what I personally believe happiness is.

Discussion

Ed Diener’s Views about Happiness

Ed Denier, commonly known as “Dr. Happiness” is a well-known researcher and lecturer in the subject of positive psychology and has extensive research experience of more than twenty-five years on this topic. He is also the coiner of the term “Subjective Well Being´ or SWB, which means that happiness is a trait that can be empirically measured. Diener argues that the aspect of happiness is not directly related to the money or wealth of a person but to our social relations. Dr. Happiness states that humans are generally programmed to be happy, and even the most devastating situations like an accident or tragedies make them sad only temporarily. Diener has mentioned in his studies that although the level of income has increased significantly, the individuals belonging to well-off families are not much happy ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"WFC6YYRP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Diener and Happiness})","plainCitation":"(Diener and Happiness)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":22,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/DW4EIY5L"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/aDSOzgCJ/items/DW4EIY5L"],"itemData":{"id":22,"type":"post-weblog","abstract":"Ed Diener, aka “Dr. Happiness” is a leading researcher in positive psychology who coined the expression “subjective well-being” or SWB as the aspect of happiness that can be empirically measured.","language":"en-US","title":"Diener and Happiness","URL":"https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/ed-diener/","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Diener and Happiness). It was observed from various experiments that people who had healthy social relationships were much happier as compared to the people who had high salaries but less social relations.

Personal Views about Happiness

I somewhat agree with the concept of happiness presented by Dr. Ed Diener but not completely. In my opinion, the actual reason of happiness presented by Ed Diener is social relations; spending time with people, especially your family and friends, gives you great mental peace and satisfaction, stands to be partially valid. The only way in which you can get happiness from social relationships or bonding is that you do not expect anything from the people, even your friends and family. You can actually find happiness by finding or achieving a state of accomplishment. Happiness can also be found in traveling or in the activities of the charity. Such things not only give peace to the mind but also relax your soul.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be concluded that the pursuit of happiness is not linked to any materialistic things or the wealth of a person. It is a pursuit that can be obtained by self-accomplishment and satisfaction. The aspect of self-satisfaction can also be obtained by taking part in charitable activities, which also leads to happiness and a sense of accomplishment. Spending time with your loved ones also becomes a cause of happiness and increases mental health.

Works Cited:

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Diener and Happiness. https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/ed-diener/. Accessed 28 Jan. 2020.