Choosing to Be Happy Essay example -- Sociology

â€Å"Choose to be happy.† This is what mom has always said, since a very young age and still to this day she tells everyone. For so long, it was just â€Å"mom talk†, those things your mother says that is supposed to make you stop and think. Yet, being too young, dumb and full of it, to really understand what she means. Curiosity emerges and suddenly there is a need to understand what it really means to be happy, what constitutes Happiness? So follow up with some research, entering the bookstore, gliding in and out of the rows and rows in the self-help sections are others, asking the same question. What is happiness? Where does it come from, are we born with it or do we make it happen? Happiness is but a belief, an idea, a theory; but theories, beliefs, and ideas have the possibility of being wrong. Can someone learn and choose to be happy? In this paradox it is hopeful to find some close truths about happiness and what is the need for this emotion. With our individ ual characteristics, patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting are we already born to be either happy or sad? What are the basic perspectives of the psychoanalytic and Humanistic nature for the people who make up this world who are always happy? Since the time of Aristotle his â€Å"telos†, or the end goal, was the same for all people, happiness. In Aristotle’s world, there are strongly knit groups where no strong distinction exists between public and private life. Everyone shares the same goals and values, so the pursuit of happiness is a cooperative initiative. That may have been the case back then, but in this day and time, not so much. Finding happiness and even defining happiness varies from person to person, between cultures and generations. Why not start with one of the gr... ...s can be figuratively compared with jargon, the light at the end of the tunnel and the â€Å"silver lining behind the dark cloud†. These are expressions of the optimistic outlook of happiness, they represent hope of a better and brighter future even in the midst of what could be termed as a bad day or the worst day of their life. Works Cited Engler, B. (2009). Personality Theories, An Introduction. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Geoffrey Nunberg, P. (1993). The American Heritage Dictionary. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Merriam-Webster. (2003). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Boston: Merriam-Webster. Ostwald, M. (1999). Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Soukhanov, A. (2012, April 28). Encarta Dictionary. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from Encarta Dictionary:English(North America): http://www.encarta.com/dictionary