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Monica Navarro

Professor Jon A. Beadle

English 115

30 September 2018

The Process of Happiness

Happiness is encountered through many different spaces, whether those spaces

come from an external or internal point of view. For example, Sonja Lyubomirsky’s article,

“How Happy Are You and Why?” gives examples on how others have achieved their

happiness, as well as provide a logical explanation towards why we are happy. The article,

“What Suffering Does” written by David Brooks, explains how those who suffered have

gotten back up on their feet to make something better from their suffering, while in the

article, “Living with Less. A Lot Less,” written by Graham Hill, explains how having

materialistic objects can reduce the feeling of happiness in one’s life. According to the

authors, one’s happiness may come from a born set point, the decisions people make in

order to find their happiness, or environmental triggers.

In order for us to feel happy we have had to been born with a natural set point of

happiness. According to Sonja Lyubomirsky, “genetically determined predisposition for

happiness (or unhappiness) accounts for 50 percent,” meaning that we are naturally born

with happiness (186). Our set point of happiness is what makes up most of the feeling on

how we feel joy during certain situations. The information provided helps people

understand why we are naturally happy, instead of thinking that we have to find our

happiness ourselves. Our happiness is already within us; however, we still have the other
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fifty percent to see how people encounter their happiness through their decisions and

circumstantial situations. There was an experiment conducted between twins to see if the

natural set point of happiness was equally the same for each other. Twins who have been

separated at birth, “have been deemed a classic in psychology. The identical twins were

extremely similar to each other in their happiness scores” (Lyubomirsky 189). Twins who

have been separated do have similar set points even if they were separated at birth. Both

felt the same set point of happiness without having any knowledge about each other. Twins

are not necessarily the only people who have a set point of happiness. It was an experiment

to prove that whether it be fraternal, identical, or no twins at all, everyone has a set point of

happiness within themselves. The rest of our happiness depends on what environment or

actions we take to make ourselves live a blissful life.

Happiness can also be affected by the decisions we make in our daily lives. Most of

the joy people feel comes from, “40 percent… intentional activity” (Lyubomirsky 185).

People intentionally make decisions to live a happier life. Many people would not want to

make a decision that would not benefit their own happiness, people want the best for

themselves. For example, Sonja Lyubomirsky provides an interviewees point of view on

how the interviewee found her happiness through her own decisions. The interviewee

named Angela had gone through many different obstacles such as, “[marrying] a man she’d

known for three months… [giving birth to their] daughter, Ella, they divorced”

(Lyubomirsky 180). By making these decisions she believed that she was escaping her

horrible past to feel happiness in her life. She thought that her happiness could be found

with a man that she had recently known. It was not until she had her daughter that she

began to feel, “endless joy” (Lyubomirsky 180). She decided to raise her daughter as a
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single mother because her daughter brought her the happiness she longed for into her life.

She could have taken other alternatives in which she may have put her child for adoption or

not care about her child in order to find a new environment in where she encounters her

happiness. Yet, Angela raised her daughter as a single mother because her daughter brought

her happiness. Her internal space was converted from a nightmare into a beautiful dream

because she had finally encountered her happiness. The decisions one makes may not

always be simple, but the decisions people make are enough to satisfy their happiness.

Although every person may have their own set point of happiness, those who came

from a traumatizing environment do not find it easy to live a happy life. However, people

who have suffered eventually regain their happiness. Those who may have lost a loved one,

“can’t tell themselves to stop feeling pain,” (Brook 286). The experience of having to suffer

the loss of a loved one can never go away, since it is internally engraved in them. At times,

people who go through these experiences can have a difficult time to overcome their

suffering, but it is not impossible for them to find happiness. Those who, “come out

different,” have a distinct view of their own happiness (Brooks 287). Those who have gone

through suffering, “hurl themselves deeper and gratefully into… loved ones and

commitments,” to bring happiness towards others (Brooks 287). This view on helping

others with similar problems one may have went through not only brings external happiness

to others, it also brings internal happiness to themselves because they were capable of

helping others. They can encounter a new sense of happiness by helping those in need.

People who have suffered in their lives shifted from a dark space into a joyful one because

they can help others achieve their happiness. Happiness is found through different

environments, it’s a matter of how one encounters their joyful emotion.

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In Graham Hill’s perspective external materialistic objects that have no value are

keeping us from happiness. According to his article, the experience of his own, “success

and the things it bought quickly changed… Soon [he] was numb to it all,” because he began

to notice how materialistic objects could not fill in his happiness (Hill 309). The

environment of him having so many materialistic objects due to his success, could not help

the internal issue of encountering his own happiness. He despised how all of the objects

around him constantly consumed his attention . He just felt, “more anxious than before”

(Hill 309). He felt no comfort living in a lavish environment, so he set out to seek an

environment that would help him find his happiness. In order for him to reencounter his

happiness, he began to live in a different environment where he was limited in,

“resources… [living] less—and [enjoying] more” (Hill 313). Although Graham Hill could

have lived a lavish life, he chose to live with the resources he needed to live a happy life.

He shrunk his environmental space, so that he can have a joyful experience for himself. He

was satisfied with living in a small house and having friends and family who cared for him.

He was finally disconnected from the external materialistic space and reconnected to a

spiritual space of happiness.

Overall, our happiness may come from our set point, environmental triggers, or our

decisions. The authors suggest that even if one may have had a traumatic experience, made

a decision that made them feel content with their happiness, changed their environmental

setting to feel happiness, etc., all are different ways in how people can achieve their

happiness. Sonja Lyubomirsky provides many statistics and information on why we are

happy, yet she argues how our set points only make up a percentage of our happiness.

Instead she argues that we each internally make the conscious decision to make ourselves
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even happier than our natural set point. David Brooks also presents how one can convert

their internal space into happiness, however for those who have had a traumatic experience

it may be a tougher path to reach that happiness. Graham Hill suggests that we should

change our external spaces in order for us to feel happiness in our lives. He argues that

people should live a simple life instead of a life full of distractions, in order to find

happiness in one’s life. No matter in what ways people find their joy, all paths lead to their

happiness.
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Works Cited Page

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt and

Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp.284-287

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and David Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp.308-313

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martins, 2016, pp. 179-197