Sense of purpose and achieving happiness - Essay Example

We are endlessly searching to find happiness within the bounds of what is tangible and existent around us,oftentimes limiting ourselves within the confines of material gains, wealth and luxury How we define happiness is contingent with our very own beliefs, values, philosophy, ideals, achievement, preferences and the world around us. Some people associate happiness with the word "contentment," in belief that one can only find true happiness if he is complacent and self-satisfied of who he is and what he have gained.

We relentlessly pursuit happiness - in as simple as purchasing a classic novel to pursuing a career in law may all be our goal to attain joy, contentment and thus, happiness in life. As we achieve our primary goals and sufficiently feed ourselves with basic needs and desires, we tend to aim more, work more and achieve the greater good that will ultimately bring satisfaction and pleasant state of consciousness. And on the course of finding happiness, we then realize the things that will truly make us happy lies not on luxury but on a deeper sense of purpose for ourselves.

We tend to explore more on the other side and look for something that will make our lives worth living. There will come to a point that our views about happiness may change and that we are compelled to create a purpose other that achieving the feeling of happiness. In her online article entitled, Is Happiness Overrated?, Wang explained that "people who focus on living with a sense of purpose as they age are more likely to remain cognitively intact, have better mental health and even live longer than people who focus on achieving feelings of happiness.

" It apparently suggests that happiness is not limited to extrinsic rewards such as money, work incentives and the like, rather it connotes a deeper sense of achievement and of self-satisfaction way beyond of what we can see and touch. The same idea revolves around a theory of what Aristotle called "eudaimonia." Although this is mistranslated and used interchangeably as happiness, Aristotle interpreted it as a virtue of good spirit, personal well-being as the chief goal of men. He discusses a more robust concept of happiness that is something we can obtain from the inside and not from the outside.

It constitutes not only the subjective state of doing and feeling well, but it also corresponds to the idea of being loved and virtuous. His principle helped us establish two distinct characteristics of personality with differing perspectives on the concept of happiness. "Eudaimonic well-being" parallels with people who are living with a sense of purpose - those who would rather opt to go on volunteering, providing elderly care or pursuing further studies that will give a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment (Wang, "Is Happiness Overrated?"). In contrary, the "hedonic well-being" coincides with people who focus on achieving feelings of joy and happiness.

These people tend to seek short-term and momentary happiness through status and material gain - purchasing a large LCD flat screen television or driving the latest sports car in town. However, Wang noted that for over the past five to 10 years, psychologists have investigated the unique effects on physical and psychological health of eudaimonic versus hedonic types of happiness. In fact, researchers say that "too much focus on feeling happy can actually lead to feeling less happy" (Wang, “Is Happiness Overrated”).

The conclusion implies the paradox of intentionally searching for happiness and the feeling of being entertained, pleased or elated can eventually stresses you out. This may leave us frustrated if we are not able to realize our goals and meet expectations we have set for ourselves. Moreover, in a study conducted by Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, they found out that "those reporting a lesser sense of purpose in life were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease compared with those reporting