Hey Guys, welcome back to my blog. Ever faced some difficulties in writing an expository essay, need examples and inspiration online but realized more articles online are paid? No problem! I Feel you! I had to write an expository essay for one of my classes, academic English 1 and it was so scary when the teacher said it's a free topic and you are free to write about anything. It is so daunting that education is so vast, and there are so many ideas on the internet and you are stuck with what ideas to choose. So just a piece of advice, I usually check the most common ideas on google like for example in my case it was "Top 10 Expository Essays on Google". From there I skimmed through the ideas and I wanted to do something positive and so I picked the topic to what extend is happiness your choice. Before I finalized this topic I did some digging first and some rough planning, I am not the kind of person that likes to have a detailed plan because for me I feel like it is such a waste of time. So for me, I usually just get some ideas which I know can be the main ideas of the body of my essay and then I write while researching, and sometimes while searching for this I find another main idea or subtopic which is more interesting so then I just add and delete stuff. I personally am the kind of writer that is very spontaneous, like I hate spending so much time planning, I'm like the kind of writer that is pretty adventurous and prefers to dive into her writing asap. So, I am going to post my piece of the expository essay here and I hope it inspires you or motivates you in one way or another. Please do ask if you guys have any questions, suggestions, or comments below. Thank you so much! Stay safe and healthy!
Sudiksha Budhrani / 2440043811
Academic English 1
Expository Essay First Draft
7 October 2020
In what way is happiness caused by personal factors or one’s self?
The Dalai Lama once said “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your actions. Happiness is a condition, not an attribute, and is not long-lasting.” Happiness is a feeling of delight and satisfaction. Happiness can be experienced within or on the outside and can either be felt or exhibited. (What Is Happiness and Why Is It Important? (+ Definition in Psychology), 2019) Based on Diener, a psychologist, the 5 factors that contribute to happiness are social relationships, adaptation, money, society and culture, and lastly positive thinking styles which I will be discussing further in my essay. (Serious Research on Happiness – Association for Psychological Science – APS, n.d.).
Firstly, I would like to explain how social relationships contribute to happiness. Humans are social animals. It is our personality to connect with people. For example, when you are sad the best therapy is when you have a day out with your best friends or with your family members. Based on Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania said that happiness is heavily affected by a person’s social circle. Moreover, social ties can also link to our happiness levels according to Christine Carter a Sociologist at the University of California Berkeley. Carter said that based on the “Upshot of 50 Years of Happiness Research” that there is a close relationship between a person's number and status of social connections. (How Social Relationships Affect Our Happiness - The Daily Universe, 2015). Besides, social connections allow people to feel like they are a part of a group or like they belong and it gives someone a positive feeling. This makes them feel like they have someone. Having someone is very important as it improves your well-being. To add on, it is better to talk to someone and release your frustrations, negative feelings or ask for advice about something. Your quality of friendship can be determined by asking yourself how much you trust your friend when you need to share something personal. On the other hand, not having a social relationship can be a cause of
depression due to psychological distress. (Viviana, 4 C.E.). Tal Ben Shahar once said, “Happiness, not gold or prestige, is the ultimate currency.”
Secondly, I would like to explain how adaptation affects happiness. The adaptation effect is our likelihood to adjust to a change of situation in our life. What usually happens is that we adapt first which is a spontaneous action and then we only show our emotions afterward based on real feelings, for example, grief, anger, and anxiety. However, after that, there will be a sense of realization in which you realize and adapt consciously to the new situation where your happiness will automatically come back. I think happiness starts from your brain and it's known as your brain’s illusion. In an investigation done by a team of Psychologists at the University of Massachusetts and Northwestern University, “Lottery winners were not significantly happier than control participants.” Another study conducted by them also said that “Spinal Cord patients were not as unhappy as expected.”(The World Counts, n.d.). Hedonic adaptation is how familiar your brain is to an impulse. Hedonic adaptation moves the sense of force to become neutral from over positivity or negativity. Social temptation may cause people to express their happiness more than they feel because they think society expects them to do so. (Hedonic Adaptation - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, n.d.)
Thirdly, in my essay, I will be talking about how money affects happiness. Based on the American Psychological Association (APA), “Money doesn’t affect you if you are happy but does influence how you find happiness.” (Beres, 2018). Based on Research from APA, earning more can make you feel more positive and it is different compared to people that earn less than and greater joy from their loved ones, close friends or family as well as their connection with other people. (Beres, 2018). After reading the article, I can conclude that yes money is important for you to survive but it is not the main cause of your happiness. If people are blessed with wealth then maybe for the money is their “perception of happiness” but maybe for other people that are not as rich can also seek happiness through the “freeways” such as talking to a friend for example. I think that different people with various backgrounds and income statuses have different feelings towards how money affects their happiness. Besides that, social media has had such a huge impact on our life that it made us think that you are happy when you have money. This is because you can post that you are happy and show other people you are happy. Sometimes, what makes you happy is simply just buying something that is shown on the tv just because you have what others have. So, are you really happy because you have the money to own what others have, or is it because of the money itself? The answer is the satisfaction that you have from owning something. Nevertheless, the real question is are you just pretending to be happy for the internet or are you truly happy? Sometimes, rich people are not happy. This is because if you have money, your desires and wants will exceed and it will be more difficult to satisfy yourselves and be happy. In particular, rich people usually spend most of their time working. This causes them to not have the time to spend with their family for example which is the truest example of happiness. (Roth, n.d.)
Moreover, I would like to explain how society and culture affect happiness. Hofstede and Bond (1988) define culture as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from those of another.” (Ye et al., n.d.). An example of how culture affects happiness is in the Western Countries and America, where there is more freedom, people are more open and hence are more likely to share their achievements and their feelings of happiness. In countries like Japan, where life is more stressful, disciplined and relationships are more pressurizing, there is lower happiness and life satisfaction. (Ye et al., n.d.). Based on the study, people in African-European areas are more individualistic which means that they are more open, more likely to embrace differences, and look at themselves as the people they want to be and not the people society wants them to be which causes them to have more subject well-being. On the other hand, countries in East Asia like Japan have less happy because they have lower self-esteem, less freedom and are usually more concerned about how society perceives them. (Ye et al., n.d.).
Lastly, I would like to explain how positive thinking affects happiness. Based on research that was done by Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D. from the University of California revealed that people can attain everlasting happiness and growth in well-being when they are aware to think positively, are grateful, and take the initiative to show kindness. 40% of our happiness is our choice. You can make your happiness by forming news habits that spread joy within yourself. This can bedone when you tell yourself that (The World Counts, n.d.). Before you can be happy, you need to make your brain happy and that can be done by thinking happy thoughts. Your life is controlled by your mind, so by having a positive thought, you can build a positive character. By having a happy thought you also change how you operate the world and how you react to a certain situation. Your thoughts will also reflect through your actions. On the other hand, negative thinking decelerates your brain coordination that will make it hard for you to analyze and come up with ideas. (Reynolds, n.d.). Another interesting concept is interpersonal communication which is how we talk to mind every single day. If you tell yourself positive thoughts and things that will boost your confidence, after time goes by it will become how your brain processes information. This is why it is very important to be aware of what your mind is thinking and if possible alter it towards good thoughts. (How Positive Thinking Makes You Happier, 2017)
In conclusion, I would like to conclude that happiness is your choice. Happiness is in your hands. True happiness is not having the most prized possessions but spending time with your loved ones. Happiness simply starts from a smile which you do not need to pay for, you simply just smile. Happiness is when you smile at someone and you feel happy that you just spread joy and made another person's day. Happiness can be obtained in the simplest ways such as positive thinking and being grateful for what you have instead of complaining about the other things you do not have. Because sometimes, what we have a lot of people do not have. Also, we should not let society decide for us and we should not feel like we should pretend happy for the media.
Happiness is your choice at the end of the day it is not the money, what the society thinks about you, or your materialistic possessions but just simply making yourself smile even at the worst situations and with what you have. Being happy is being grateful which is the best type of bliss. Word Count: 1593
References used :
Alcedo, M. (2017, December 7). 30 Best Happy Quotes - Quotes To Make You Happy. Country Living; Country Living. https://www.countryliving.com/life/g4815/happy-life-quotes/
Beres, D. (2018, January 1). How Does Money Affect Happiness? - Big Think. Big Think; Big Think. https://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-does-money-affect-happiness
Hedonic Adaptation - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). ScienceDirect.Com | Science, Health and Medical Journals, Full Text Articles and Books. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/hedonic-adaptation
How Positive Thinking Makes You Happier. (2017, May 27). MIND FOR LIFE. https://www.mindforlife.org/how-positive-thinking-makes-you-happier/
How social relationships affect our happiness - The Daily Universe. (2015, January 27). The Daily Universe; The Daily Universe. https://universe.byu.edu/2015/01/27/how-social-relationships-affect-our-happiness/
Reynolds, S. (n.d.). Happy Brain, Happy Life | Psychology Today. Psychology Today. Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/prime-your-gray-cells/201108/happy-brain-happy-life
Roth. (n.d.). 1. It’s More Important to Be Happy Than to Be Rich - Your Money: The Missing Manual [Book]. O’Reilly Online Learning; O’Reilly Media, Inc. Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/your-money-the/9780596809430/ch01.html
Saphire-Bernstein, S. (2013, January 1). (PDF) Close Relationships and Happiness. ResearchGate; unknown. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283087013_Close_Relationships_and_Happiness
Serious Research on Happiness – Association for Psychological Science – APS. (n.d.). Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/serious-research-on-happiness
The World Counts. (n.d.). The World Counts. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.theworldcounts.com/happiness/facts-on-happiness-the-adaptation-effect
Viviana. (4 C.E.). Social relations and life satisfaction: the role of friends | SpringerLink. Genus. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41118-018-0032-z
What Is Happiness and Why Is It Important? (+ Definition in Psychology). (2019, February 16). PositivePsychology.Com; https://www.facebook.com/positivepsychologycourses. https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-happiness/
Ye, D., Ng, Y.-K., & Lian, Y. (n.d.). Culture and Happiness. PubMed Central (PMC). Retrieved October 9, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4541708/
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