By Ricardo Zozaya Valdés from Instituto Lizardi High School in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico*
What is happiness? Happiness is an emotional state of satisfaction and well-being, however, it is subjective and relative. There is no “formula” for happiness because it is different for everyone.
There is the usual happiness when you reach your goals and when you manage to solve the challenges of your daily life. If these things are not achieved, frustration occurs and then happiness ends. People who feel self-actualized and fulfilled are more serene and stable, as they achieve a balance between emotional charges and rational charges.
For some, happiness is related to materiality and money. Money is not happiness itself but it can serve as a means to achieve your happiness, and once you are satisfied, you tend to look for products that provide greater happiness. This type of happiness is usually associated with the capitalist world.
On the other hand, religious and spiritual people associate happiness to a state of the soul where the being feels at peace. This state can be achieved with a personal relationship or with the bond with loved ones.
As stated, happiness is relative, extremely relative in fact, something that is normal because everyone has different tastes, objectives, and motivations.
Now, vices also play a role to be taken into account. For addicts, their maximum happiness is their addiction. For example, for an alcoholic, happiness is drinking every day in large quantities; for a drug junkie, happiness is smoking, inhaling or even injecting; for a “TV maniac,” happiness is watching television all the day. In this way, you can have a distorted idea of happiness because that “happiness” can destroy your life. As seen in the movie “Requiem for a Dream”, happiness is the drug, but in the end, that happiness turned into an irrecoverable nightmare.
It is evident that only doing authentic good will allow you to be happy forever because if you are happy doing evil, eventually you will end up in prisoned or something bad will happen and then your happiness is over!
To better understand this concept, I recommend the film “Happiness” by Todd Solondz, that talks about this distorted idea of happiness, and portrays how happiness may be what for you could never attain.
Next, I share an animation that makes criticism and invites you to reflect on the happiness of the capitalist world, and it´s a video that can make you wonder if you are really happy.
“Happiness” by Steve Cutts. Published on 24 Nov 2017
References
Pérez, Julián, and Merino, María. (2009). Definición de Felicidad. 02/03/18, from Definición.de Website: https://definicion.de/felicidad/
Editor’s Note: Ricardo Zozaya Valdés is a graduating senior at Instituto Lizardi in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico. He aspires to be an interactive computer program designer. This article is part of his class project for an English writing class taught by the editor of this publication. Congratulations, Ricardo!
Other Articles by this student author:
Imagine-Mexico.com/Foreign Remittances -Money Sent by Immigrants in the USA to Mexico
Imagine-Mexico.com/Altars, Masks, and Parades for the Day of the Dead in Mexico