Happiness
Follow your Bliss," this simple epithet espoused by the mythologist Joseph Campbell is at the heart of any inquiry on happiness. Can a human being do anything else? or, as outside observers such as psychologists realize, do we seek things that make us unhappy? And why would we? Both Pavlov and Skinner would agree that behavior is motivated by some kind of reward or payoff, whether emotional such as love and affection, or physical such as food and shelter. Both operant and classical conditioning have at their heart a reward or payoff regarding learned or instinctual behavior. Is it the reward that makes one happy, or the pursuit of the reward and achievement of the goal, or both.
In regards to the classical response-reward approach, once all the conditions for life are met, what should be left is happiness. This may be true for dogs and pigeons, but it somehow is not so clear-cut in human beings. Nature seems to give us an instinct for survival and certain pleasures in achieving the stages necessary for survival and procreation. There is surely pleasure in eating, in a good shelter with an excellent video and sound system, and a great deal of endorphins released during the procreative act. Nature tells us the biologically we are seeking that endorphin rush from these particular acts, and others. But happiness is more than pleasure, is it not? Perhaps what we call happiness is a learned behavior; a nurturing condition brought about by cultural and observational learning from the social orders. You will be happy if you get the right job, the right mate, the right house and car. It is possible that we follow these guidelines but as individuals we often discover that these can be things that do not really make us happy, in fact they may eventually have the opposite effect.
Follow your bliss involves an innate knowledge that can go beyond the stereotypes of society and go towards the archetypes of Jung's collective unconsciousness. Some can experience this directly, some have to go through the stages that society presents in order to get back to their inner vision in the sudden realization that they are only things. Some just get mired in what they feel they are supposed to be doing. Happiness comes to the ones that can finally follow their bliss.
Religion has the ability to give people hope especially the hopeless. Despite the harsh situations and challenges that people face, religion plays a fundamental role of giving them hope and optimism from which they draw strength. Religion is also an agent for socialization. It is no doubt meeting with other believers for religious events is more than just practicing faith (Reeve 2006). People use the opportunity to meet old friends
Happiness Means to Me My strategy for creating and ensuring thorough happiness for myself and others is simple: I will treat myself and others well, with kindness and compassion. As a nurse, I have already dedicated my life to helping others heal and experience overall well-being. My profession will continue to bolster my happiness as well as the happiness of others. However, happiness for me is not limited to my
"Mansfield's characters share the topical hopelessness that characterized much of early Modernist writing. Characters like Miss Brill seem to be living on the brink of personal disaster; the sense of community has vanished; they are largely alone" (Devi). Miss Brill must face the dreadful truth that the community she felt so much a part of could easily go on without her. By the time she reaches her dark room,
Myths Myth of Marriage and Children Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth is a book that can potentially transform the reader's consciousness. Beyond being informative, Campbell's analysis of cultural myths is profound; it provokes genuine introspection. The author refers to the spiritual in whatever he speaks about, and yet he never lapses into religious diatribe or dogma. Subjects like marriage are elevated beyond the social to the psycho-spiritual. For example, he calls
Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. By Elaine Tyler May (New York: Basic Books, 1988). vii + 284 pp. Reviewed by in her book, Elaine Tyler May begins by describing a Life magazine feature involving a couple in 1959 who spent their honeymoon in a bomb shelter. This is the attention-grabbing start of a work that seeks to explore, in depth, the various components involved in domestic
Despite its clear benefits and advantages in terms of ease of use and cost effectiveness, there are certain risks associated with wireless networking. These risks are discussed further below. Review of the Literature. Security Risks Associated with IEEE WLAN 802.11. The applications for wireless communication technology continue to develop and expand; today, at least, the 802.11b is the standard of choice for wireless router communication used with network installation (Gonazles & Higby
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now