学院新闻
通知公告
学术活动
寻找身边的幸福——Happiness, on the way（2008级本科生党支部蒋罗琼）
Happiness, on the way
08英语3班 蒋罗琼
What is happiness? Am I happy? Almost every day, everybody asks themselves the same question. As a college student, I also ask these questions sometimes. This summer, I read this book “Happier” and learnt something about these long-standing questions.
In all the nine chapters of this book, the author Tal Ben-Shahar has explored the living types of people in the way pursuing happiness and what is “real happiness”.
In chapter one, Tal has retold his living experiences which aroused his curiosity to study about “happiness”. Chapter two has classified the “happiness modes” into three types. Chapter three suggests that happiness is the goal more important than any other goal in life. Chapter four argues against as well as denies the idea that “money is supreme”. Chapter five involves ideas to help the readers to set goals in life. In chapter six combines the book with some problems in our daily life. Chapter seven topples the idea that any success is owe to loss of pleasure. And the next chapter talks about the topic “love” and “to be loved”. In the following chapter are some meditations about “happiness”. In fact, I am not interested in all these chapters. Chapter two, three and seven are my favorite.
I was, even am, one who believes that “success can bring happiness, so all the troubles and adversities are nothing.” Just the same as Tal, the author thinks when he was young. Every time I succeed, I feel that I am happy. But after reading the book, I got to know that I am the kind of guy that Thoreau has mentioned as “person living in silent despair”. The first time I read these words, I was astonished. How can I be such kind of guy? This name is so scaring. I continued to read it. Some experiences Tal has involved in the book are familiar; we may all have the same experiences. Like he endured the life without junk food to win a match, and the moment he again got a hamburger after the match, the feeling of “happiness” rushed back to him. We sometimes might get away from computer games or snacks to do some hideous homework. The moment we finish the work and get back to games, we also get the feeling of “happiness”. But it is not true. The author called it “illusions of happiness”. “The hamburger” is Tal got after match is not “happiness” but an illusion of it. From this, Tal suggests four types of living style, the “hamburger modes”. And that’s really the thing I first heard about.
According to the book, there are four types of living type. The first is “hedonism type”. Like the hamburger, it is yummy but not healthy. People with this kind of living style prefer to enjoy present life and ignore about later pains. The second is the “laboring type”. Like some hamburgers with many vegetables and organic food. They are healthy but not that yummy. People living in this style always prepare for the later “happiness” and ignore the adventures and troubles they have overcome.
The third is the “nihilism type”. It is like hamburgers neither yummy nor healthy. People living in this style neither enjoy the present conditions nor prepare to get latter success. The life of these people can be a mess. The last kind is the “happy type”. It’s like hamburgers both yummy and healthy.
Let alone the novelty of the “hamburger” metaphor the author have given, I am attracted by the analyzing skills he has shown when classifying living styles into four types. This classification is quite theoretical, but it is still meaningful when checking our daily doings. In general, most of us belong to group two, the “laboring type”, even though the other types wave into it sometimes. We labors for our later happiness, and sometimes get addicted to things interesting but almost meaningless, or feel desperate when we lose, or sometimes have the feeling of happiness after doing meaningful things.
As a typical “laboring type” person, I once thought though the things I am doing are boring and not interested, but the later success can pay all the things back. According to the book, the fault of the “laboring type” people is that they overlook the process and only pay attention to the result. So if I retreat to the “hedonism type”, will it help a little? I can enjoy the pleasure in the process, though I may get nothing at last. The book says it is another extreme.
Then how can I live a life both meaningful and happy?
Tal says pleasure is the “present interest”, meaning is the “later interest”, and happiness is the combination of these two. I think that’s why many elders told us to choose a job that we are interested in, or working would be an abyss for us, an everyday, everywhere abyss. A job will give us a meaningful life, and one we are interested in will offer us a happy life. That’s how the combination gets into being. That’s the same for us students. Once we choose a major we are not interested in, we find it hard to endure even one day. On the contrary, if we choose one we are interested in, the college life would be meaningful as well as pleasant.
The author also gives suggestions about how to set goals in life, especially the ones that we think as the final goal that gives us the feeling of happiness. Many people set the goal as “earning much money” or “buy a villa”. But like many other philosophers has already suggested, money is not the final goal, and happiness cannot be “earned”. Money is not the measure of everything. Most of us know this idea, but we can’t help run after money day after day until one day we find we are so poor that there is only money in our life. The affections we share with others as well as the feelings we enjoy alone are big treasures in our life. Taking a walk after dinner with friends, chatting with bosom friends after class, taking a nap on the balcony with the setting sun or reading an interesting book before sleep are experiences we all share, we know how wonderful these time periods are. It’s hundreds times happier than hugging a bag of money in the night lonely. The goals would better be goals that both pleasant and meaningful.
The most inspiring content of the book for me is that it says happiness is always on the way. The journey to happiness is not a match. Only if we get the inner harmony can we get the overall harmony, then can we get happiness. The inner harmony is the present conditions we have chosen. Though sometimes we cannot choose the present conditions, we can change our inner feelings towards the conditions. Then on the way to the “overall harmony” goal, we can enjoy both the process when approaching the goal and the end when fulfilling the goal.
The author lets us leave some time to meditate over our daily life when reading the book. The urgent feeling of changing myself rushed to me when I meditated. The book says changing cannot be easy. It is not the kind of “accomplish at one stroke” thing. The author suggests keeping diaries, and learning from our own dairies. The purpose is to notice when we live in the “hedonism type”, when “laboring” or “illusion”. At last find when you really feel happy. Then we keep habits towards the “happiness style”. The power of keeping habits can be immeasurable. And there are also other methods that the author put forward, while I like this most.
Though I still cannot accept the book all, I am trying hard to change my style of life. Pay more attention to the beauty of daily life, give more glimpse to the process rather than the results and keep in mind that “happiness is on the way”.
08英语3班 蒋罗琼
What is happiness? Am I happy? Almost every day, everybody asks themselves the same question. As a college student, I also ask these questions sometimes. This summer, I read this book “Happier” and learnt something about these long-standing questions.
In all the nine chapters of this book, the author Tal Ben-Shahar has explored the living types of people in the way pursuing happiness and what is “real happiness”.
In chapter one, Tal has retold his living experiences which aroused his curiosity to study about “happiness”. Chapter two has classified the “happiness modes” into three types. Chapter three suggests that happiness is the goal more important than any other goal in life. Chapter four argues against as well as denies the idea that “money is supreme”. Chapter five involves ideas to help the readers to set goals in life. In chapter six combines the book with some problems in our daily life. Chapter seven topples the idea that any success is owe to loss of pleasure. And the next chapter talks about the topic “love” and “to be loved”. In the following chapter are some meditations about “happiness”. In fact, I am not interested in all these chapters. Chapter two, three and seven are my favorite.
I was, even am, one who believes that “success can bring happiness, so all the troubles and adversities are nothing.” Just the same as Tal, the author thinks when he was young. Every time I succeed, I feel that I am happy. But after reading the book, I got to know that I am the kind of guy that Thoreau has mentioned as “person living in silent despair”. The first time I read these words, I was astonished. How can I be such kind of guy? This name is so scaring. I continued to read it. Some experiences Tal has involved in the book are familiar; we may all have the same experiences. Like he endured the life without junk food to win a match, and the moment he again got a hamburger after the match, the feeling of “happiness” rushed back to him. We sometimes might get away from computer games or snacks to do some hideous homework. The moment we finish the work and get back to games, we also get the feeling of “happiness”. But it is not true. The author called it “illusions of happiness”. “The hamburger” is Tal got after match is not “happiness” but an illusion of it. From this, Tal suggests four types of living style, the “hamburger modes”. And that’s really the thing I first heard about.
According to the book, there are four types of living type. The first is “hedonism type”. Like the hamburger, it is yummy but not healthy. People with this kind of living style prefer to enjoy present life and ignore about later pains. The second is the “laboring type”. Like some hamburgers with many vegetables and organic food. They are healthy but not that yummy. People living in this style always prepare for the later “happiness” and ignore the adventures and troubles they have overcome.
The third is the “nihilism type”. It is like hamburgers neither yummy nor healthy. People living in this style neither enjoy the present conditions nor prepare to get latter success. The life of these people can be a mess. The last kind is the “happy type”. It’s like hamburgers both yummy and healthy.
Let alone the novelty of the “hamburger” metaphor the author have given, I am attracted by the analyzing skills he has shown when classifying living styles into four types. This classification is quite theoretical, but it is still meaningful when checking our daily doings. In general, most of us belong to group two, the “laboring type”, even though the other types wave into it sometimes. We labors for our later happiness, and sometimes get addicted to things interesting but almost meaningless, or feel desperate when we lose, or sometimes have the feeling of happiness after doing meaningful things.
As a typical “laboring type” person, I once thought though the things I am doing are boring and not interested, but the later success can pay all the things back. According to the book, the fault of the “laboring type” people is that they overlook the process and only pay attention to the result. So if I retreat to the “hedonism type”, will it help a little? I can enjoy the pleasure in the process, though I may get nothing at last. The book says it is another extreme.
Then how can I live a life both meaningful and happy?
Tal says pleasure is the “present interest”, meaning is the “later interest”, and happiness is the combination of these two. I think that’s why many elders told us to choose a job that we are interested in, or working would be an abyss for us, an everyday, everywhere abyss. A job will give us a meaningful life, and one we are interested in will offer us a happy life. That’s how the combination gets into being. That’s the same for us students. Once we choose a major we are not interested in, we find it hard to endure even one day. On the contrary, if we choose one we are interested in, the college life would be meaningful as well as pleasant.
The author also gives suggestions about how to set goals in life, especially the ones that we think as the final goal that gives us the feeling of happiness. Many people set the goal as “earning much money” or “buy a villa”. But like many other philosophers has already suggested, money is not the final goal, and happiness cannot be “earned”. Money is not the measure of everything. Most of us know this idea, but we can’t help run after money day after day until one day we find we are so poor that there is only money in our life. The affections we share with others as well as the feelings we enjoy alone are big treasures in our life. Taking a walk after dinner with friends, chatting with bosom friends after class, taking a nap on the balcony with the setting sun or reading an interesting book before sleep are experiences we all share, we know how wonderful these time periods are. It’s hundreds times happier than hugging a bag of money in the night lonely. The goals would better be goals that both pleasant and meaningful.
The most inspiring content of the book for me is that it says happiness is always on the way. The journey to happiness is not a match. Only if we get the inner harmony can we get the overall harmony, then can we get happiness. The inner harmony is the present conditions we have chosen. Though sometimes we cannot choose the present conditions, we can change our inner feelings towards the conditions. Then on the way to the “overall harmony” goal, we can enjoy both the process when approaching the goal and the end when fulfilling the goal.
The author lets us leave some time to meditate over our daily life when reading the book. The urgent feeling of changing myself rushed to me when I meditated. The book says changing cannot be easy. It is not the kind of “accomplish at one stroke” thing. The author suggests keeping diaries, and learning from our own dairies. The purpose is to notice when we live in the “hedonism type”, when “laboring” or “illusion”. At last find when you really feel happy. Then we keep habits towards the “happiness style”. The power of keeping habits can be immeasurable. And there are also other methods that the author put forward, while I like this most.
Though I still cannot accept the book all, I am trying hard to change my style of life. Pay more attention to the beauty of daily life, give more glimpse to the process rather than the results and keep in mind that “happiness is on the way”.
