Rohan Rangarajan 01383069
Prompt 2: Cultivating Happiness: How can you attempt to cultivate a happier life? Start by
defining what a happy life would mean for you, and then outline some practices you think
will reasonably help attain it. Support your choices with reference to the material covered
in class.
I think it is safe to say that everyone wishes to be happy always during their lives, if not all
the time. Due to the subjectivity of happiness, it’s pursuit has been prioritised by many
either subconsciously or consciously. Albeit a state everyone wishes to be in, it is not one
everyone can achieve or sustain over a long period of time. If it was easy to live a happy
life, words such as depression, sadness, pain, and suffering would cease in their
existence. In the pursuit of happiness, the reason many people fall short is because it
cannot be easily obtained. Thus, it still interests many philosophers today as they attempt
to define happiness and the reasons behind it. Although momentary happiness is easier to
achieve, the way in which one can attain long term happiness remains a complex question
for many. Whilst there are numerous ways such as negative visualising, material
acquisition or even incorporating aspects of an ascetic lifestyle through which one can be
led to a happier life, true happiness can only come from within and cannot be derived from
external sources. It is deduced to this: only when you are happy with yourself for what you
have and what you are, it is only then you can cultivate a happier life.
Happiness being a subjective experience, what makes me happy, may not be the same for
someone else – everyone is entitled to their own personal version or definition of
happiness. Personally, in order to live a happy life, one should do things and surround
themselves with things that they love the most. As cliché as it sounds, being in a situation
that allows me to provide for my parents is of paramount importance for me. I believe this
is what would make me the happiest. The sleepless hours they have put in to make sure
there is food on the table, a bed to sleep on and make ends meet is one that will not go
forgotten. My parents have played a pivotal role in my upbringing (as do most parents),
having been my support system and since the age of 14, they have supported my
aspirations of picking up an unorthodox career – a professional cricketer. In light of all this,
, Rohan Rangarajan 01383069
to be able to give back to them would not only cultivate my own sense of happiness, but
would inflict happiness on my parents as well. Training almost every day, including the
weekends, cricket became extremely time consuming and that is not only because I had to
do it but also because of the happiness I derived from it. Due to very unfortunate events,
namely the recent Coronavirus outbreak, my cricket was halted for over a month. For so
many years, I had used cricket as an escape from reality, one that allowed me to get my
mind off troubling thoughts, stress and other unpleasant memories. With cricket being
cancelled for the month, I found this time to be incredibly overwhelming and difficult. I was
by myself, bored and restless. It was during this time that I was reminded of why I fell in
love with the sport in the first place. The mere thought of getting back on the field got me
excited and all happy. Aside from this, there are smaller things in life that can help you
achieve happiness. I believe it is imperative that at some point in life, you are faced with
some challenges or hardship because then it is a lot easier to define what happiness
means to you as opposed to being happy always; happiness then, would not mean much
to you then. It is that sense of accomplishment you get from overcoming certain obstacles
and difficulties in life that transpires into happiness and thus a happy life. Hence, my
definition of living a happy life would include being stress-free for the most of it, successful
in whatever journey or endeavor I embark upon and eventually be able to conquer the
darker sides of life.
It is also interesting to see how adopting a hedonistic lifestyle affects happiness. Simply
put, hedonism is a school of thought seeking maximum sensual pleasure whilst reducing
the pain inflicted on oneself. Thomas Hurka proposed that “psychological hedonism allows
that we can want other than pleasure but insists that when we do, we want them only as a
means of pleasure” (Hurka, 2010), implying that humans do not always look for things that
please them and that it is not an active search, possibly even subconsciously done. This is
evident from the materialistic world that we live in today. The mere act of procuring
tangible commodities is bound to bring out some happiness too. A Lexus advertisement
proclaimed: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness isn't spending it right," (Myers,
Prompt 2: Cultivating Happiness: How can you attempt to cultivate a happier life? Start by
defining what a happy life would mean for you, and then outline some practices you think
will reasonably help attain it. Support your choices with reference to the material covered
in class.
I think it is safe to say that everyone wishes to be happy always during their lives, if not all
the time. Due to the subjectivity of happiness, it’s pursuit has been prioritised by many
either subconsciously or consciously. Albeit a state everyone wishes to be in, it is not one
everyone can achieve or sustain over a long period of time. If it was easy to live a happy
life, words such as depression, sadness, pain, and suffering would cease in their
existence. In the pursuit of happiness, the reason many people fall short is because it
cannot be easily obtained. Thus, it still interests many philosophers today as they attempt
to define happiness and the reasons behind it. Although momentary happiness is easier to
achieve, the way in which one can attain long term happiness remains a complex question
for many. Whilst there are numerous ways such as negative visualising, material
acquisition or even incorporating aspects of an ascetic lifestyle through which one can be
led to a happier life, true happiness can only come from within and cannot be derived from
external sources. It is deduced to this: only when you are happy with yourself for what you
have and what you are, it is only then you can cultivate a happier life.
Happiness being a subjective experience, what makes me happy, may not be the same for
someone else – everyone is entitled to their own personal version or definition of
happiness. Personally, in order to live a happy life, one should do things and surround
themselves with things that they love the most. As cliché as it sounds, being in a situation
that allows me to provide for my parents is of paramount importance for me. I believe this
is what would make me the happiest. The sleepless hours they have put in to make sure
there is food on the table, a bed to sleep on and make ends meet is one that will not go
forgotten. My parents have played a pivotal role in my upbringing (as do most parents),
having been my support system and since the age of 14, they have supported my
aspirations of picking up an unorthodox career – a professional cricketer. In light of all this,
, Rohan Rangarajan 01383069
to be able to give back to them would not only cultivate my own sense of happiness, but
would inflict happiness on my parents as well. Training almost every day, including the
weekends, cricket became extremely time consuming and that is not only because I had to
do it but also because of the happiness I derived from it. Due to very unfortunate events,
namely the recent Coronavirus outbreak, my cricket was halted for over a month. For so
many years, I had used cricket as an escape from reality, one that allowed me to get my
mind off troubling thoughts, stress and other unpleasant memories. With cricket being
cancelled for the month, I found this time to be incredibly overwhelming and difficult. I was
by myself, bored and restless. It was during this time that I was reminded of why I fell in
love with the sport in the first place. The mere thought of getting back on the field got me
excited and all happy. Aside from this, there are smaller things in life that can help you
achieve happiness. I believe it is imperative that at some point in life, you are faced with
some challenges or hardship because then it is a lot easier to define what happiness
means to you as opposed to being happy always; happiness then, would not mean much
to you then. It is that sense of accomplishment you get from overcoming certain obstacles
and difficulties in life that transpires into happiness and thus a happy life. Hence, my
definition of living a happy life would include being stress-free for the most of it, successful
in whatever journey or endeavor I embark upon and eventually be able to conquer the
darker sides of life.
It is also interesting to see how adopting a hedonistic lifestyle affects happiness. Simply
put, hedonism is a school of thought seeking maximum sensual pleasure whilst reducing
the pain inflicted on oneself. Thomas Hurka proposed that “psychological hedonism allows
that we can want other than pleasure but insists that when we do, we want them only as a
means of pleasure” (Hurka, 2010), implying that humans do not always look for things that
please them and that it is not an active search, possibly even subconsciously done. This is
evident from the materialistic world that we live in today. The mere act of procuring
tangible commodities is bound to bring out some happiness too. A Lexus advertisement
proclaimed: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness isn't spending it right," (Myers,
