Cockerham 1

S. Nicole Cockerham
Deborah Jizi
University Writing
8 February 16

Double Entry Journal

Citation: Parfitt, Matthew. Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader. Comp. Mohsen

Joshanloo and Dan Weijers. Place of Publication Not Identified: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2015.
Print.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

Subjective well being is believed to consist

of life satisfaction, the presence of positive
affect, and the absence of negative affect.
Pg 267

This, to me, is considered part of the thesis

for the whole paper. Aversion to Happiness
across Cultures: A review of how and why
people are Averse to Happiness

In Taoism, it is posited that things tend to

revert to their opposite. Happiness tends to
be accompanied by and then outweighed by
unhappiness and vice versa. Pg 268

I think that this is a widely accepted notion on

happiness. It always feels as if something
bad or tragic happens right after something
happy or something that makes us happy
happens.

One half of this dialectical view of

happiness- that happiness tends to cause,
or be followed by, sadness- seems to be a
very wide-spread belief. Pg 269

Again, this seems to be something that

happens to us a lot. The last time I was
VERY happy was my familys summer trip to
Myrtle Beach. Everyone was just in a good
mood and we meshed well together.
Immediately following the vacation, my
younger brother was diagnosed with AML
Leukemia and recently passed. The highest
peaks of happiness, to me, are followed by
the lowest dips of sadness.

Ben-Shahar and Holden agree, arguing that

people might be averse to happiness
because they fear the devastating loss of
newly attained happiness more than they
value the actual attainment of it. Pg 269

Personally, I do not feel like I am fearful of

losing happiness because I know what
comes around, goes around. We cant be
happy all the time, but it comes in waves. Im
not necessarily sad when Im not happy, but
when I am happy I take advantage of it.

Western philosopher, Joel Kupperman,

argues that extreme happiness might lead to
negative consequences because it causes

I agree 100% with this statement. People get

careless and comfortable when they are in a
good place or a good relationship. When

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carelessness which can result in

catastrophic misfortune, including death. Pg
270

someone gets comfortable, lets say in a

relationship with a partner, they stop working
out, stop trying to make the other person
happy and it usually leads to their pitfall.
Carelessness can be anything depending on
the situation.

some individuals and some cultures tend

to believe that happiness is worthy of
aversion because being happy can make
someone a worse person. Pg 271

I think that happiness makes everyone better,

so I whole-heartedly disagree with this. When
someone feels good or is happy, in a sense
they spread that happiness to other people.
This can go the other way too though. When
someone is in a really bad mood they
influence life around them and make
everyone else miserable.

In contrast, sad people are often defined as

serious and deep. Pg 271

I believe it depends on the person. Not all

sad people are serious and deep, many sad
people I know are sad because of superficial
ideas or reasons.

Ben Shahar and others argue that people

might fear happiness because they would
feel unworthy and guilty if they were to attain
it; they would feel like bad people for being
happy when they know that more deserving
people are suffering. Pg 272

I dont think that happiness is something that

someone deserves, it is something that is a
part of life and either you embrace it or you
dont. If you arent happy, you arent
necessarily unhappy, but many times people
suffer without happiness. I disagree with a lot
of the arguments Shahar makes in this
reading because it makes it sound like people
choose to be unhappy all the time and that
happiness causes more heartache than
fulfilling an emotion we are all capable of
experiencing.

Even in the West, it is common to try to

avoid expressing happiness and especially
extreme happiness, in many situations
because it annoys, and attracts the envy of,
others and even invites possible attacks
from them. Pg 273

This general idea on happiness was made

apparent many times. I dont agree with it
which is why I am putting it in this journal. It
bothers me that people cannot express their
happiness and that people are so sensitive,
and jealous, in a way that others are happy.
You, too, can be happy.

Individuals in many cultures have also

issued warnings about actively pursuing
happiness because of the negative
consequences for the pursuer and those
around him. Pg 274

The consequences are only negative if you

make them that way

Striving for personal pleasure-based

A contribution to society is definitely more

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happiness was seen as misguided and

shameful in traditional Chinese culture
because contributing to society was
considered as better for oneself and
everyone else. Pg 275

fulfilling than doing something to ones self.

This pas Christmas, Instead of asking for gifts
for myself, I requested that friends and family
members give me a donation of money to
donate to the humane society of charlotte.
Not only did I feel better giving my gifts
away to the community, but the people who
gave money also felt happier than had they
given me a gift. Doing something for
someone other than yourself is the ultimate
happiness trigger.

Considerable evidence exists for individual

voices and cultural norms that warn against
the perils of pursuing happiness because of
the damage it can cause to the pursuer and
those around her. Pg 276

Like I mentioned before, I do not believe that

expressing happiness is detrimental to
surrounding population, but I do think that
excessive display of happiness could be
viewed as annoying or damaging.

Indeed, our review revealed that aversion

to happiness has assumed many forms and
has been based on many different
premises. Pg 276

This is the summary for the entire paper. Why

people avoid happiness and their reasonings
behind it and for it.