Schuebel 6

Chloe Schuebel

Davina Bell

English 110

Experience Relative to Happiness

When we look at the idea of happiness, we all may see it as different things. Some may

say they’re happy when they’re with certain people and some may say when they receive

something. Either way it’s a very detailed topic. Through this paper we will be analyzing the

idea of experience relative to happiness. After reading through multiple articles, I came to

realize that our experiences of happiness correlate with what people know or assume about

happiness.

In an article written by Adam Sternbergh named, “Read this Story and Get Happier”

Sternbergh discusses many ideas of happiness. One main thing that Sternbergh mentions is the

impact of circumstance on our happiness. Sternbergh states, “roughly 10 percent is determined

by circumstance.” (pg.6) While this was a shock to me and I’m sure is to many people, after

reading through an article called, “Exploring Happiness” written by Sissela Bok it became much

clearer to me that this is true. In “Exploring Happiness,” Bok talks about different real-life

experiences of various people and their thoughts. Bok talks about a perspective from Robert

Nozick and his “Experience Machine.” The idea of Nozick’s machine was to show the idea of,

“an experience machine that could give you any experience you desired.” (pg. 25) Nozick goes
 further to say “limits us to a manmade reality, to a world no deeper or more important than

that which people can construct. There is no actual contact with any deeper reality, though the

experience of it can be simulated.” (pg. 26) This idea shows us that no matter the circumstance,

even if we got to choose our what we could consider a perfect reality, it ultimately won’t make

a difference. When I used to think about my life I always compared to others and their

circumstances it always brought me down. So now realizing it doesn’t genuinely feed to my

happiness is something that is really important.

Another concept that both Sternbergh and Bok address that I agree with is the idea of

different practices that may not necessarily cause your happiness but maid aid it. Sternbergh

gives a few examples of ways to do this, one including keeping a daily gratitude journal.

Sternbergh states a study that says, “In severely depressed patients, taking the time to record

just three things daily over 15 days led to a reported increase in well-being.” (pg.17) Going

further on this concept of different practice that could aid in one’s happiness is mentioned in

Bok’s article. One example he states is a Monk named Matthieu Ricard. While the Monks go

way beyond what a non-monk would go when it comes to keeping tracks of their thoughts and

worshiping, it’s important to recognize the benefits it has on them. Considering they are

consistent making them prime examples. Bok states that Ricard, “has been hailed by

enthusiastic observers as one of the happiest persons on earth.” As a Monk he did this through

constant meditating and serving others and God. Personally, when I am sad, I try to find ways to

avoid it rather than address it. But, after reading these articles and having them explain first

hand experiences it helped me realize how simple it could be. Even if it may not be a religious
practice, I feel that even if you do something that you enjoy, like drawing or singing whatever it

may be might help.

Sternbergh discusses an idea mentioned by Professor Lori Santos titled “synthetic

happiness.” Santos’s idea was that one can “re-wire your brain toward happiness.” (pg.12)

Santos did this in one of her courses, using an app that “alters their behavior and enhance their

well-being.” (pg. 12) While this concept could be affective, I feel that there are other ways that

you could possibly rewire your brain. Santos uses a “fundamental reassessment of what

happiness is and how it works.” (pg. 12) After reading through this, I correlated the idea to

something mentioned by Bok. Bok talks about self-narratives and how they are very realistic

and can deepen our understanding of happiness. As Bok states, “When we consider

autobiographical writings from different societies and different periods together that they

contribute most to our understanding of the different forms that the experience of happiness

and unhappiness can take.” (pg. 20) When thinking about to days society, so many of us are

very reliant on people’s opinion and aspire the life of those who portray happiness on social

media. The idea that we can look at the writings of people in the past or present and it can lead

us to rewire our brain by helping us understand happiness and what it means can be very

significant and effective. Especially because we can base our “rewirements” on real life

scenarios are there is more than likely someone out there that has written about their life that

you can actually relate to. This leads for less people feeling lost on why what the teachers are

telling us isn’t working.

When we go back to the idea of writing in a journal, let’s talk more about the

effectiveness. Both Bok and Sternbergh have similar ideas relative to their effectiveness.
 Sternbergh talks about the idea of a gratitude journal, he goes further to say that you should

write down both the big and little things. Bok also says that having a journal helps us to “record

their immediate experiences more accurately.” (pg. 22) This is in contrast to people who don’t

that only analyze their bas moments and good moments as a big picture rather than focusing

on the little changes that you can allow to make a big difference. Sternbergh also states a fact

that was mentioned earlier, “severely depressed patients, taking the time to record just three

things daily over 15 days led to a reported increase in well-being.” (pg. 17) Bok uses a prime

example from an eighteen-year-old French girl named Claire Pic. Bok states that she “alternates

instant snapshots of herself with evaluations of her entire life.” (pg. 22) After this she would

look back and analyze these ideas and listen to herself rather than everyone else. This helped

her gain a deeper understanding of her possible futures and what she can do to make it the

best it can possibly be. Personally, I feel this idea can be very substantial to the happiness of a

person. Even if you decide to write something down and never read it again. It can help you

express your thoughts in a positive manner and as you write you can work through each issue

through your own words and thoughts.

Both Bok and Sternbergh address the idea of when you ask people or mention the idea

of happiness. In Sternbergh’s article he talks about Lori Santos, who designed a course in

“positive psychology.” This course goes through all the different ways of happiness and trying

to improve the happiness of the students of Yale. Santos starts off her course off with a pop

quiz. She states that many of the students are hesitant to take this quiz. As stated in the article,

“The reason I’m hesitating to take this happiness quiz, to be honest, I’m a little scared to pop

that illusion for myself. How happy am I, anyway?” (pg. 3) It goes further to say, if you’re asking
people how happy they are they normally have very varied responses. On one side its “I feel like

a failure,” (pg. 4) and on the other side its “I feel I am extraordinarily successful.” (pg. 4) I feel

that the big reason for such difference in responses is that everyday people go through the

movements and allow each day to decide their happiness for the day/ moment that they are

asked. While I don’t see anything wrong with this, Bok brings up a key point that I think people

should try and do more often. This idea being, “the very mention of the word “happiness”

almost invariably leads them to hesitate, as if to look inwards, then recount some intense

experience of being overcome by happiness.” (pg. 12) This brings up the experiences of people

of the past rather then the present thought and mind sets of people. I feel that Bok does a

great idea explaining and giving examples of people’s happiness relative to experience. In Bok’s

examples she talks about how some people’s first thoughts are the bad memories that come

from their experiences and how others say the more beautiful experiences, Bok uses the

example of a women holding her newborn for the first time. While she went through all that

pain, she still made it through and sees that as her fondest memory. The way I see it if when we

are asked how happy are you or rather what is happiness to you, rather than thinking about the

hard day you’re having in the moment, it’s better to think of the moments that made you

happy at one point. Not only that, but even the bad experiences have good that come out of

them simply because you made it through those hardships. While I didn’t recognize this idea

and prior I saw as the way Sternbergh addresses it, after reading through Bok’s article and

seeing all the people even with poor experiences still be happy it really showed me that

thinking about what I made it through rather than what actually happened could be very

beneficial.
 Overall, both articles have some similar and some varying ideas on happiness. While

both can be better for one person over the other, I feel Bok really captured me by using the

experiences of real-life people. This made it much easier to relate and showed me that it’s

genuinely possible to go through so many negative experiences and still be happy. I found it

much more effective than some hit or miss ideas of what happiness could be or how it could be

possible.