Happiness in culture/ temporary pleasures

 I feel like my first proposal was week and didn’t have enough information to expand on and research. In this essay I will be discussing happiness and quality of life. There are many different prospective of happiness between people of different cultures.  Doesn’t many people have different views on happiness and what makes them happy? People can say that the environment a person is brought up in can have a major effect on their views of happiness. Wouldn’t a poor little boy from Ethiopia’s view of happiness be a nice hot meal and some water that’s not miles away from home? And now wouldn’t a young boy from the suburbs who was raised in a nice home view of happiness be getting rid of their food before their parents see them, or even going to Disney land? Even little kids have their views of happiness, but a person’s culture and their quality of life has major effects on your prospective of happiness. Even we as adults have many temporary pleasures that make us believe we are happy, many find their temporary happiness through sex, alcohol drugs, and fashionable clothing.

http://www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+%28default%29/book/978-94-007-2699-4

The first book I a saw was about culture and happiness “The Geography of Bliss,” by Eric Weiner. In this book, Weiner travels the globe to find secrets of happiness and unhappiness in many locations.

Another interesting part to happiness may involve a lack of thinking. In India, Weiner was struck that thinking was discouraged because it contributed to unhappiness. As an Indian told him, “You should not think too much. You should not have anything in your mind. The more you think, the less happy you will be.”

http://thequestforagoodlife.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/the-quest-for-happiness-across-cultures/

There are many cultural services stopping Americans from creating deep connections with other people. For example, Americans work longer hours and travel more than any people in the world. This takes away time from our loved ones, an important source of true happiness.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cyCWd-YZgIsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Helaine Selin, Gareth Davey Springer Science & Business Media, Feb 29, 2012 – History

The West is considered “materialistic, and happiness comes from achievement and gaining”. The East is said to be more “people oriented, where happiness is a result of deep personal relations. So, poor people can be happier in the East than the West, because they are not so concerned with possession and more with society. It is definitely true that people experience happiness differently. Some people are strong, and can put difficult times behind them easily; others stick to sorrow and hard times. Whether this is a problem of culture or personality its hard to measure; most likely it is a blend of both.

by: Jacob Garcia