Positive emotions and global happiness

September 7, 2018

I think positive emotions are the most difficult emotions to maintain. This is probably because happiness is fleeting and pain is more permanent because in my life so far, I find that the difficult times are more vivid than the good times because of the strength of the negative emotions I felt then. Or maybe that's just me. Now that I think about it, I have experienced strong positive emotions as well like the time I got a high score after studying really hard for a test or the time I was praised by my parents for doing something good.

I guess you could also count the times when I'm with my friends or when I'm watching something and I laugh out loud, the kind of laugh that makes tears appear at the corner of your eyes. I'm glad I have memories like these because even though the negative emotions are stronger when I recall them, at least I know I also have positive ones.

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September 9,2018

The first thing I think of when I see the word engagement is a promise of marriage but I'm too young for that sort of thing. The next thing I think of is feeling immersed in something to the point that your brain feels like it is working perfectly and you can understand everything you read/hear and know that you will be able to recall it afterwards with no problem. I really like this feeling because I feel like I am functioning at 100% capacity which is a very satisfying feeling.

However, the problem is that it is very difficult to get into this "zone." I'm the kind of person that has to be genuinely interested in something in order to focus on it which is why, in class, I sometimes find my mind wandering instead of listening to the lesson. I know it's normal but still, I wish I could will myself to be more engaged. Maybe there's a way to do that?

September 11,2018

I feel like I'm at the stage in my life where I'm just figuring out relationships in every sense of the word. As I grow older, I learn more about the people around me and it influences the way I see them, which in turn influences how I think about and act towards them. When I was younger I used to think of my parents as gods that would always be there for me and could do no wrong. Now as I get older, I realize that that's not true. This doesn't mean they're not good parents, I just realized that they're human, they make mistakes too and sometimes they can be wrong too. I also realized that people grow apart. Some of the people I used to be friends with in middle school are no longer my friends and that's okay. As for romantic relationships, that's a can of worms I'd rather not think about.

September 16,2018

There's a quote I read when I was younger and it has stuck with me until now: "The meaning of life is to give it meaning." For a while I thought that was really childish because isn't the meaning of one's life already defined? I mean, we always get told that school -> graduate -> job -> family -> children -> grow old -> die. Isn't that what life is about? There's no need to look for meaning, it's there already, spelled out for us. Now I think differently. I feel a bit lost to be honest. Now that I'm in high school, I know that I should start figuring my life out and find what I want to do in the future since the next step after this is college. Moving, living alone, and forging your own path, that sort of thing. The problem is, I don't know what path I should take. My parents tell me I should take a course which could easily get me a job like business or accounting. My friends tell me "follow your passion" and I'm here like "what???" Why do I have to choose just one thing? Why do I have to limit myself to just one course? Why can't I like everything? But the world doesn't work that way.

September 23,2018

I really like this word. Accomplishment. It's because the sense of pride I feel in myself whenever I accomplish something is probably one of the best feelings in the world. It makes me see that I have talents, it makes me see that I can do things if I put my mind to it, it makes me see that I can believe in myself. What a wonderful feeling. However, there is something about accomplishment I don't like. I don't like it when people compare the accomplishments of others and decide that someone is better or less than someone else just because they have more or less accomplishments. I think that's the wrong way of evaluating people because we all have different abilities and circumstances so what we accomplish varies greatly and shouldn't be used to determine our worth. What's sad is that very few people think like this. I mean, companies judge job candidates based on accomplishments, parents judge prospective in-laws with accomplishments, and so on which is, just, really sad. Accomplishments aren't going to do the work for the company nor are they the ones that will raise your grandson/granddaughter. Just saying.

October 14,2018

I think our body is the most important thing in the world because without our physical health, we won't be able to do anything. It is perfectly explained by one of Warren Buffett quotes where he talks about a genie who gives him a car but the car has to last for his entire lifetime. Buffett states that if that were the case, he would take care of that car, always get it tuned up, and would be careful when using it. This is the same as our reality he then says. We only have one body and "it's what you do right now, today, that determines how your mind and body will operate ten, twenty, and thirty years from now." As for happiness, well, I think it is a concept that people shouldn't stake their lives on. What I mean with this is that when you ask someone what they want, the usual answer is "I want to be happy." But what is happiness? Is it joy? Is it the absence of suffering? Mill would say it's the absence of pain but pain is necessary for us to grow. Without pain we wouldn't know what happiness is. I think a better term would be security. If you have financial security than you know you can face any financial troubles that might come your way. If you have physical security, you know your body can withstand most things. Thus I think security is a better term to use than happiness.

October 18, 2018

I think the first step to global happiness is to have all humans believe one simple thing: All of us are equal because we are all human beings. This means that nobody is less than someone because of their skin color, or their race, or their religion, or their gender, or their mother tongue, or their eye shape, and so on. Additionally, this also means that just because someone has a different opinion doesn't make them less than you if their opinion is wrong, because their opinion doesn't change the fact that they are still human. Once we achieve this, then a lot of the world's problems which lead to unhappiness would be resolved. However, there are a lot of barriers to this. For one, the free market would take a hit if women suddenly decided they didn't need makeup anymore to look like someone else. Others, especially those that were raised to believe in inequality, would find it hard to change their ingrained beliefs. Nevertheless, though it may seem like a very unrealistic goal, I still believe that once we see other people as no different from us, the world will be a happier place.

Reference

1. Buffett, W. (n.d.). Quotable Quote.