Caitlyn Cook

Professor Debra Jizi

UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016
Double Entry Journal
Parfitt, M. (2015). Pursuing happiness: A bedford spotlight reader. Place of publication not \
identified: Bedford Bks St Martin'S.
Aversion To Happiness Across Cultures

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

Page 267 - Paragraph 1

Many people take happiness for granted and tend to look over it
when thinking about their personal lives and how their lives are
guided. I believe this statement, disregarding any religious aspects,
to be true because if ones life is not going according to their plan it
is most likely due to the reason that they are not focused on their
personal happiness and are focused on worldly possessions and
getting to a certain point/destination and not caring how they get to
it. My life motto is stay positive because every situation in your
life happens for a reason and if you are not positive and looking at
every event in a different perspective and finding the happiness
from within instead of the circumstances your life will not be
guided in the right sense.

happiness is one of the most important values guiding

individuals lives, if not the most important.

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016
Page 268
Being happy makes it more likely that bad things will happen
to you.

I can see how some people would think this, especially if they are
superstitious or watch a lot of movies. Let me explain.
Superstitious people are always think if they do something, like
knock on wood, it will reverse the bad and the bad thing will not
happen to them. It makes sense for superstitious people to believe
that if you live a happy life that bad things happen to you because
your life cannot be that good because something bad always
happens. People that watch a lot of movies normally think that
whatever happens in the movies can also happen in real life; this is
an unrealistic expectation/assumption. Think about it, if all
someone does is sit around and watch movies they most likely tend
to confuse reality versus fantasy/movies. Movies always create this
mindset within us that we need to expect more from people and live
more adventurous because the people in the movies are so happy
when they live like that, but then something always goes wrong
when the character gets too happy with their life. This is how
movie fanatics would believe this quote that being happy is more
likely that bad things will happen to you.

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016
Page 271
Being happy makes you a worse person.

In this section it talked about how happy people could be distracted

religiously and leave little room for deep thinking on important
issues. It, also, talked about how sad people are more capable to
have a serious and deep conversation and how they are more
creative. I just wanted to elaborate on what I thought about these
issues discussed. I do not agree with happy people being distracted
from God because if you truly love God and have a good
relationship with him then you would be praising Him and giving
Him glory for all the happiness He has given you in your life. If
you are happy then I do not believe that it would leave less room
for deep discussions on important issues because if you are truly
and genuinely happy with your own life you would want to help
others find that same happiness that has made your life so amazing.
I am somewhat of an artist and throughout the years and my study
of different artists I have noticed that, yes, sad people do create
better artwork and are more creative because as an artist you
express yourself through art and it just so happens that sad people
are more capable of and have more to express.

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016
Page 272
Expressing happiness is bad for you and others.

Page 274
Pursuing happiness is bad for you and others.

This section talked about how if you express your happiness that it
could arouse envy and be bad for you and for others, but I do not
see how it could be bad for you. If I am happy I want to be able to
express my happiness to my peers and friends and if they are true
friends then it would not matter if that friend is sad or not in a good
place in their life because they would be happy for you and your
happiness in your life. I do not express my happiness to random
people because you never know where someone is in their life or
what they are thinking and if they are going through a rough patch
and you overshare your happiness it could lead to tears and
depression. I can definitely see how it could be bad for others; you
just need to know how to and when to express your happiness, but
I do not see how it could be bad for you if you know your audience.

Many people do not know how to control their happiness and

sometimes think that everything will just go up from here. What
happy people are blind to is that too much happiness can lead to
selfishness which can lead to negative effects on the well being of
others. Pursuing happiness can lead to person greed and pride; if
someone is overly happy with/in their life they tend to only see
themselves and what they can do in their own life, it can hurt the
people around them and themselves in this sense. I would not tell
someone not to pursue happiness, but if they do pursue happiness
they need to know how much to pursue and how much is enough.

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016
Page 278
What remains unclear is whether there exists a definition of
happiness that would universally be considered intrinsically
good for the one experiencing it.

Why does there need to be a universal definition for happiness? I

do not think there could ever be a universal definition because
happiness is found from within and every individual is different, so
defining happiness in the sense to fit every person in the world
would be impossible. I like that everyone can define happiness in
their own way. Happiness is a personal experience first and a
worldly experience second. It is so fascinating to hear peoples
definitions of happiness because, yes, they are somewhat similar,
but they always have a personal spin. Everyone sees happiness at a
different level and some of that is due to how you grew up and
where you live in the world, but to try to universally define
happiness, I think that will always remain unclear and undefined.

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016

Caitlyn Cook
Professor Debra Jizi
UWRT 1102-010
09 February 2016