Essay Sample on Achieving Happiness: The Power of Positive Living

Introduction

Happiness is highly appreciated in present American society. People no longer work for their own pleasure but also support others in striving for delight. Among the many definitions and theories of happiness, one simple way to describe it is how much one loves the kind of life that they are living and can elevate that life positively. Thus, happiness derives from one's satisfaction current situation. Happiness is also a psychological judgment process that involves comparison opinions of how life is and how it is supposed to be. In America, monogamy is one debatable aspect that is viewed as an influence on happiness. The question presented is whether monogamy is the contributor to the most joy experienced in families or the major promoter of profound hidden misery among members of a family. Monogamy is one way the American society engage in to avoid transient joy and achieve long-lasting happiness.

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Monogamy is the practice of marriage or sexual involvement with one spouse as opposed to having several partners (Douthat, 2011). While most laws and traditions have permitted polygamy, most people chose to be monogamous. The same way that happiness involves mental systems, so does the choice of a type of marriage. Studies show that one of the primary reasons for success and failure of marriage is happiness. Unhappy marriages where partners are involved in infidelity are inadequate for raising children (Douthat, 2011). Thus, as a way of achieving lifelong happiness, most couples resort to engaging in monogamous marriages. Authentic happiness may be achieved either by leading a pleasant life, a good life or a meaningful life

The Social and Psychological Forces that Contribute to Monogamy as a Goal for Happiness

According to Aristotle, happiness is the ultimate aim of human existence (Rossi & Tappolet, 2016). What should be the final destination for which a person should direct all of what they do? To reach an ultimate goal, something one does must be self-sufficient. Aristotle argues that the self-satisfaction point is characterized by happiness existence (Rossi & Tappolet, 2016). For instance, it is clear that humans strive for pleasure, peace, and money with the aim of being happy.

In modern America, happiness is seen as a psychological and subjective state of mind. We say someone is happy when they engage in activities such as enjoying a hot day with their spouse or having fun with friends. A psychological force that contributes to monogamy as an ultimate goal for happiness is the strive for higher life satisfaction. Aforementioned, satisfaction involves a mental state that weighs the current state with what one expected to achieve. Commitment is another psychological force that contributes to people adopting monogamy as a way of increasing their happiness. Yuthika, Overall, Faingataa, and Sibley (2015), elucidate that being single is associated with lower life satisfaction because single people are not in a state to fulfill their needs. Thus, many Americans try to prove their commitment to spouses as a way of fulfilling both mental and social needs. Monogamous relationships call for utmost dedication, and when one shows this, then satisfaction, which leads to happiness, is achieved.

Jealousy is an example of a social force that contributed to most Americans adopting monogamous marriages. Social influences, such as being worried about what people think about others, is a rooted effect of unhappiness. To achieve happiness, people chose to avoid actions that would make them or their spouses jealous. As Aristotle puts it, happiness is measured with how well potential is reached. People want to reach the potential of convincing the society of their achievements. Having one spouse, therefore, would be an easier way to tell the world that a choice has been made and contentment is achieved. This situation where people are convinced by the actions of their spouses leads to low or no jealousy giving way to happiness.

Accepting the idea of monogamy is an appropriate goal of people in America to achieve happiness because, in that way, social relationships are enhanced. Happiness can be described using the 'utility of life' component. The utility of life means that life must be suitable for something that goes beyond oneself (Rossi & Tappolet, 2016). Something more like cultural development and preservation. Traditional values of American society emphasize on having one partner as a way of achieving more to what life offers. Therefore, one feels happy and satisfied when they do according to the requirements of society.

Obstacles Prevented by Society in Achieving Happiness

Humans look for environments with certain qualities for the sake of being happy. Guy Claxton argues that people learn implicit conceptions of themselves from the people that surround them. Claxton also asserts that a self-conception may be a product of delusion, but the type of environment drives empowerment. The long-term process creates cumulative changes in people's behavior. In the Movie House of Cards, Frank and Clair have created for themselves an environment that supports open marriage as a way of reaching the ultimate happiness goal that they want (Fowle, 2018). This couple decides to have this type of relationship because society accepts it and defines monogamy as an annoying kind of life. However, the effects of happiness cannot be pinpointed from a particular satisfaction like the environment because delight is psychological.

Most of the times, people wish to be as happy as others around them. Media has a compelling way of influencing happiness in a society with different kinds of people (Gregory, 2009). For instance, TV commercials destroy a personality trait known as adaptation. Adaptation is a behavioral trait that is adopted from watching or doing the same activity over that makes it no longer appealing (Gregory, 2009). Therefore, media, with an understanding that happiness is intrinsic, introduces TV Ads and shows that help burns down adaptation behavior (Gregory, 2009). In the process of watching the Ads, one may feel happy because of a change in the environment. According to the theory of Hedonism, for instance, people get satisfied when they acquire the things that they have wanted to have, However, when they have achieved what they need, there is a higher chance that the happiness may decline because they have gotten used to their new situation. In the same way, media can also display to people the things that they have always wanted, which eventually gives way to a pursuit of happiness. Media can both act as a substantial boost and obstacle to happiness.

Society defines giving as a way of achieving intrinsic happiness. The happiness you experience by making someone joyful is more potent than you could have possibly imagined. For some inexplicable reason, it is hard to understand the satisfaction in witnessing someone unwrap a gift and respond with absolute amazement and happiness. It is far worthier than money or any material item when you make someone smile. Furthermore, most Americans living a happy life are passionate about their giving, because they are more concerned with the love that they put into giving. For example, in the movie Game of Thrones, the character John Snow's way of showing love is by giving a kingdom and an army to the woman he loves, and in doing so, he gains happiness and satisfaction. Similarly, a monogamous marriage partnership embraces the art of giving as a way of making someone else happy. In such marriage, couples offer love, passion, time, respect, and care to their spouse a little more than others. Happiness is achieved by finding satisfaction in making another person happy. However, society has an exceptional way of influencing these types of happiness.

The society has a way of influencing how people feel because there is not a single determinant of happiness. For example, family patterns and religion are may be beneficial and at the same time, social obstacles to a happy monogamous marriage. The community around set standards of the type of life goals that should be achieved to be considered as delighted. For instance, in a society that believes in having one wife and kids as a success, one may choose to have the same as a way of fitting happily into the community. According to Fye (2018), religion and family values cultivate values in people that affect their choice of happiness. People brought up in a Christian setting believe that practicing these values influenced their level of happiness. Thus, most people get satisfaction in fulfilling all that is required by culture.

Conclusion

In conclusion, monogamy is one way the American society engage in to avoid transient joy and achieve long-lasting satisfaction. The same way that happiness involves mental systems, so does the choice of a type of marriage. Happiness is the final destination that people direct all they do. Accepting the idea of monogamy is an appropriate goal of people in America to achieve happiness because, in that way, social relationships are enhanced. A psychological force that contributes to monogamy as an ultimate goal for happiness is the strive for higher life satisfaction. The social environment affects people's views of happiness through the types of relationships, values, and the media.

References

Douthat, R. (2011). Why monogamy matters. New York Times, A21.

Fowle, K. (2018, November 2). Everything you need to know to catch up on 'House of Cards' before the final season. Retrieved from https://ew.com/recap/house-cards-recap-seasons-1-5/

Fye, M. A. (2018). Understanding how couples maintain monogamy: The development of a theory of protective factors using grounded theory (Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University). Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=kent1521372030824353&disposition=inline

Gregory, S. (2009, February 26). Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews. Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1881927,00.html

Rossi, M., & Tappolet, C. (2016). Virtue, happiness, and well-being. The Monist, 99(2), 112-127. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1093/monist/onv038

Yuthika, U., Overall, N. C., Faingataa, S., & Sibley, C. G. (2015). Happily Single: The Link between Relationship Status and Wellbeing Depends on Avoidance and Approach Social Goals. Doi: 10.1177/1948550615599828