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Kelly Nadeau

Professor Ditch

English 115

12 September 2018

Internal Transformative Happiness

Authentic, fulfilling, perpetual happiness is an object bounteous amounts of individuals

spend years pining after. The collection of articles, in the book Pursuing Happiness, address,

question, and argue for happiness, in order to assert each author’s perspective toward the

conceptual steps that must be taken in order to feel this desired emotion. Graham Hill, David

Brooks, Sonja Lyubomirsky as well as the duo of Howard Cutler and The Dalai Lama contend

that happiness is derived from an internal space, and that to some infinitesimal degree is

influenced by outside stimulus. Ultimately, all the authors prove to the reader that the reigns to

transform their personal happiness reside within themselves rather than from an external space.

In the article “Living With Less. A Lot Less”, Graham Hill tells his personal narrative

about shifting his frame of mind from a blind consumer to keen entrepreneur, advocating for less

material possessions and more travel, real world experience. Graham Hill himself writes: “It took

15 years, a great love and a lot of trouble to get rid of all the in essential things I had collected

and live a bigger better richer life with less”(Hill 309). In other words, using his personal

testimony, Hill makes the point that having less physical possessions leads to longer fulfillment,

and what may seem essential is completely dispensable. Hill sheds light on the counterintuitive

notion that, more objects, and material stuff does not equate to more happiness. According to

Hill: “Often, material objects take a mental as well as physical space”(312). Hill points out that

material possessions may consume space in our homes, but additionally these objects have
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copious ramifications for simply existing. These objects exhaust the human mind with worry

over where a person may have accidentally misplaced the object, or the staggering price that

haunts them from enjoying the good. Hill’s narrative portrays material objects to be the root issue

as to why individuals cannot attain the satisfaction in feeling the rich emotion of happiness.

Hence, by connecting the idea of objects taking up mental space Hill leads the reader to the idea

that happiness comes from an internal space. Furthermore, the first step the reader must take in

transforming this space is to come to the realization that “The best things in life aren't things”

(Hill 311). Hill is corroborating the age-old adage that objects only provide pleasure not lasting

happiness. The latest gadgets only serve to distract from happiness, making us feel the need to

fill this void in our life with the latest and greatest disposable good; yet freedom comes from

simplicity. Hill assertion in his article provides an individual with the key to unlock

transformational happiness. Hill points out that the key to happiness coming from an internal

space, within an individual’s very being.

While Hill stresses the idea of owning less physical material, David Brooks contends that

happiness can be upheaved from the experience of suffering. David Brooks asserts that in the

midst of the internal struggle for happiness, the concept of suffering should be praised for the

lessons it teaches us, as well as providing the gateway to lasting bliss. According to Brooks

“Often, physical or social suffering can give people an outsider’s perspective an attuned

awareness of what other outsiders are enduring”(Brooks 287). The essence of Brooks argument

is that, although we are all outsiders, experiencing a healthy amount of suffering can turn

strangers into a collective group. The trials an individual faces when they're suffering pull them

out of their comfortable, happy, mindset into a survival mentality. Brooks compliments his

assertion further when he writes: “The suffering involved in their tasks becomes a fearful gift and
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very different than that equal and other gift, happiness, conventionally defined” (Brooks 287).

Brooks point is that, suffering acts as a present that allows individuals to not be necessarily

healed after going through it, but internally conscious to see a different perspective. By

comparing suffering to a gift, Brooks alludes to suffering being a transformational award; that in

turn shifts the individual suffering into a conscious state of mind. Suffering is the vessel in which

transformation can occur, in order to reach an internal state of happiness. Brooks perspective is

not that suffering leads to happiness, rather it paves a path of experience, which enables an

individual to propel themselves into a state of gratitude and maturity from their faults. Brooks

offers the notion that transformation of the internal space can be achieved through experiencing

the aftermath that comes with suffering.

Brooks professes that suffering is a modality that leads to grateful happiness, while Sonja

Lyubomirsky factors in the genetic component to her position on unlocking happiness. In her

article Sonja Lyubomirsky dissolves the myths surrounding happiness by using a combination of

statistical evidence and personal testimony. The genetic component of happiness ties into

Lyubomirskys’ claim, that happiness can be attained within the confines of the internal space.

Lyubomirsky illustrates: “There is a powerful study that shows just what a dramatic effect one

particular environmental factor can have on whether or not people succumb to the depression

gene. The environmental factor is severe stress” (Lyubomirsky 191). Here Lyubomirsky alludes

to the notion that external events play a small role in attaining happiness. However, external

events may take place, yet it is up to the mental strength of the individual to determine whether

or not they buckle to the events; ultimately proving happiness is exerted from an internal space.

Lyubomirsky alludes to the idea that a simple change in perspective, or a small shift in behavior

can transform an individual’s depressed space, into a positive headspace.

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The foundation of Lyubomirskys’ argument lies within the concept that: “Happiness,

more than anything is the state of mind, a way of perceiving in approaching ourselves and the

world in which we reside” (Lyubomirsky 194). In the statement, Lyubomirsky is advocating for

the concept of happiness being within every individual; and not something that must be hunted

for externally, through the outside world. Lyubomirsky additionally writes, “In a nutshell the

fountain of happiness can be found in how you behave, what you think, and what goals you set

every day in your life” (Lyubomirsky 190). In making this comment Lyubomirsky pushes for

happiness being a combination of factors that result in a state of internal balance that enables the

individual to be at their peak happiness in life. Lyubomirsky speaks to the science behind

happiness addressing the idea that individuals are born with a happiness “set point”(Lyubomirsky

190); thus there is a portion of an individual's happiness level that can be attributed to genetics.

However, Lyubomirsky advocates for the importance of a positive mindset, when it comes to

attaining happiness.

Lyubomirsky hones in on the science behind happiness while The Dalai Lama, and

Howard Cutler pursue the notion of happiness occurring once the internal spirit is at balance. In

their essay, The Dalai Lama, and Howard Cutler advocate for the concept that happiness comes

from an internal space, and the degree to which happiness is determined by the choices, actions,

and perceptions an individual undergoes in their day-to-day life. The Dalai Lama, and Howard

Cutler support the idea that: “Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by

external events” (The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler 32). Basically, The Dalai Lama and Cutler

support the sentiment that external events have little bearing on an individual’s approach to the

emotion of happiness, in comparison to how they must rewire their brain to feel the emotion. The

Dalai Lama and Cutler support their theory by writing: “Researchers have conducted a number
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of experiments demonstrating that simply shifting one’s perspective and contemplating how

things could be worse can enhance one’s level of life satisfaction” (The Dalai Lama and Howard

Cutler 27). In pointing out the research, Cutler argues that in order to truly appreciate the gifts we

have, we must look within to appreciate the circumstances, or mundane issues we may face, and

realize the enormity to which the situation could be far greater exaggerated or made worse. The

authors assert that transformation of the internal space occurs once an individual reaches “inner

contentment”(The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler 25). Inner Contentment can only be reached

when an individual finds peace without the dependent urge for material possessions, along side

of the discovery that freedom occurs in relinquishing pessimistic thoughts and emotions.

In each Author’s article they individually campaign for the collective belief, that

happiness can be transformed internally as opposed to being forced fixed externally. Graham Hill

writes about the value an individual can be transformed by letting go of the myriad of

possessions they own. David Brooks urges the reader to embrace suffering rather than recoil in

fear from it, by virtue that it can only serve to forever alter their approach to happiness. Sonja

Lyubomirsky contends that once the reader understands the harmonious, idyllic medley, which is

behavior, emotion, and genetics, true lasting transformation can occur. Howard Cutler and The

Dalai Lama propose the idea of inner contentment as a means toward taking a step in the

direction of everlasting, transformative happiness. Each author incorporates a combination of

personal testimony, together with logic, to explain the internal shift that occurs once an

individual begins pursuing happiness in his or her life.

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Works Cited

Brooks David What Suffering Does. Pursuing Happiness, by: Matthew Parfitt and Dawn

Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. Pg 285

Hill Graham Living With Less. A Lot Less. Pursuing Happiness, by: Matthew Parfitt and Dawn

Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. Pg 309

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, The Source of Happiness. Pursuing Happiness,

by: Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. Pg 21

Lyubomirsky Sonja, How Happy Are You and Why? Pursuing Happiness, by: Matthew Parfitt

and Dawn Skorczewski. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016. Pg179