Dajeong Choi / 4th assignment / thur 34

Love Causes Happiness                What causes happiness? What makes people happy? These questions make me remind a movie "Eat Pray Love". In this movie, a married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to find herself and the journey ended in Bali by looking for "balance" of enjoying life (Eat) and finding her spirituality (Pray), and finally finding love (Love). Then how these three elements can cause one feels happy?              First, there is a happiness, which is the ice cream cone, a good steak dinner, whatever it is that causes you momentary contentment. But that's all conditioned. And when there is no ice cream or steak you're not happy. Contentment, on the other hand, you're glad you got the ice cream, fine, you enjoy it, and then you're still enjoying the rest of your life or appreciating it. So your sense of happiness is partially based on particular conditions.              Then, what part does spirituality play in happiness? Spirituality or an inner belief experience that provides a person with comfort and strength is another important component of happiness. Spirituality is a deep anchoring in one's belief system and self worth that has been linked directly to happiness. I think that having some kind of a feeling of having a place in the universe helps one to feel comfort. Also, many studies agree and show a strong relationship between religious faith and happiness. They found that "people with high religious involvement are twice as likely as those without to say that they are very happy." For last, I would contend that being loved and accepted for who we really are is a major cause of happiness. Of course it's wonderful to be loved and accepted by others, especially a significant other, but I believe if someone really wants to be happy for no reason, they need to love and accept themselves unconditionally. There are very few people on this earth today who actually truly love themselves. A person who truly loves themselves has a high self esteem and has no need of the approval of others and therefore it would lead one to be a happy. Sometimes we realize too little too late that we haven't gotten what they truly wanted from life. If you also think so, from this moment, do what you enjoy and find your own belief and the true love. Happiness is everyone's everything. Pursue it! Go out somewhere, perhaps, with someone or you alone as if you were a heroine of the "Eat Pray Love". Every time you can realize how happy to be alive.