Segal 1

Surica Segal

Professor Ditch

English 115 M/W

09 May 2018

Happiness in ​Familiar ​Spaces

Different spaces cause people to experience different emotions and mood swings. This

can be as a result from those the environment consists of, the location, the colors of the decor and

that which is demanded of them. In spaces ​when I am introduced to a new and unfamiliar place,

where I feel upset or uncomfortable, my productivity levels may decrease due to inability to

focus on important information or tasks. When in environments where I have had traumatizing

experiences, ​such as school, ​I tend to deal with feelings of anxiety and stress opposed to being in

spaces I associate positive memories ​like my place of work or my home ​with making me

happiest and most productive.

When I am at work I deal with all kinds of customers and coworkers from all different

backgrounds. Most days JCPenney, my place of employment, is one that I adore because I am

surrounded by coworkers who have become friends, encourage each other and cover one other

when needed. The line of work allows me to help people, even in the simplest ways such as

directing them to the bathroom or helping them find a specific article of clothing. Since I am in a

job that I very much enjoy, it motivates me to excel and go above and beyond what my

coworkers achieve. This positive environment motivates me in more than one way to do better

than my peers in order to show that I have the capabilities to take on more responsibilities and

have greater authority. I need to be careful with how I try to achieve a greater status at work ​for
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“if our wants and desires remain unchecked, sooner or later we will run up against something

that we want but can’t have,” (Dalai Lama 27).​ My desire to get ahead must be something that

drives me to do good, not ​to get​ drunk with the power. ​In order to not step on anyone’s toes I

must do my best and go above and beyond my managers’ expectations while also motivating my

coworkers to do the same.

My ideas of happiness are quite practical in the sense that if something allows me to

alleviate a certain burden or give my life another purpose ​that is what brings me the greatest

amount of joy​. “Happiness, then, is something complete and self-sufficient, and is the end of

action,” (Aristotle 83). I have the pride of obtaining that job all by myself with no help from

others and gives me a certain purpose to my life. ​This also connects to ​Matthieu Ricard​’s​ ​idea

that ​suffering is a universal concept that everyone deals with, the only way to get around it is by

liberating yourself. I liberated myself from the pain and suffering of obtaining bills by going and

taking the action of getting a job to pay them off. ​These two concepts connect​ because my job

makes me somewhat self-sufficient while liberating me of certain suffering.

There are certain spaces I am familiar with that still have the potential to diminish my

happiness. ​School has always been a space that gives me certain anxieties when dealing with

grades and teachers. I adore the classroom environment and the opportunity to further my

education and brighten my future. It is a struggle to find my happiness in this space due to these

reasons. Finding a balance between studying and working is a key element to the entire situation

just as finding “A state of happiness that remains, despite life’s ups and downs and normal

fluctuations of mood, as part of the very matrix of our being,” (Dalai Lama 32). Many factors

contribute to the downs of school such as easy A’s not existing no matter what other students and
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teachers tell you. Transferring to a new school and starting the college experience can be

incredibly scary and the adjustment can take some time. While all of this is true, my passion and

love for school and education are the ups that compensate for the downs. My end goal of

becoming a teacher is something that drives me everyday to wake up at five in the morning and

drive 45 minutes to California State University, Northridge in order to graduate in four years and

obtain my teaching degree. This goal is something I have wanted since I was five years old and

none of the downs have stopped me yet. Being able to look back on all of my achievements in

my educational career and how much I have overcome and the fact that I still love and enjoy

going to school is the thing that brings me the greatest happiness.

There are certain spaces that may be entirely up to the way I perceive them in order for

them to impact my happiness in a positive way. ​His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Howard

Cutler explain, “that happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external

events,” (Dalai Lama and Cutler 22). ​One example of this is taking the Metrolink train to school

instead of driving. I have just started taking the train from my home in Thousand Oaks to

Northridge in order to cut down costs of gas and putting miles on my car. At first I was resistant

to the transition since I love driving and having the freedom to go home whenever I want. This

led me to find the train as something that decreases my happiness and ruined my overall mood

for the day. Just as the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler discussed, my state of mind about the

entire situation was the one thing that had the power over whether or not the train contributed or

diminished my happiness everyday. When I changed my outlook and decided that taking the

train was truly the best and most practical option for me it became a great space for happiness.
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It has now been about a month since I first started riding it and the train has become a

place for meditation and significant downtime, a place of productivity and has become stress-free

because I do not have to deal with any crazy traffic. I am able to set up my laptop and work on

homework for all of my classes, study for any exams, put my makeup on, read, or simply listen

to music while texting my friends. I never believed in meditation and nor have I tried it, but

riding the train puts me in a place where I am incredibly happy and calm. Focusing on my

breathing techniques and thinking about all the positive things that happened in my day.

According to Aristotle, “the happy man lives well and fares well; for we have practically defined

happiness as a sort of living and faring well,” (Aristotle 85).​ The fact that it is a space of multiple

possibilities for productivity both mentally and for school ​allows me to live well and ​enables me

to enjoy ​the space and life ​as much as possible.

In order to obtain and retain happiness we must keep our desires in check and to a

minimum according to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. This means striving for

what is within my reach without getting too arrogant with what I think and expect to accomplish.

Doing my best and showing the managers I work with how capable I am to excel at doing a

proper job. Aristotle taught that happiness is a self-sufficient concept that heavily involves a

person’s action. When I coupled that with Matthieu Ricard’s idea of suffering being a universal

concept I was able to accept the things that bring me suffering and maintain them so as to

diminish them as much as I can in the situations I am currently in.

In the end, specific spaces where I have dealt with uncomfortable and not ideal situations

and/or people ​such as school or sometimes JCPenney, where I work, ​are the places that diminish

my happiness. On the other hand, in spaces I associate with positive memories and/or people are
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the places I find myself the happiest. I have found that when I am in a space that is somewhat

fast pace and consists of hard working individuals striving for a higher place in life I become

motivated and feel a comradery that puts in me in a happy state. In spaces such as my ride to and

from school on the ​Metrolink​ trains that are calm, low pressure situations are when I feel the

calmest and most at peace. This allows me to forget about the stresses of my day and gives me a

scheduled downtime every other day. This tranquil feeling seems to melt away my stresses

leading to the contribution to my happiness.

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Works Cited

Aristotle. “From Nicomachean Ethics.” Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader,

by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan Education

Imprint, 2016, pp. 82–86.

Lama, The Dalai. “The Source of Happiness.” ​Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight

Reader​, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan

Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 21–33.

Ricard, Matthieu. “The Alchemy of Suffering.” ​Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight

Reader​, by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin's, a Macmillan

Education Imprint, 2016, pp. 34–42.