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Sandra Carrillo

Professor Ditch

English 115

02 October ​2019

Two Different Spaces

When we think about life we all want to be happy, in a state of enjoyment which could be

either internal or external. Internal space focuses on the inner area within yourself, the way you

perceive things and take in mind. Where on the other hand external means the space outside of

you which is your surroundings and or your environment around you. Both ​the​ Dalai Lama &

Howard Cutler as well as Graham Hill and Sonja Lyumbomirsky focus on internal spaces in

order to transform your happiness ​within your inner capability​. On the other hand, David Brooks

believes that in order to change your happiness you should ​alter ​what you do and or your

environment around you t​hrough external space​.​ Both internal and external spaces correlate with

each other and allows you to determine your happiness through change in growth.

The​ Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler suggest that everyone can be happy in life and

everyone can achieve happiness. Everyone has a baseline of happiness but after feeling the rush

from an object or experience your happiness will eventually lower back to normal. Known as

temporary happiness, it needs to be built within in order to allow your mind to retain that inner

happiness. In the text ​The Sources of Happiness​ it says, “Happiness is determined more by one's

state of mind than by external events,” it insists that it all begins with your mind and giving

yourself the ability to allow change as well accept growth.(22) Accepting what has been done

wrong and in return pulling it part by part and realizing the error contributes to the learning
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process. In the text the authors tell a story about the comparison of two individuals a man and a

woman who both have started from a rough beginning, although the woman ​works​ her way up to

better situations​ and ​she got all she ​wants​ she was ​still ​not satisfied. On the other hand the man is

devastated once diagnosed with hiv, in a few moments he ​feels ​like he “almost lost everything,”

after time he began to live in the moment. Often when something negative occurs we tend to

break down closing any and if all happiness blaming yourself for the fault. ​The Dalai ​Lama and

Cutler ​emphasize​, “But without the right mental attitude, without attention to the mental factor,

these things have very little impact on our long-term feelings of happiness,” writing that

although the problem may seem so painful it is temporary.(24) Happiness is stable and

persistent, knowing what you are able to do and the things that you are not able to do helps to

allow change and growth. It gives you a sense of your own limits as well ability to understand

yourself to prevent any dissatisfaction and replacing it with positivity.

In ​correlation​ to internal space, Graham Hill believes that although ​you ​having many

materialistic things cause happiness quickly throughout time ​but eventually ​you would need

more in order to reach an acceptable limit​. A limit where we ​feel comfortable when we should be

accepting ​ourself with less objects instead.​ Hill was surrounded by all one could want trips,

money, cars and all he wanted caused external happiness. After the sale of his website he became

more aware of the moral of happiness, we search for the ​positive ​things that help us “better” our

life but what will happen with our happiness when that is gone? We need happiness in order to

progress through life and receiving happiness takes a process to build up and cannot necessarily

be bought. Hill writes about having more things to worry about stresses your mind out

“Somehow this stuff ended up ruining my life, or a lot of it; the things I consumed ended up
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consuming me.”(308) It is quicker to buy objects when wanting it, as well as wanting to alter

our environment. Hill suggest that changing your space starts with the way you’re feeling but in

order to make change letting go is crucial, relating to ​The Dalai Lama​ and ​Cutler​ accepting the

outgrowth leads to inner growth. ​In conclusion, although​ Hill once receiving all he could wanted

felt incomplete as he wanted the internal feeling of happiness although the external did bring

satisfaction. ​In other words to make a change it begins with your inner being altering internal

space.

Suffering is widespread and often the cause of uncontrolled feelings ​that leads​ to more

vulnerability ​causing ​break down, learning how to shift the negative ​emotions ​in order to make

something out of it can help you in the long run. Often the surrounding we are around can be

controlled by us, we shape our lives by our actions. Brooks believes in “seeing life as a moral

drama, placing the hard experiences in a moral context and trying to redeem something bad by

turning it into something sacred.” (286) In the story What Suffering Does an example wrote

about Franklin Roosevelt which he was unfortunately struck with polio and as stated in the story

it brought him more willingness to continue with his life. Acknowledging the fall could lead us

to want to search for happiness in ways it doesn't mean changing yourself but in the way, you

perceive things. Reaching the lowest level of sadness is caused by a sad situation in life as you

are affected by but could be controlled in the way you take that situation in. Accepting to do

better and wanting better brings you have that satisfaction of having accomplished that and

strives you for more. Many people believe that the only possible relief is to do something crazy

or out of the ordinary to distract you, when it is about the willingness to make a mutual effort in

order to receive happiness. ​External space is possible, by d​istracting yourself from what brings
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internal unhappiness and ​allowing​ the external happiness of being with family or simply doing

the things you enjoy.

We all search for happiness, yet some may not know what it even is and or what

contributes to it. The first step is figuring out what is happiness to you, we all come from

different sources and choose to what brings enjoyment. Lyumbomirsky in the story How Happy

Are You writes, “so if you want to be happy tomorrow, the day after, and for the rest of your life,

you can do it by choosing to change and manage your state of mind,” which correlates with

Lyubomirsky myth about happiness, it must be found within and it then contributes to searching

for your way of perceiving a situation. Being able to embody ​happiness ​in order to give it ​out

and ​feeling ​it within. In the pie chart that the author demonstrated, it determines that a crucial

part of happiness is the genes you were born with, as a result some people may have more of the

ability to maintain happiness than others. Influencing your wellbeing by doing acts of kindness,

it may not be strictly constricted your well-being but to do something to make you feel better.

Goals help ​guide you in a direction out​ of your comfort zone, setting stepping stones in order to

reach your full fulfillment. The constant reminder of maintaining the thoughts of what brought

you down tend to stress you out and leads to a frustrated and unhappy mood. You deciding your

feeling shapes your internal ​well-being​. Savoring the moment, expressing gratitude, helping

others, practicing religions, coping with diversity, are all strategies that lead more to external

happiness

All four authors want the same outcome, in achieving happiness, whether it is external

and or internal both contribute to self-growth. External deals with surroundings which you take

into consideration, the objective to control all around you in order to feel happiness. The act of
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internally controlling your thoughts and perception on situations as well the value of life giving

you a more open mind. Lama, Cutler,Lyumbomirsky and Hill all have a perspective on internal

happiness, arguing that it is all within you and order to transform that space you need to take it in

and progress it focusing on your inner worth rather than your surroundings that change you

physically. People tend to lean towards the physical objects in life that bring happiness, but as

humans have a baseline to our happiness in which is retractable depending on the amount you’re

receiving. Materialistic things bring a temporary happiness we are in search for the sustainable

happiness that is contributed into our mind. Brooks states that in order to feel it in your peace we

need the freedom of having less responsibilities. We surround ourselves with objects and

external values in order to lift up our happiness, surrounding yourself with those responsibilities

eventually will pile ​on stress. Brooks argues that whatever internal feeling you have it

contributed to your external feelings as well whatever internal seen you have it is contributed to

your external surroundings. It may be all in the way you think and analyze your life changes your

situations. Arguing that in order to maintain an external happiness you cancel out piece by piece

what lowers your happiness. Lyubomirsky believes in good deeds is not about giving someone

else your happiness but give you a sense of self-worth and a goal to push yourself. Arguing that

if you’re able to give up your time as well as sacrifice something of your life Lyumbomirsky

believes you are capable of accepting growth. It brings to question when will I be happy or so

what time? It is more in what I can contribute to myself in order to receive my happiness.

Everyone is grown and perceived in their own specific ways of maintaining happiness. Whether

it involves internal or external qualities they both correlate in a way that they affect one another.

If there is a balance between both one can maintain happiness through the set of steps.
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Work Cited

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” ​Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader​, by

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

Imprint, 2016, pp. 284–287.

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less A Lot Less.” ​Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader​,

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

Imprint, 2016, pp. 308-312

Lama, Dalai, and Howard Cutler. “The Sources 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.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You?” ​Pursuing Happiness: a Bedford Spotlight Reader,​

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

Imprint, 2016, pp. 179–196.