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Jonathan Rios

Professor Ditch

English 115A

9 December 2020

Finding True Happiness

People are always on a journey to find true happiness yet most of them are looking for it

in all the wrong places. The following three articles try to support this notion by persuading the

audience that happiness can be found in other places that most people would not even think of

while utilizing the three rhetorical strategies to prove their argument. One of the three articles

"The Source of Happiness" by Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler delve deep into places where you

can find that true happiness. Finding it really relies on your mental thinking and how you look at

life. The other article "How Happy Are You and Why?" by Sonia Lyumbomirsky talks also

about chasing your true happiness. It should not be chore to find it but a lifestyle. The last of the

three articles "Living with Less. A Lot Less" by Graham Hill talks about how one should not be

attached to material belongings. Material belongings cannot bring true happiness, so try to find it

somewhere else. The article "The Source of Happiness" provides the most effective argument

because the authors provide relevant studies that attacks the reader's reasoning. They are very

well respectable in the fields they partake in and brings up plenty of anecdotal evidence that

seem extremely relevant that makes the reader rethink his or her actions.

“The Source of Happiness” is a very well thought out article that attacks the reader’s

sense of reasoning, answers the question on whether the author is credible or not, and affects the

reader’s emotion state as well. Both authors create a build of trust towards their credibility when
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it was first stated before the article officially begins. Such as, one of the authors being regarded

as “the Dalai Lama” (Dalai Lama and Cutler 21) which is an extremely high and respectable

status within his community and Howard Cutler being a “American writer and psychiatrist”

(Dalai Lama and Cutler 21). Howard Cutler being in those two fields gains the respect from the

reader because those two fields are highly respectable. With, it makes the reader feels a sense of

security in what the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler say and gained the inclination of taking what

they say to heart. The two stories that Howard Cutler brings up about his two friends’ differential

responses of happiness to situations they are in brings light to the reader’s emotional state. It

brings light to the reader’s emotional state because the two anecdotal experiences could heavily

reflect onto the reader’s possible experiences on trauma and how they handled it in the past and

how can they now handle it in the future. The Dalai Lama goes into finding true happiness as

“…your state of mind is key. It’s crucial” (24). The Dalai Lama has become very philosophical

and this in turn is impacting the reader’s emotional state because they are getting pieces of

advice on life that they can carry throughout their entire life. The two studies that were included

in the article came from prestigious universities showcasing that if they look at the positives of

their lives, they can experience “an increased sense of satisfaction within their lives” (Dalai

Lama and Cutler 24). The study is a form of logos and the study showcases that doing simple

things that are positive can change the outlook of life. If the reader is not really an emotional

person, they can very well be attractive to this kind of reasoning and cannot really dispute this

because the two studies are coming from two universities that are held to a very high standard. In

other words, this article perfectly brings up rhetorical strategies that are proven effective and

creates a long-lasting impact on how the reader view his or her happiness.
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“How Happy Are You and Why?” by Sonia Lyubomirsky is a fantastic article that

utilizes all the three rhetorical strategies but has a heavy set of logos that might bored the reader.

Her ethos seems to be top notch meaning her credibility is very strong. Lyubomirsky is a

professor of psychology at University of California, Riverside who has “published more than

eighty articles and book chapters” (179). This strong credibility builds the writer’s

trustworthiness and therefore makes it difficult for the audience to dismiss the writer’s argument.

In the beginning of her article, she includes three pieces of interviews of people who had

different experiences of happiness in their life. One example, a woman named Angela had faced

adversity all her life but found “deep satisfaction in helping others heal from their own wounds

and traumas”. (Lyubomirsky 180). This type of pathos may hit home to the reader since they can

also relate to the experience that Angela has encountered but has defied the odds. After reading

this, this can inspire the reader to have a positive outlook even if negative and traumatic events

occur since there is always a positive to look at. Furthermore, the author includes a heavy set of

logos such as the study regarding a set of twins and entire section on how some people that are

missing a certain type of gene could help lead to an increased state of depression. The logos she

conveys are very well executed but feels like the reader may get bored due to the

overinvolvement of these studies. If you are a person who is not susceptible to reasoning you

may have not finished the article due to the author’s logos. This is not a very good thing because

if the reader does not finish the article, they will miss the entire point of what you are trying to

argue. The previous article “The Source of Happiness” does not seem to falter in this department

but this article does.

Finally, “Living with Less. A Lot Less” by Graham Hill also has good combination of

rhetorical devices but may had made the reader feel like it was a little lackluster. For example,
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him including his own personal anecdotal experiences would had been considered a good

example of pathos, however if he were able to introduce other people’s anecdotal experiences

that were like his, it would had strengthened his argument. His ethos is very strong, he is a

“Canadian journalist, entrepreneur and designer” (Hill 308) and a founder of tree hugger. When

the reader reads this, they get a sense that he is a very hardworking man and the whole point of

him getting rid of stuff was not because of money issues but rather for happiness. He also

includes logos, a study at UCLA states that “all of the mother’s stress hormones spiked during

the time of dealing with their belongings.” (Hill 310). He did this to back up his argument on

how people who have a lot material belongings stressed more than those who do not have very

much. This type of reasoning the author introduces in the article provides more evidence toward

his argument and makes the reader feel like he must take that specific study as a fact. Even

though, it was a well-thought-out article, Graham Hill could had still included some more pathos

to make the reader more interested. It is great to talk about yourself when discussing true

happiness, however, examples of other people find their true happiness is even greater. “The

Source of Finding True Happiness” does not seem to feel lackluster when it came to their pathos.

All three articles seem to do very well job in explaining their argument while utilizing the

rhetorical strategies however, “The Source of Happiness”, did it the best and was the most well

executed out of the three. When it came to its credibility it was solid so was the other two articles

but that was not what made it the most effective. The pathos in the first two articles was very

well done with the third article being “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” a little short on the pathos.

As for the logos, all articles seem to get it right, but “How Happy Are You and Why?” seemed to

have a little too much logos boring the reader. The Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler do a

magnificent job on getting the reader’s attention with their credibility, their own personal
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experiences, and studies they had accumulated to make it the most effective argument. Any

reader that has read “The Source of Happiness” will tell you that the article will leave you with

the key sense of being able to find true happiness within yourself.
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Works Cited

Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. “The Sources of Happiness,” book, edition or volume number,

publisher, publication date, pp. 21-33.

Lyubomirsky, Sonia. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew

Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 179-197.

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt

and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016, pp.308-313.