Jennifer Ortiz

Speech- Informative

Professor Tuggle

4 January 2022

Living in the Moment

“The Happiness we all look for but never really understand”

Hook: A smile is a Universal sign of happiness and acceptance. People can recognize smiles

from up to 300 ft. away, making it the most recognizable facial expression.

Thesis: Happiness is the one thing we all look for but never really understand. To find happiness,

one must disregard the search for it and instead focus on Living in the Moment! It is said that we

feel scared when we live in the past and anxious when we live in the future, for the simple reason

that we can’t change it nor predict it. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky in her article “Is

Happiness a consequence or cause of career success?” Posted on August 14, 2018 she states,

“Society often pushes a subtle message with a basic formula: Work hard, become successful,

then you’ll be happy.” It’s interesting because we hear this from our parents, teachers and peers

and the way we think about life suddenly becomes automatic. We tend to say things like “When I

graduate college”, “When I land my dream job”, and even “When I make six figures” causing us

to subconsciously believe that we will truly be happy once we accomplish these goals.

Preview: Well, today I am going to be talking about how to be Happy in both your (2)

Professional and your (1) Personal lives.

Transition #1

For my first point I am going to be talking about Happiness in your (1) Personal life.
This might sound cliche but the first step to happiness is to make yourself a priority once in a

while. It’s not selfish. It’s necessary. In her article “Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About

Stealing a Little Time for Yourself Posted on Feb 01, 2012 Psychologist Sherrie Bourg Carter

says “Taking time for yourself gives your brain a chance to reboot, improves concentration,

increases productivity, helps you discover (or rediscover) your own voice, gives you a chance to

think deeply, and helps you problem solve more effectively.” The second step to happiness is to

surround yourself with individuals that make you smile, because “Studies show that we are

happiest when we are around those who are also happy” as stated by Psychologist Barton

Goldsmith in his article “10 simple ways to find happiness” Posted on April 27,2012. By doing

so we start to appreciate life's little moments, we begin the value the time we spend with others,

we treasure our memories, and we allow change to happen The third step to happiness is to,

Imagine the best, many people avoid this process because they don’t want to be disappointed if

things don’t work out the way they planned, however imagining getting what you want is

actually a big step towards achieving your goals. Lastly to achieve happiness you need to hold on

to your values, your personal integrity is important since it's part of what you find true, what you

know is fair, and what you believe is right. Over time, the more you honor them the better you’ll

feel about yourself and the ones you love.

Transition #2

For my second point I am going to be talking about Happiness in your (1) Professional life.

One of the difficult aspects of the modern working environment is the ever increasing "grey"

area between our working and social lives. Many people run their own businesses from home or

work as contractors to enable a better "work / life" balance. In the past it was easy enough to
leave home in a suit, arrive at the office and be "in work mode". However, these days you can be

in your pajamas in front of the computer writing a proposal and replying to work emails or in

contrast be in a suit at work keeping up with your friends on Facebook. However, with so much

going on Emotions sometimes get the best of us, we are humans, and we tend to mix our

personal and work problems together. In the article “Top 10 ways to be happy at work” by Susan

Heathfield updated on January 21, 2019 states that “the most serious causes of work stress and

unhappiness is failing to keep commitments.” This means that many employees spend more time

making excuses for failing to perform the task promised. This means that Setting Expectations

that are way too high in either your professional or personal lives can affect you mentally and

physically and cause your self-esteem to go down, therefore causing unhappiness. To be truly

happy in your work environment you need to stop comparing yourself to others. you start by

observing what other people are doing and accomplishing and that quickly leads you to believe

in the Phrase used by Psychologist Kat Bougaard “That Person’s Job is better than mine” in her

article “3 Beliefs you need to let go of if you want to be happy in your career” This leads you to

believe that while you might be happy- you could potentially be happier and this affects you by

causing you to believe you haven't done enough. Lastly, you need to understand that you don’t

need to be cheerful all the time in order to consider yourself satisfied in your career. Happiness

doesn’t mean you’re never going to experience a bad day or a groan Worthy task.

Conclusion:

In Conclusion: Today I talked about Happiness in both your (1) Personal and (2) Professional

lives. Happiness is the one thing we all look for but never really understand. To find Happiness

we need to stop feeling scared about the past and anxious about the future and instead focus on

Living in the Moment. During the course of the day, you spend time with your family, your
friends, your customers, your co-workers, and you should enjoy all these relationships. Just

remember that you cannot have a happy career without having a happy personal life and vice

versa. So I leave you guys with this “Life is like a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish but

you can only spend it once” so make it worth it and remember to smile because a smile is the key

to everyone’s heart. Thank you!