Most of the time these things are a chore, although it's a good process to double check that I'm really doing what's right for me right now. Every once in a while though, I get to write about something I care about, instead of just figuring out inventive ways to boast about past accomplishments. Here's an example of one I actually enjoyed writing. I guess you could call it, "In defense of happiness"
(Please keep in mind that there was a 500 word limit, so I wasn't able to make anywhere near the number of arguments I wanted to make, but this will have to do)
Essay 2: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea.
Late one evening, just hours after she returned from spending six months in London, my friend invited me over to catch up and say hello. During our conversation, she mentioned that she had just started to take interest in meditation as a tool for developing happiness. This piqued my interest because I began a similar exploration over a year ago, and it resulted in profound changes in my life. When her skeptical father questioned if being happy was practical, I countered with an impassioned argument for pursuing happiness.
My ideas about happiness are heavily influenced by my experiences and my readings on Buddhism. Happiness is much deeper than brief moments of joy or pleasure; it is a mindset, not a state. When happy, we perceive events in a calm, neutral manner and respond in ways that express love and compassion towards others. If a person is happy, she will be strong in the face of hardships both large and small; neither losing her wallet nor the death of a family member can disturb her positive outlook. To these Buddhist concepts, I add an element of entrepreneurialism; to make a lasting impact, we must be tireless and creative in our efforts to clear obstacles to others’ happiness. Furthermore, we must control our emotional responses by eliminating negative emotions like anger, hate, and sadness, and always work to make the most calm, rational –and therefore, effective—decisions when addressing problems.
Her father argued that in solving life’s problems, negative emotions like anger and sadness serve an important role. If, for example, a person were to commit a terrible crime, anger is useful because it drives people to find and punish him– a happy person will be slow to action. To this I replied that we can still respond positively, and then take rational, calm steps to prevent a reoccurrence. If we are too quick to anger, we might forgo better judgment. Responding positively does not preclude action; it guarantees that our actions will be well thought out.
He then argued that sadness has value because it lets us appreciate happy moments through contrast. To this, I countered that if at each moment we had the power to choose if we feel happy or sad, we would invariably choose to be happy. Emotions are not a zero-sum game in which the bad must always balance the good. Instead, with effort we can choose to shift our mindset to the positive sphere of emotions, and express negativity less and less.
On a larger scale, my discussion with my friend’s father and his intransigent defense of anger and sadness awakened me to a difficult problem. Despite the obvious benefits of being happy, many people vehemently defend their negative emotions, simply because they are comfortable with them. The perseverance required in my own personal journey to find happiness pales in comparison to the energy needed to help others realize that happiness is a good choice, and that we are making choices every moment of our lives.
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Yeah, so I can see a bunch of things I want to change, but I'll leave it as is. I guess writing is never really finished, just a passable work in progress
(my favorite road on a long ride in Japan)
