Deby Jizi

Deby Jizi
UWRT-1102 (09,10,28,29)
28 January 2016

Double Entry Journal

Citation:
Lyubormisky, Sonja. "How Happy Are You and Why?" 2015. Pursuing Happiness: A
Bedford Spotlight Reader. Place of Publication Not Identified: Bedford Bks St Martin'S, 2015.
179-96. Print.

Source: Quote (Page# or Paragraph #)

Responses

Have you ever known someone who is

deeply and genuinely happy? p.179

Yes! Sometimes I am that person, but a lot of

times, I am not!

Or you both are in new parents and

overwhelmed with sleep deprivation,
anxiety, and drudgery of caring for a
newborn. .But this happy person you
know seems to brush off the frustrations, the
stresses, the hardships, and the
disappointments, to pick herself up each
time and put on a positive face.
p. 179

When I was a young mother of a 2 and a half

year old and a newborn, I had a friend who
couldnt understand why I was having such a
hard time with two children. She just seemed
to have a handle on it all, and she did the
same at work (we were coworkers). When
everyone was gossiping and thinking things
were going south at work, she just kept
smiling. She told me these things always blow
over, so why lose sleep over them.

Still with all that has happened and all the

challenges that have come to pass, Angela
considers herself a very happy person.
p. 180

I knew a young mother, who had her first child

at 17. She and her boyfriend got married, and
he joined the Air Force. She was working and
gaining leadership roles at work, and was
doing very well, as a 20 year old! Then she
was in a tragic accident right after her 2nd
child was born and sustained a broken neck.
Instead of getting depressed, she nursed her
newborn baby girl while in traction! Nothing
could faze that young woman.

No one but you knows or should tell you

how happy you truly are. P. 184

This statement really made me think. In

college, I used to like to stay in my pajamas

on Sundays, sit in my dorm room, read, and

listen to music. My roommate at the time got
irritated with me and said, I hate to see you
so sad! But I was not sad. I was quiet and
pensive, but I felt happy.
The Happiness Set Point p. 186

Thinking about the way I have been all my

life, a bit on the melancholy side, I wonder
now if that is genetics. My mother once
compared me to her cousin, who she said
was artistic and moody, like I am.

This is also a fallacy, the myth of you either

have it or you dont. Challenging the veracity
of this belief is trickier because you see, it is
partly true.

So does this mean that we can overcome our

genes when it comes to being happy? I think
of those people who get heart transplants and
then start craving a certain brand of chocolate
but wouldnt touch the stuff previously, only to
find out that the person who first owned the
heart had a love for the same chocolate? Do
cells have memory? Can we change that
memory? Can we change our DNA for
happiness?

The case of twins named James p. 189

When I first started reading this, I thought that

she was making her case for the happiness
set point on one case study. No. She just
cited it as an extreme case of how powerful
genes can be. But I had to read it twice to
understand this.

..the empirical data from the Happiness

Twins Study led to the conclusion that the
genetic basis for happiness is strong, very
strong. p. 190

When I read this, at first I feel it is a sad

destiny for some while it is good news for
others. I have to remember that the glass is
half full here, not empty. Fifty percent is not
100%, and 40% is in our control.

The fountain of happiness lies not in

changing our genetically determined set
points, for they are, by definition, resistant to
change, influence, or control. p. 195

I am inclined to be skeptical about this

because I have been reading recently how
Zen Buddhist monks have been subject to
research about the plasticity of the brain. The
study has shown that the actual physicality of
the brains in these monks has been altered
by meditation, especially metta meditation,
where the monks focus their attention during
meditation on the well-being of others.

having goals in and of themselves is

strongly associated with happiness and life
satisfaction. p. 195

Is that a way that we stay focused on an

imagined future? Once a goal is achieved,
what then? Set another one?

that a genuine and abiding happiness is

So this chapter focused on the myths of

indeed within your reach, lying within the 40

percent of the happiness pie chart that is
yours to guide. p. 196

happiness, with examples of people whose

circumstances should make them happy or
unhappy, but they did not, and with studies
that explain the genetic happiness set point. I
suppose I would have to read the entire book
to find out what the strategies are in the 40%
that we are in control of. I might read the
whole book.