The Key to Finding Happiness

“If you have to try to be cool, you will never be cool. If you have to try to be happy, then you will
never be happy. Maybe the problem these days is people are just trying too hard.

Happiness, like other emotions, is not something you obtain, but rather something you inhabit.
When you’re raging pissed and throwing a socket wrench at the neighbor’s kids, you are not self-
conscious about your state of anger. You are not thinking to yourself, “Am I finally angry? Am I
doing this right?” No, you’re out for blood. You inhabit and live the anger. You are the anger. And
then it’s gone.

Just as a confident man doesn’t wonder if he’s confident, a happy man does not wonder if he’s
happy. He simply is.

What this implies is that finding happiness is not achieved in itself, but rather it is the side effect
of a particular set of ongoing life experiences. This gets mixed up a lot, especially since happiness
is marketed so much these days as a goal in and of itself. Buy X and be happy. Learn Y and be
happy. But you can’t buy happiness and you can’t achieve happiness. It just is—once you get
other parts of your life in order.

Happiness is not the same as pleasure

When most people seek happiness, they are actually seeking pleasure: good food, more sex,
more time for TV and movies, a new car, parties with friends, full body massages, losing 10
pounds, becoming more popular, and so on.

But while pleasure is great, it’s not the same as happiness. Pleasure is correlated with happiness
but does not cause it. Ask any drug addict how their pursuit of pleasure turned out. Ask an
adulterer who shattered her family and lost her children whether pleasure ultimately made her
happy. Ask a man who almost ate himself to death how happy pursuing pleasure made him feel.

Pleasure is a false god. Research shows that people who focus their energy on materialistic and
superficial pleasures end up more anxious, more emotionally unstable and less happy in the
long-run. Pleasure is the most superficial form of life satisfaction and therefore the easiest.
Pleasure is what’s marketed to us. It’s what we fixate on. It’s what we use to numb and distract
ourselves. But pleasure, while necessary, isn’t sufficient. There’s something more.

Finding Happiness does not require lowering one’s expectations

A popular narrative lately is that people are becoming unhappier because we’re all narcissistic
and grew up being told that we’re special unique snowflakes who are going to change the world
and we have Facebook constantly telling us how amazing everyone else’s lives are, but not our
own, so we all feel like crap and wonder where it all went wrong. Oh, and all of this happens by
the of age 23.

Sorry, but no. Give people a bit more credit than that.

For instance, a friend of mine recently started a high-risk business venture. He dried up most of
his savings trying to make it work and failed. Today, he’s happier than ever for his experience. It
taught him many lessons about what he wanted and didn’t want in life and it eventually led him
to his current job, which he loves. He’s able to look back and be proud that he went for it
because otherwise, he would have always wondered “what if?” and that would have made him
unhappier than any failure would have.

The failure to meet our own expectations is not antithetical to happiness, and I’d actually argue
that the ability to fail and still appreciate the experience is actually a fundamental building block
for happiness.

If you thought you were going to make $100,000 and drive a Porsche immediately out of college,
then your standards of success were skewed and superficial, you confused your pleasure for
happiness, and the painful smack of reality hitting you in the face will be one of the best lessons
life ever gives you.

The “lower expectations” argument falls victim to the same old mindset: that happiness is
derived from without. The joy of life is not having a $100,000 salary. It’s working to reach a
$100,000 salary, and then working for a $200,000 salary, and so on.

So, I say raise your expectations. Elongate your process. Lay on your death bed with a to-do list a
mile long and smile at the infinite opportunity granted to you. Create ridiculous standards for
yourself and then savor the inevitable failure. Learn from it. Live it. Let the ground crack and
rocks crumble around you because that’s how something amazing grows, through the cracks.

Happiness is not the same as positivity

Chances are you know someone who always appears to be insanely happy regardless of the
circumstances or situation. Chances are this is actually one of the most dysfunctional people you
know. Denying negative emotions leads to deeper and more prolonged negative emotions and
emotional dysfunction.

It’s a simple reality: shit happens. Things go wrong. People upset us. Mistakes are made and
negative emotions arise. And that’s fine. Negative emotions are necessary and healthy for
maintaining a stable baseline happiness in one’s life.

The trick with negative emotions is to 1) express them in a socially acceptable and healthy
manner and 2) express them in a way which aligns with your values.

Simple example: A value of mine is to pursue non-violence. Therefore, when I get mad at
somebody, I express that anger, but I also make a point to not punch them in the face. Radical
idea, I know. (But I absolutely will throw a socket wrench at the neighbor’s kids. Try me.)

There’s a lot of people out there who subscribe to “always be positive” ideology. These people
should be avoided just as much as someone who thinks the world is an endless pile of shit. If
your standard of happiness is that you’re always happy, no matter what, then you’ve been
watching way too much Leave It To Beaver and need a reality check (but don’t worry, I promise
not to punch you in the face).I think part of the allure of obsessive positivity is the way in which
we’re marketed to. I think part of it is beingsubjected to happy, smiley people on television
constantly. I think part of it is that some people in the self-help industry want you to feel like
there’s something wrong with you all the time.
Or maybe it’s just that we’re lazy, and like anything else, we want the result without actually
having to do the hard work for it.

Which brings me to what actually drives happiness….

Happiness is the process of becoming your ideal self

Completing a marathon makes us happier than eating a chocolate cake. Raising a child makes us
happier than beating a video game. Starting a small business with friends and struggling to make
money makes us happier than buying a new computer.

And the funny thing is that all three of the activities above are exceedingly unpleasant and
require setting high expectations and potentially failing to always meet them. Yet, they are some
of the most meaningful moments and activities of our lives. They involve pain, struggle, even
anger and despair, yet once we’ve done them we look back and get misty-eyed about them.

Why?

Because it’s these sorts of activities that allow us to become our ideal selves. It’s the perpetual
pursuit of fulfilling our ideal selves that grants us happiness, regardless of superficial pleasures
or pain, regardless of positive or negative emotions. This is why some people are happy in war
and others are sad at weddings. It’s why some are excited to work and others hate parties. The
traits they’re inhabiting don’t align with their ideal selves.

The end results don’t define our ideal selves. It’s not finishing the marathon that makes us
happy; it’s achieving a difficult long-term goal that does. It’s not having an awesome kid to show
off that makes us happy; it’s knowing that you gave yourself up to the growth of another human
being that is special. It’s not the prestige and money from the new business that makes you
happy, it’s the process of overcoming all odds with people you care about.

And this is the reason that trying to be happy inevitably will make you unhappy. Because to try
to be happy implies that you are not already inhabiting your ideal self, you are not aligned with
the qualities of who you wish to be. After all, if you were acting out your ideal self, then you
wouldn’t feel the need to try to be happy. Cue statements about “finding happiness within,” and
“knowing that you’re enough.” It’s not that happiness itself is in you, it’s that happiness occurs
when you decide to pursue what’s in you.

And this is why happiness is so fleeting. Anyone who has set out major life goals for themselves
only to achieve them and realize that they feel the same relative amounts of
happiness/unhappiness knows that happiness always feels like it’s around the corner, just
waiting for you to show up. No matter where you are in life, there will always be that one more
thing you need to do to be extra especially happy.And that’s because our ideal self is always just
around that corner, always three steps ahead of us. We dream of being a musician and when
we’re a musician, we dream of writing a film score, and when write a film score, we dream of
writing a screenplay. And what matters isn’t that we achieve each of these plateaus of success,
but that we’re consistently moving towards them, day after day, month after month, year after
year. The plateaus will come and go, and we’ll continue following our ideal self down the path of
our lives.
And with that, with regards to finding happiness, it seems the best advice is also the simplest:
Imagine who you want to be and then step towards it. Dream big and then do something.
Anything. The simple act of moving at all will change how you feel about the entire process and
serve to inspire you further.

Let go of the imagined result—it’s not necessary. The fantasy and the dream are merely tools to
get you off your ass. It doesn’t matter if they come true or not. Live, man. Just live. Stop trying to
be happy and just be.

You Don’t Know What Makes You Happy

Happiness doesn’t work in the way most people think it does. In fact, it operates in kind of a
“backwards” way. To find out what I mean, put your email in the form and receive my 24-page
ebook on happiness, what it means, and how to achieve it.
Repleksyon

Ang isyu na aking nabasa sa artikulong ito ay Ang Susi sa Paghahanap ng Kaligayahan.
Bawat tao ay may hinahangad sa buhay. Isa dito ang kaligayahan. Ibat-ibang paniniwala kung ano
ang tunay na kaligayahan. Ang kaligayahan ay ang pagkadama ng namamalaging kasiyahan, mula
sa simpleng pagkakontento hanggang sa malalim at masidhing kagalakan sa buhay, pati na ang
pagnanais na magpatuloy ito. Nangyayari ito dahil marami ang nagiging masaya kapag naaabot
nila ang isang tunguhin o nakukuha ang isang bagay na gustong-gusto nila. Pero hanggang kailan
sila magiging masaya? Kadalasan na, panandalian lang ang kasiyahang iyan at nakakadismaya
ito.Karamihan sa mga tao ay naghahanap ng kaligayahan , nakikita ito sa masarap na pagkain,
pakikipagtalik, bagong kotse, mga partido sa mga kaibigan, nagiging mas popular para sa ibang
tao, sa inggit at hindi kontento sa buhay. Ang nagiging kalabasan nito paghahangad ng mga
material na bagay, o pagkakaabala na hindi kailanman nagdudulot ng tunay na
kaligayahan.Karagdagan pa, ang kaligayahan ay inilarawan hindi bilang isang destinasyon o
tunguhin, kundi isang paglalakbay. Maaaring mahadlangan ang kaligayahan mo kapag sinasabi
mo, “Magiging masaya lang ako kapag . . . ” Kung ang ating mga pandama ng pagpapahalaga sa
sarili ay nauudyukan lamang ng panlabas na mga pag-aari sa halip ng panloob na mga
pagpapahalaga, hindi magtatagal ang mga damdaming iyon ay hihina at tayo ay magiging biktima
ng ngumangatngat na pagkadiskontento. Bilang isang tao ang magagawa ko lamang ay maging
masaya para sa sarili ko. Tayo ang magdedesisyon kung kelan natin gustong sumaya at kung saan
tayo pupunta para makamit ang tunay na saya.masaya ka kahit walang dahilan, hindi
maapektuhan ang kasiyahan mo kung may mga bagay man na mawawala sayo. Maging masaya
sa mga positibong bagay. Kung masaya ka dahil sa ganitong bagay, pwedeng mawala ang sayang
yun mawawala din ang dahilan na nagpasaya sayo.Maibabago nito lahat ng hinanakit at inggit sa
mga bagay. Nasa iyo kung paano mo hahanapin ang tunay na magpapaligaya sayo, alalahanin mo
lang ang sinabi ng kung sinuman na hindi lang dapat ang hangarin mo sa kaligayahan ang isipin
mo kundi pati na rin ang kaligayahan mo sa hangarin mo.

Aubrey A. Saycon BSIT-1 B

Disiplina sa lansangan, lunas sa trapik
MANILA, Philippines — Tumataginting na P3.5 bilyon kada araw ang nawawalang kita ng Pilipinas
dahil sa malubhang problema sa trapiko, ayon sa pinakabagong pag-aaral ng Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Nakapanlulumo ngunit ito ang katotohanan.

Nitong Agosto 2016, itinatag ang Inter-Agency Council for Traffic (i-ACT) sa pangunguna ni
Department of Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade upang pagsanibin ang lahat ng ‘law
enforcement agencies’ na may kaugnayan sa pagmamando sa trapiko. Kabilang dito ang
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), PNP-Highway Patrol Group, Land
Transportation Office at Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Binuo ang i-ACT upang mas mabisang makatugon sa problema ng trapiko sa bansa habang
hinihintay ang hinihiling na ‘special power’ sa trapiko ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte buhat sa
Senado.

Tututok ito sa limang “E” ng traffic management: ang enforcement, education, environment,
engineering at economics.

Nitong Setyembre 2017, muling inilunsad ang i-ACT at isinama na sa grupo ang Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP), mga lokal na pamahalaan sa pamamagitan ng Metro Manila Council at ang
Liga ng mga Barangay. Nakikita kasi ng pamahalaan na mas magiging epektibo ang paglaban sa
mga pasaway kung may kooperasyon ng mga lokal na opisyal lalo na ang mga barangay chairman
na siyang nakakakita sa sitwasyon sa kanilang nasasakupan.

Inilunsad din ang Task Force Alamid, ang ‘operating arm’ ng i-ACT na lumibot hindi lang sa Metro
Manila ngunit maging sa mga kanugnog na mga lalawigan ng Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan at Laguna. Sa
magkakasunod na operasyon, dito lumantad ang mapait na katotohanan sa umiiral na bulok na
sistema na mismong mga opisyal ng barangay ang kumukunsinti sa mga iligal na terminal,
sidewalk vendors, mga establisyimentong kumain na sa bangketa at kalsada at illegal parking.
Tunay na nanuot na sa kalamnan ng lipunan ang problema sa lansangan.

Sa kabila nito, nagpatuloy ang sunud-sunod na operasyon ng TF Alamid. Nitong Enero 2018,
inilunsad ang “Tanggal Bulok, Tanggal Usok campaign” ng i-ACT na layong linisin ang mga kalsada
sa mga kakarag-karag na sasakyan na panganib sa kaligtasan at kalusugan ng publiko. Kung
nasaan ang TF Alamid, tila nawawala naman sa kalsada ang mga pampasaherong jeep at mga UV
Express na muling lilitaw lamang kapag wala na sa kalsada ang tropa ng pamahalaan.

Mula nang ilunsad ang Tanggal Usok, Tanggal Bulok campaign, nasa 1,904 na ang nahuhuli ng TF
Alamid sa mga lansangan. Nasa 1,499 ang natikitan dahil sa mga depektibong parte ng sasakyan,
107 sasakyanang na-impound dahil sa pagiging kolorum, illegal parking at iba pa; habang 297
ang naisyuhan ng ‘subpoena’ dahil sa pagiging bulok ng mga behikulo.

Masakit sa bulsa ang multa kapag nahuli sa mga bayolasyon. Ipinatutupad ng i-ACT ang Joint
Administrative Order ng DOTr sa multa sa batas trapiko. Ang isang jeep na kolorum ay
pinagmumulta ng P50,000; P200,000 sa mga van at napakataas na P1 milyon sa bus. Ginawa ito
upang madala ang sinuman na mahuhuli na namamasada nang walang kaukulang prangkisa
buhat sa LTFRB.
Masakit pa rito, ilan sa mga nahuhuli na nangongolorum ay tauhan ng pulisya, ng pamahalaan, o
kaanak na nais laktawan ang batas para sa sinasabi nilang “paghahanapbuhay.”

Sa kabila ng masigasig na operasyon ng i-ACT, nananatili ang problema sa trapiko. Sa bawat

operasyon, tumataas ang emosyon, nagkakaroon ng sakitan, nagkakaroon ng demandahan.
Ngunit parte ito ng proseso ng pagsagupa sa napakalaking problema na hindi namalayan ng
pamahalaan ay mistulang tinanggap na sa kamalayan ng mga Pilipino na isang normal na
kalagayan.

Repleksyon:

Ang aking repleksyong ito ay tungkol artikulo na ginawa ni Danilo Garcia ng Pilipino Star Ngayon
noong Marso 17, 2018. Ito'y patungkol sa lagay ng trapiko sa Pilipinas. Resulta ito ng labis na
bilang ng mga sasakyan, mga kolorum, illegal parking, illegal terminal, sidewalk vendors,
jaywalkers, pedicab at tricycle sa mga highway, kamoteng mga motorcycle riders at aroganteng
mga tsuper. Ang problema ng lamangan, ang kultura ng kawalang respeto sa kapwa at pagtingin
sa sarili lamang na nagreresulta sa kalunos-lunos na sitwasyon ng ating mga lansangan.
Samakatwid, kawalan ng disiplina ang pangunahing problema ng bansa sa mga lansangan. May
mga ginawang habang ang Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte upang masolusyunan ang
nakapanglulumong kalagayan ng ating mga lansangan na tila'y nakasanayan nalang natin, isa na
dito ang pag tatag sa i-Act o ang Inter-Agency Council for Traffic. Sa pangunguna ni Department
of Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade, kasama ang mga departamento ng pamahalaan na
may koneksyon sa pag implementa ng batas trapiko, mga pulis at mga sundalo ay sinimulan ang
pag buo sa mga hakbangin upang mas mabisang matugunan ang problema sa trapiko ng ating
bansa habang hinihintay ang hinihiling na ‘special power’ sa trapiko ni Pangulong Rodrigo
Duterte buhat sa Senado. Sa kabila ng pagkadismaya ko sa mga nakikitang kakulangan ng
pamahalaan sa batas trapiko ay nakakatuwang malaman na may mga programang katulad nito
na onti onting nakakatulong sa pag sasaayos sa problema natin sa lansangan. Bilang isang
kabataan at isa sa mga pilipinong sumusuong araw araw sa buhol-buhol na mga sasakyan sa
kalye, ay ang pagkakaroon ng disiplina sa sarili ang marahil aking maliit na maiaambag lamang
ngunit napakahalagang hakbangin upang sa ikakaayos ng problema. Naniniwala ako na ang
problema sa trapiko sa ating mga lansangan ay hindi lamang problema ng gobyerno o ng i-Act
kundi problema nating lahat. Kailangan ng mga Pilipino ang pagkakaisa at pagkaroon ng disiplina
sa sarili dahil hindi lang manggagaling sa gobyerno ang solusyon kundi manggagaling din sa
lahat. Ang pagbibigayan, pag papakumbaba, pagkakaroon ng respeto at pag papa halaga sa
kapwa at hindi lamang sa sarili lamang ang maari nating magawa na siguradong mag dadala sa
atin sa mas payapang pag baybay sa ating lansangan at mas epektibong pag sunod sa ating batas
trapiko. Aking natutunan na ang pag resulba sa ating problema sa batas trapiko ay hindi lamang
isa ang solusyon kundi lipon ng mga solusyon. Hindi lamang ang gobyerno ang dapat
nagsusumikap kundi tayong lahat.

Miguel Greco Pestano BSIT 1-B

Jesrel Erol Garunay BSIT-1B

Repleksyon:

Ito ay ang aking sariling repleksyon tungkol sa aking natutunan tungkol sa kahalagahan at
kahulugan ng ekonomiks sa aking buhay bilang isang mag-aaral at bilang kasapi ng pamilya at
lipunan.

Ayon kay Paul Samuelson, ang ekonomiks ay isang pag-aaral kung paano gagamitin ang mga
limitadong pinagkukunang yaman upang makagawa at maipamahagiang ibat-ibang produkto at
serbisyosa mga tao at ibat-ibang pangkat ng lipunan para sa kasalukuyan at hinaharap.

Ayon naman kay Paul Wonnacott, ang ekonomiks ay isang pag-aaral kung paano ang tao
naghahanap- buhay, naghahanap ng pagkain at iba pang pangangailangang materyal.Binibigyang
pansin ang mga suliraning pangkabuhayan sa pamamagitan ngpamamaraan kung paano
malulunasan o mababawasan ang mga ito.

Bilang isang mag–aaral at bilang kasapi ng pamilya at lipunan, masasabi ko talaga na malaki ang
naitutulong ng kahalagahan at kahulugan ng ekonomiks sa ating buhay.

Una sa lahat, bilang bahagi ng lipunan, magagamit mo ang kaalaman sa ekonomiks upang
maunawaan ang mga napapanahong isyu na may kaugnayan sa mahahalagang usaping
ekonomiko ng bansa. Maaari mo ding maunawaan ang mga batas at programang ipinatutupad
ng pamahalaan na may kaugnayan sa pagpapaunlad ng ekonomiya. Maaari mo ding magamit
ang kaalaman sa ekonomiks sa pag-unawa sa mga desisyon mula sa mga pamimilian na mayroon
ang pamilyang iyong kinabibilangan.

Pangalawa, bilang isang mag-aaral ay maaaring maging higit na matalino, mapanuri, at

mapagtanong sa mga nangyayari sa iyong kapiligiran. Maaari din itong humubog sa iyong pag-
unawa, ugali, at gawi sa pamaraang makatutulong sa iyong pagdedesisyon para sa kinabukasan
at paghahanapbuhay sa hinaharap.