John Stuart Mill's 'A Crisis In My Mental Health'
Striving towards the achievement of happiness is what most people do, they make it their one most admired goal in life. John Stuart Mill, in Chapter V “A Crisis in My Mental Health. One Stage Onward.” of his autobiography, claims that if we yearn for happiness and make it our ultimate goal, it will automatically become unachievable. If we divert our attention toward something other than our own happiness, achieving it will become effortless. The journey through the enjoyments of life are what gives us happiness, but if we make it our goal we have failed.
Not desiring for happiness and going into the act of pursuing it makes us happier. The simplest way of achieving happiness overall is by taking in the simple enjoyments of life as they come. The enjoyments in life “are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing”. In other words we don’t need to strive for happiness, when we could so effortlessly achieve it by enjoying life as it comes. Once these expectations begin for the outcome of the enjoyments, our happiness ends. If we try to attain happiness our enjoyments “are immediately felt to be insufficient” The constant push for happiness …show more content…
We are constantly looking for ways and shortcuts that can make us happier, but aren’t working. Self Help books are put in place to guide us through achieving happiness, but because of the strong “demand for such books, is a strong indication that they are not working.” People go out looking for ways to achieve happiness but are not finding it, it makes them question if they are even having an effect. Happiness happens naturally, and you shouldn’t expect it or wait for it to happen. Letting yourself accept that might “if you're lucky, you’ll find happiness naturally.” In other words you can’t just hope and try for happiness, it comes naturally, and you should wait to see if you are
Not desiring for happiness and going into the act of pursuing it makes us happier. The simplest way of achieving happiness overall is by taking in the simple enjoyments of life as they come. The enjoyments in life “are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing”. In other words we don’t need to strive for happiness, when we could so effortlessly achieve it by enjoying life as it comes. Once these expectations begin for the outcome of the enjoyments, our happiness ends. If we try to attain happiness our enjoyments “are immediately felt to be insufficient” The constant push for happiness …show more content…
We are constantly looking for ways and shortcuts that can make us happier, but aren’t working. Self Help books are put in place to guide us through achieving happiness, but because of the strong “demand for such books, is a strong indication that they are not working.” People go out looking for ways to achieve happiness but are not finding it, it makes them question if they are even having an effect. Happiness happens naturally, and you shouldn’t expect it or wait for it to happen. Letting yourself accept that might “if you're lucky, you’ll find happiness naturally.” In other words you can’t just hope and try for happiness, it comes naturally, and you should wait to see if you are