Happiness is not owed or given to us. In many ways we develop our own level of happiness based on our perspectives in life. Say someone gets their first job. They have many ways they can think about it and these will determine their emotions. They could think that they are getting good experience, have the chance to learn something new and are becoming responsible. They could also think that they have to obey a boss, they have to do something they don’t want to do, and they are working all the time and not making much. It is the same situation, but the first person is going to be much happier. Some areas that impact happiness are the healthiness or our relationships and our physical health. Healthy relationships are at least in part determined by the sort of relationships we saw growing up, but we can choose how communicative and responsive we are to other people. When we listen to and understand where other people are coming from we are less likely to become or remain angry with them and thus determine the stability and happiness we find in our personal relations. We have less control of our health, but a good diet and exercise will probably make us feel better in the long run, even if they are less convenient in the short run. Many times people have told me that one way to feel happier is to think about ten things you enjoyed that day. Although this is a small exercise it captures the idea that we can change our own levels of happiness by thinking about the world in a more positive way. Nature may make this more difficult for some people than others, but nobody says you will be happy or sad and gives us our emotional state. We also are not owed happiness. That would imply that just by existing someone has earned the right to be happy. We have the right to pursue happiness, but we have to achieve it in our own lives.
Are emotional dispositions something that are innately determined or do we have the power to change them?
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