Summary
In "could embracing the 'joy of the ordinary' be the path to happiness?" (n.d.) tells the story of Catherine Grey who got sad and depressed after she has given up drinking, then she tried to find out how to get rid of negative things by being grateful for the ordinary. She mentioned that our lives are quite simple, instead of expecting extraordinary moments last for a long time, we cloud enjoy little things that happened in our day. She mentioned "Woman's hour seven things", the tips for being happy, such as making a happiness list, do not imagine your relationship to be a perfect couple, do not focus on all things you did not achieve, appreciate what you have now, and having gratitude.
____________________________________
Response
How do you enjoy the little things? If it was 7 months ago, I would have no idea about that. Back then I have just started working, it was time to adjust to a new environment that made me confused. At work, if I deal with difficult clients, I will be depressed and sad even when I stay home. I smiled less and more stress out because I focused on mistakes at work. And I found out that focus on all the things I did not achieve lead to making myself depressed. So I started to appreciate the little things. For example, when I get off work late and I do not want to waste time by going to a cafeteria or restaurant, I just enjoy cooking spicy Korean instant noodle in my room, have dinner alone but I really happy because I love spicy food.After read "could embracing the 'joy of the ordinary' be the path to happiness?" I was surprised because I have done 2 things that mention on "Woman's hour seven things" which are being thankful for the little things can be life-changing and celebrate your done lists before, then I found out it works. After that, I thought it might be good to try "don't expect relationships to play out like a romcom". Unfortunately, I am not in the relationship now. So I tried with my colleague this Monday by did not expect him to agree with everything I offer at work, then I did not feel bad when he disagreed because I have planed before.
I think it is important to appreciate the little things in life because if you only enjoy extraordinary things, what will you do next if it has gone? Will you get sad? Otherwise, If you appreciate the little things in life, it will be easy to be happy.
____________________________________
Question
What are your favourite little things to enjoy in life?
____________________________________
Reference
- Gray, C. Could embracing the 'joy of the ordinary' be the path to happiness? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5F7yF1LgvWrsKSJRcdLkShD/could-embracing-the-joy-of-the-ordinary-be-the-path-to-happiness?
I enjoyed both Saibpan's summary and her response to the ideas in it. I also read her source, which interested me because it cites the Greek philosopher Epicurus (4th to 3rd century BC), who despite having gotten a bad reputation in popular thinking has long been one of my favourite ancient thinkers. Don't worry: you don't need to read Epicurus because Saibpan has summarized some of the tips he gives for living a happy life very well. But it was still nice to see that her chosen article referred to him as a positive source for modern people.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I always read your chosen source because I have to in order assess how well you achieved the task of summarizing it, including how effectively you used your own language to make a summary that turned the source into your own piece of work — an important academic writing skill in every field.
Hi Saibpan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing that interesting news article. It reminded me about my good times with my garden. I usually grow some flowers. I love flowers, because they are beautiful. I am also happy when I take care of them—I think this is my favorite simple things to enjoy in my life. Some people may want to travel around the world or stay at luxury hotels, but I want to spend my times in the morning with sunlight and watering my beautiful flowers. The colors of flowers help my imagination and creativity. I sometime imagine that I would buy a new land and build a new house with a big garden on the roof. Sometimes a butterfly comes to my garden and Sometimes the children in my neighborhood visit my garden and help me watering the flowers—that make cheerful atmosphere at my house. I feel gratitude for the beauty of flowers, as they make the world a better place to live.