What is your definition of happiness

Happiness is a magical word that has been defined and redefined by different generations. Greek philosopher Aristotle classified happiness into two categories: external happiness and internal happiness. The external happiness, which comes from outside influences or outer environment, can bring temporary happiness to human beings. The internal happiness, on the other side, originates from inner emotions such as love and sympathy so it is an external status of enlightenment. These two definitions, even though distinguish from each other, constitute basic sources of happiness throughout human development. We not only rely upon outside world to empower ourselves, we also need internal inspiration of happiness to sustain our mental satisfaction. Therefore, my definition of happiness is the combination of external and internal contentment and neither of these two sources can be ignored.

For people who accentuate on external world, their happiness is based on benefits gained from outer environment. External happiness does not last eternally, but it certainly creates a satisfactory mentality that makes people feel good about themselves. For example, people who go to gym to attend exercise class with the purpose of cutting weight, gaining energy and preventing potential illness. They obtain health by working out and they capture happiness from being healthy. Health in this example is the source of external happiness. On the other hand, people who emphasize internal happiness would assert that they pay more attention on their inner pleasure without disturbance of secular world. For example, when some people attend gym class, they don’t simply pursue health; instead, they enjoy the process of stretching limbs and getting sweaty. In this case, people directly obtain happiness from going to the gym. Health is still important for them, but they may tend to focus more on balanced diet or regular bedtime so a s to keep fit. Therefore, though it seems people attend gym class for similar reasons, in reality they are motivated by different factors to gain happiness.

More prosaically, people are in need of outer as well as inner entertainment to satisfy all their needs. For instance, professors always work hard on research project for many reasons such as higher salary, higher reputation, or the greater sense of achievement. Financial support is importance because research can be a money-demanding project, but if a professor dedicates himself on a project simply for money, it is very likely that he won’t succeed since achievement is for those who have devotions. Therefore, it is widely acknowledged that academic achievement, as well as higher salary can be both necessary for researchers. External happiness combined with internal happiness is what people try to achieve.

Aristotle made great contributions for categorizing happiness; however he claimed that internal happiness values more due to its consistency. But in reality, we can not ignore that external happiness and internal happiness are always connected and work together to contribute human development.

I was very excited when I was accepted to start my internship in Shanghai Nora Financial Company, a well-know company headquartered in United States. It was my first time to work in a big company as Human Resource Assistant. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave a good impression on my boss at the beginning of my internship on punctuation. The first day of work the subway I took experienced a breakdown for thirty minutes and I was late for work. My boss forgave me because she understood the traffic situation in Shanghai. I showed up late the second day of my work for a reason too. I helped an old lady find her way in Shanghai by subway. However, on the third day of work, another incidence happened, when I was walking my cousin’s dog in the morning before getting ready for work (I was responsible of taking care of my cousin’s dog when staying at his place in Shanghai), I lost control of the dog and he simply ran away and got into a fight with another dog in the apartment complex. Therefore I was late again the third day of work. All other fellow workers, including my boss believed that I have the habit of delaying something important because I showed up late frequently. My boss was not willing to give me important work anymore and my other fellow workers stopped being friends with me. People simply didn’t trust me anymore.

I was confused of the situation back than because I thought even though being late constantly was negative, the fact is that I had reasonable excuses and I believed my situation is understandable.

I tried to explain my case to other colleagues; however, I found out that nobody was interested in my story that sounds “perfectly”fictitious. Besides, the truth is that once a person has done something embarrassing, others refuse to listen to any stories “behind the scene”. As people continued to misjudge me and showed their distrust to me, gradually, somehow even I myself started to believe that it was a big mistake to show up late three times. I felt ashamed and regretful even though I could do nothing to correct my misdoing. Life was in grief after that three days of my internship, I became quiet and paid much attention to my work rather than rumors and gossips from other workers in the company. As I focused more on my work, all those bad experiences and negative feelings were fading away, leaving me more and more dedicated to my internship. I started to observe more and talk less. Finally I improved with the fastest speed in my company and acquired more work experience. What is more, by showing my enthusiasm in work and care for others in my company, I regained trust and friendship.

I learned three things from my experience during my internship. The first is that time is needed for people to discover each other’s goodness because the first impression can be totally misleading. Second, the best way to work in a company is to dedicate to work because the quality of work suggests the quality of a person. It is always better to do and participate into practice rather than simply say. The third lesson is that maybe I should always keep the dog on the leash so that it does not become my reason of being late for work.