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Bailey Turner

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

23 September 2018

The Spaces We Inhabit

What does it mean to be happy? For most people, the answer relies on how we go about

our lives and the spaces we inhabit. To be more precise, each person has a different approach on

how they better themselves in hopes that they might live a happy and fulfilling life. This idea is

best exemplified by the works of David Brook’s, “What Suffering Does,” Graham Hill’s,

“Living with Less. A Lot Less.”, and Sonja Lyubomirsky’s, “How Happy Are You and Why.”

All of these authors come from varying backgrounds, a wide range of opinions, and with one

thing in common in their essays; How to better ourselves and how exactly we might be able to do

that.

From the beginning, the first author we glance at focusses on spaces that are

circumstances that affect our lives rather then the actual physical it is instead the emotional

growth that come from it.​ In the David Brooks article, “What Suffering Does” he analyzes the

idea of space in a more emotionally challenging sense. In most definitions of the word, “space” it

is often associated with time and physicality. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines “space” as,

“a limited extent in one, two, or three dimensions.” However, this isn’t entirely true since space

can be one’s emotional state or a moment in time and the circumstances or situations that might

come from it. Brook’s article he discusses an aspect of this as he explains that people’s
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perspectives on life are affected when they go through a great deal of suffering. ​This can be one

having their entire world altered due to some form of event that has changed their life for either

the worse or the better.​ ​These circumstances allow people to remove their rose-tinted glasses and

figure out what matters in their life and what doesn’t. A notable example Brooks chose to use

was his references to the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. ​Brooks

starts by pointing out a very human situation,​ “Think of the way Franklin Roosevelt came back

deeper and more empathetic after being struck with polio."(Brooks 284) and l​ater with a more

drastic situation using the event of a president dealing with a wore-torn country,​ “Abraham

suffered through the pain of conducting a civil war, and he came out of that with the Second

Inaugural." (Brooks 286). These men both went through events ​that are unbearable too most,​ but

rather than allowing these incidents to rule their livelihoods they chose to better themselves and

to come out with stronger presidencies.

It is important also to point out that within Brook’s articles, he illustrates a clear picture

of what it means to have our lives altered for the ​better over difficult situations by pointing out

two influential presidents you’ve learned about in school using something quite familiar and

something that has a historical aspect as well. Another example using this method is Brooks

using the ​mention of the surviving victims of the Holocaust, “Prisoners in the concentration

camp with the psychologist, Victor Frankl rededicated themselves to living up to the hopes and

expectations of the loved ones, even though they might themselves already be dead.” (Brooks

286) This example shows a concept we’ve heard about time and time again, a lack of human

understanding towards others and coming out of this atrocity stronger as individuals rather than

submitting to Nazis or any other hateful group.

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Except what about us? The regular individuals who don’t have to deal with wars,

stressful presidencies, or the scrutiny of others? What about the people who struggle with

alcoholism, depression, cancer, or any other coincidences that might occur in our lives

unexpectedly? In Brooks article once again he refers to this concept and references what happens

to us by using words from a theologian. “The theologian Paul Tillich wrote that people who

endure suffering are taken beneath the routines of life and find they are not who believed

themselves to be.”(Brooks 285) This quote from the article is the basic idea of a space in time

and how it affects our emotions. If we allow ourselves to get past the hardships that occur in our

lives, here is a chance we might be able to come out of it as better people who are more

grounded individuals, and we shouldn’t fear the negative but in fact, embrace it.

Moving backs towards, the more physical aspect of the concept of space. Glancing at

Graham Hill’s article, “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” ​analyzes​ the power of living in homes

with a minimalistic outlook. This article is also an external look at space. Hill defines it best by

referencing to his actual life, “I live in a 420 square feet studio. I sleep in a bed that folds down

from the wall. I have six shirts. I have 10 shallow bowls that I use for salads and main dishes.

When people come over for dinner, I pull out my extendable dining room table. I don’t have a

single CD or DVD and I have 10 percent of books I once did.”(Hill 308) ​Now​, why does the

environment matter to Hill’s happiness and well-being?

Since​ space is something that can be physical, there are environmental factors that affect

us. For example, some people like Hill believe that the phrase “more money means more

problems” is something worth looking at. In Hill’s essay, he speaks in great detail about his love

affair with materialism ​a well as of juxtaposing his first sentence and making it personal​, “I
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bought a four-story, 3,600 square foot, turn-of-the-century house in Seattle’s happening Capitol

Hill neighborhood and, in a frenzy of consumption, bought a brand new sectional couch (my first

ever), a pair of $300 sunglasses, a ton of gadgets, like an Audible.com Mobile Player (one of the

first portable digital music players) and an audiophile-worthy five-disc CD player. And of

course, a black turbo-charged Volvo. With a remote starter!” (Hill 308 – 309) This list is used to

exemplify just how much he owned to make him feel happy. Except in his article, he continues

to point out his slow venture into the mundanity of living excess creature comforts. “My success

and things it bought quickly changed from novel to normal." (Hill 309) He lets the audience

understand the progression of his happiness slowing down and him becoming unsatisfied with

life.

A question someone might be wondering is why is this such a bad thing? ​Most believe

that owning so much when so many have so little is greedy and end up not caring about what you

have due to having so much. Although another problem​ ​that often occurs is being able to manage

and organize everything. Hill speaks of his struggles with ​this very issue​. “My life was

unnecessarily complicated. There were lawns to mow, gutters to clear, floors to vacuum,

roommates to manage (it seemed nuts to have such a big, empty house.), a car to insure, wash,

refuel, repair and register and tech to set up and keep working.” (Hill 309) Transitioning back to

space, if our environment is not a positive and calming environment we often will find ourselves

becoming more stressed. Hill argues that having fewer things might benefit too our environment

is having less, so there is less to deal with allowing you to focus on yourself rather than the

meaningless stuff you own, giving us the possibility to better ourselves.

Finally, what happens when you look at the concept of space in all of its aspects? In
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Sonja Lyubomirsky article, “How Happy Are You and Why?” she examines why exactly some

people are happy all the time and why others are not. Unlike the other authors who used personal

experiences, reference, and external sources, Lyubomirsky uses her experience as a psychologist

to conduct interviews with people to understand happiness on a broader scale.

For example, in Lyubomirsky’s article, she examines the lives of various people like

Angela; “Angela is thirty-four and one of the happiest people that I ever interviewed.”

(Lyubomirsky 180) In this subject’s case, her life wasn’t perfect. In fact,“ her mother was

emotionally and physically abusive to her, and her father did nothing to intervene.”

(Lyubomirsky 181). Lyubomirsky explains Angela is happy because she allows herself not to get

caught up in the past and focus on the negative. Instead, she chooses to put her energy into her

loved ones.

Examining a completely different ​person interviewed by Lyubomirsky​, we see Shannon,

a woman who has a very normal life with a decently well-off upbringing. “Growing up, Shannon

had an uneventful childhood, a stable and modest home, and several close

friends,”(Lyubomirsky 181) but here is the thing, “But, despite the lack of tragedy or trauma in

her life, Shannon seems to turn everything into a crisis.” (Lyubomirsky 182) This quote shows

an example of how people with decent lives are more prone to self-destruction since they lack

awareness of real issues and get caught up in absurd situations. It is also important to mention a

lot of people’s assumptions are often false when it comes to being happy and how we maintain it

as a constant.

Lyubomirsky points out these various myths people often believe about being happy

while also numbering them.“Myth No. 1: Happiness Must Be “Found,” explains, “The first myth
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is that happiness is something that we must find, that it’s out there somewhere, a place beyond

our reach, a kind of Shangri-La. We could get there, yes, but only if the right things would come

to pass: if we’d marry our true loves, secure out dream jobs.” (Lyubomirsky 185) The idea that

Lyubomirsky wants us to understand that the best method of being happy is: looking at your life,

find what’s affecting you and how you might be able to change the outcome, and become a

stronger person from the negative, since the best way to be yourself is by understanding yourself

and getting to a space in your life where you genuinely feel comfortable.

The concept of space and how it affects our lives is a broad landscape of ideas that

continuously intersect with each other in various ways. The biggest take away is that we must

understand every individual has their ​own distinct​ method on how to be happy and what it means

to better oneself. Whether that may be environmental factors, personal upbringing,

circumstances, or something altogether or in-between, what matters is that we end up happy.

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Works Cited

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt

and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 284-287.

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew

Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 308-313.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by

Matthew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp. 284-287.

​ erriam-Webster, 2018, 18 September 2018

“Space” ​Merriam-Webster Dictionary. M