By: Dylan
Weinman
1/7/16
“A smile to keep yourself up during
the day, is all you need.” Says one Colonie Central High School student. To
many of us, happiness plays a key role in how we think and feel. While this is
a basic human feeling, you may ask yourself what is true happiness? If I do not
feel positive, what can I do to improve myself for the future?
Happiness is a lot of things. According to
PBS, it is defined as the thought of having a good life, free from suffering,
while flourishing with joy, prosperity, and pleasure. However, currently in the
United States, a Harris Poll shows that only 1 out of every 3 Americans are
considered very happy and positive about where they are in life. With other things being held constant, that
is less than half of America’s 350 million current citizens. According to
Health Line, the number of patients diagnosed with clinical depression increase
by approximately 20% per year. If the statistics for negative thinking are not
scary for you, then the consequences may be. Some of the most common results of
untreated depression are mild to major insomnia, obesity, and heart disease.
Even if this may seem like a dark present, there is always an opportunity for a
bright future. The key to true happiness is hard work and endurance, combined
with the thirst for success and the necessity of a better life. Instead of
lingering on the numbers, take a moment to reflect on your current position in
life. Whether you are happy or not, there is always room for improvement, being
it big or small.
One student here at South Colonie
High School suggests to start basic before doing anything else. “Take the time
each night and look yourself in a mirror. You always want to pick out one thing
you like about yourself before you fall asleep at night.” she says, “That way
you can end your day thinking of what about you that makes you smile.” Real
Simple can reflect upon this statement, saying that you should never let
yourself be angry at the end of each day. That way you can sleep and dream well
for the next day to come. However, when it does happen, which occurs for most
of us at some point, another way to become more positive is to turn to someone
you love or trust and talk to them about your feelings. PAMF found that students
ranging from middle to high school often think that depression and loneliness
are not only what their parents worry about the most, but what they do
too. It also goes on to say that many
teenagers are accustomed to suppress their feelings during this time of their
life, as part of a way to develop independence. However, whether someone is a
teenager or not, a simple talk with someone you care about can go a long way.
Here you can receive emotional support and encouragement through whatever the situation
may be. Knowing that there is someone to turn to during times of hardship can
reinforce positive thinking. On the subject of teenagers, one seemingly bizarre
tactic can put you in a much better position. Psychology Today states that a
very healthy aspect of a human being is to take risks, in good moderation. It
was found through an amount of studies that teenagers primarily showed a
positive improvement when placed in a situation that implemented risk taking.
In the end, over half of the subjects found that they’ve felt liberated through
the study, some even going as far to say that it was scary in a very unique
way. The science behind risk taking comes down to the idea that it opens the
mind to new ideas and ways of thinking. New perspectives can make a huge
difference between positive and negative thinking, people are information
magnets, able to soak up megabytes upon megabytes, with that kind of power
comes the right to express it. Another such way to become happier, according to
CNN, is to always surround yourself with a positive group of friends. From a
study conducted on the matter, it was shown that teens with a strong group of
friends not suffering from depression described them to be in a happy mood for
more than half of their time. As a result, subjects who had a strong group were
able to double the probability of recovering from depression as they had half
of a chance of developing a form of depression.
When it comes down to the feelings
of human beings, it can become a very complex spectrum of thought. Anywhere
from anger to sorrow can be included, but the most important thing to take from
all of them is that everyone has the ability and right to be happy with
themselves and where they stand in life. Through every stage of life comes a chance
to change yourself, why not take that chance? The only person responsible for
maintaining your happiness is yourself, as everyone has the power to do so.
Another thing to note is that not everyone suffers from negativity, NY Magazine
states that most people underestimate the amount of happiness in the world, and
as a result we think less about the attitude of others around us. If there was
a pit of thinking to avoid, it would be to stay away from the assumption of
negativity.
