Which events can influence the personal luck of man?
"Follow those who are with you in happy moments. For their souls do neither know jealousy nor envy, only the joy to see you happy." (Paulo Coelho, Manuscript Found in Accra)
Ways to Happiness
by Sofie Glauß and Marei Behrens, HPS Buxtehude/Germany
Our life is full of things that happen to us, that affect us. Some of them are good, some we just want to forget. And even others make us happy. But what makes these events so special?
Hazel Grace from “The Fault in our Stars” would have said that most of the moments she spent with Augustus made her very happy. Like the moment he told her he fell in love with her, or the days they spent together in Amsterdam or when they were just together. She was happy, even though she knew that she had to die. And in the end, when she knew that he would die soon. People, who mean a lot to us, can make a moment or an event very special. Sometimes just with their presence. Those memories will stay and the mere thought of them makes us smile.
Happiness, physical or mental health depend on personal interests, affections and dreams. Everybody has to find and define his or her own happiness. Some of us would prefer money, others would do everything for their families, or both. Even in the hardest periods of life, it is possible to find some kind of happiness. Like Hazel, who faced death and still allowed the moments with Augustus to happen. Therefore, she opened her heart and gave him the chance to have a place in it. They enjoyed the time they had together.
And then, he died. By an 80% chance of survival he did not make it. Hazel, who thought that she would wound everybody around her with her death like an artillery shell, got hit hard instead. But even if it sometimes seems as if you will never find and feel happiness again, you will somehow find it. You will always find a way to be happy. But it has not to be the big events that make us happy. It can be small things that bring light into our lives. Small things that let us forget what is happening right now and what happened.
We should enjoy the small moments in life. If you only focus on the things that hurt us and not on the positive aspects, you will not find your way to happiness.
For us, happiness can mean to sit down somewhere on a calm afternoon and read a book. So, if you need a little feeling of happiness, sit down and take a good book, for example “The Fault in our Stars”, and enjoy the moment.
Hi Marei and Sofie!
I love your article. "The Fault in our Stars" is one of the best novels I've ever read. The story is just fantastic. It includes a lot of emotions and feelings of love, happiness and hopelessness. I think Augustus was very clever because he helped Hazel to get out of her depression and find life more meaningful so that she can enjoy her last weeks or maybe months of life.
In my opinion, everybody is able to decide if he is happy or just dissatisfied. The best way to luck is to see every detail of life positively and not to ponder too much. The text you wrote reminds me of the book "P.S. I Love You". It's about a woman who loses her husband at a very young age. After the accident she feels very depressed and empty. However, the situation changes when she finds out her husband left her some letters he wrote himself before he died. In each one of them he suggests something to her that may make her happy again. It was great to read such a book full of beaming, but also heartbreaking moments!
Julia Mahfud - 19.05.2019 @ 22:42
Hey guys,
At first I want to say what a great article you wrote. I've read the book "The Fault in our Stars" too and I totally agree with all of you. The key to luck is to see how beautiful life is - but also to stop moaning (I think).
Often I hear people talking about fate, and that they weren't meant to be happy. In my opinion that's nonsense. I agree with Julia --> Everybody is able to choose between being happy or being dissatisfied. If you decide to see the small things in life, to live for the moment and to believe in yourself and others you can get happy.
Of course sometimes things happen that make it hard to stay positive, but it's okay to mourn. It's just important to look ahead again, and not to slip into depression... Just as Marei and Sofie said: "If you only focus on the things that hurt us ... you will not find your way to happiness."
And at that point I can think of a hundred characters that managed it never to give up and to become happy again after everything they had gone through. For example Thomas from "The Maze Runner". (Please tell me if someone has read the books, I love them more than words can say!) He saw his friends die in front of him, and even when he thought now it's over, he moved on, and in the end he forgave himself, finished a cruel chapter of his life and found peace with the people who were close to him.
I hope for everyone that he/she finds his/her own happines.
Marie Naschberger - 25.05.2019 @ 18:21
Hi Sofie, Marei! I really liked your article, the reference to the book was on point. When I saw the title of your piece I immediately thought about the character Jack, from a comic I’m reading at the moment entitled “Edith”. Jack is a minor character, Edith’s high school crash. They meet again when they are both adults, and he helps her cope with her loneliness and depression. When Edith learns that he has some problems too, she asks him how he is always smiling even when he’s under so much pressure. I believe the words he says at that moment are very important. He says “I try not to let negative thoughts conquer my mind. It can be difficult at times but I’d rather think positively”. I believe that this quote is the key to happiness. Don’t get me wrong, hiding your feelings especially the bad ones can be very unhealthy for you. Rather than hiding them we should focus on the good ones. Julia, Marie, I agree with you strongly. We shouldn’t spend time looking yearningly at the closed doors and rather find the newly opened ones. Overall I recommend everyone to take a few minutes out of their day and think about each and every good thing that has happened to you, everyone that has been good to you and every way you could be better towards others. And remember, every good deed comes around!
Izabela Kręc - 26.05.2019 @ 11:55
Hi Marei and Sofie,
I really enjoyed your article. I also read ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and loved the story of Hazel and Augustus. I completely agree with you and the same as Julia I think ‘that everybody is able to decide if he is happy or just dissatisfied'.
Sometimes we are just in a bad place. It doesn’t depend on us– it just happens to us. We all have problems. Something very serious for someone could be really petit and insignificant to another. But still they are problems. It’s hard to deal with them but no matter what is our problem we can get through it. There are some situations that just cannot be solved but even in that case we can think about bright sides and find something joyful. I’m sure that everyone has something that makes him smile. Like you said, these can be very simple things and ‘We should enjoy the small moments in life’. We can’t just think about what is wrong in our lives, because if we do we will always be depressed and dissatisfied but of course everybody wants to be happy. In that case why don’t we let happiness flow? Why do we focus on the bad things instead of the good ones? There is so much joy everywhere, we just have to allow it to be present in our life. It could be really tough but eventually it is our choice if we feel happy or not. We can look at every situation as if it’s too much or too difficult or we can look at it through rose-tinted glasses and try to stay positive. As you said let’s start with the small things.
Monika Pociecha - 01.07.2019 @ 18:06