Pulse of the World on Happiness

What is real happiness and how do you achieve it in life? See how others throughout the world define happiness.

Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection

  1. Do you think you can be happy even when life is difficult?
  2. Have you ever felt that you're looking for happiness in the wrong places or in the wrong way?

Real happiness it doesn't really matter what the circumstances are. Um... you can— if you have real happiness, things can be terrible in life, and I think you can still be okay with everything.
Happiness is, uh, something that makes you smile. You know, it, it could be something small or it could be something large. It could be a piece of candy. It can be a, a note from, from a loved one. It could be anything.

For me, real happiness is whatever you make it, and if you can do what you enjoy doing on a day-to-day basis and not have any complaints about your life, then I think you got it.

I, I had the grades. I had the girl. I even had a great job that I could have stayed in and made a bunch of money post-graduation, but there was something deeply missing in my life and I felt empty. Um, I felt very angry at times.

I think there is a lot of pressure to be happier, and so that pressure makes us unhappy Um, I know I've felt that way.

We're probably looking for someone else to fulfill our own happiness, and that's never gonna happen, and so you always are out there searching for the wrong thing.

I think we can be happy by, um, improving ourselves.

Being able to do what you love every day.

Friendships, relationships, some people might look into drugs or, or alcohol.

I think happiness is just that sense of having not a care in the world. It's a sense of being maybe at peace within yourself.

People try to find their identity in their job, or how much money they earn, or where they live, um, what they look like, and I think uh, you're not gonna find happiness through those things.