What makes you happy?

100+ Answers

Tripti Divvela

Answered 11 Sep
In my case it’s the little things in life that make me happy:
· When I wake up in the morning and look at the clock and there is more time to sleep.
· Laughing about nothing with my sisters.
· When my father gives me more pocket money than I expected.
· Doing volunteer work and forgetting about my ego.
· Getting a better mark in my test than I expected. And many more things!

 

Samuel Stein

Answered 6 Sep
There are only a few things that make me very, very happy and more things that make me slightly happy. I’ll start with the very, very happy things.

Number one is doing maths, especially when I solve a difficult problem, or I finally understand something that I didn’t understand before, or when I find an original way to solve a problem. It gives me a kind of intellectual happiness – it doesn’t last very long, but still it is happiness.

Things that are in the “slightly less happy” category: watching a good music documentary on TV or listening to a Hans Zimmer composition. Or going to my room to practise the piano after a long day at school.

Things that make me slightly happy are finding out something cool from the Internet, or fixing my computer when it stops working. Also I guess I prefer to be in my room, alone, with plenty of snacks and drinks, and not outside with a group of people. Anyway, these are the things I am aware of, there may be more.

 

Mona Khalil

Answered 2 Sep
Yesterday I was doing three jobs at the same time, while my boss was doing nothing – texting her friends and making cups of coffee. I was so angry and stressed I was ready to say something! In fact, I was so angry that I didn’t even notice my three colleagues. There they were, at their desks working hard. When I noticed them my anger disappeared. I began to feel that we are a team, working together to finish the job. And I felt happy. So don’t forget to notice the good people around you!

 

Hugo Meder

Answered 30 Aug
To be happy, follow these simple rules:
Don’t worry about things.
Don’t hate people.
Live simply: collect experiences, not things.
Give more. Take less.

The Seagull

Award-winning director Michael Mayer and playwright Stephen Karam teamed up to create the latest adaptation of Chekhov’s classic play, written in 1895. It explores many different facets of life, such as the complicated relations between parents and children, the place of art in life, the effects of fame and, above all, the obsessive nature of love. Quite a lot to cover, one might think, but not too ambitious for this masterful writer.

The story takes place one summer near Moscow, when friends and family come together to spend the weekend in a country retreat by a lake. Ageing actor Irina Arkadina (Annette Bening) receives a telephone call to say that her brother is seriously ill. She and her lover, a famous novelist called Boris Trigorin (Corey Stoll), travel to the countryside to spend the weekend with the sick brother. The weekend starts badly with the performance of a play, written by Irina’s son Konstantin (Billy Howle), who hopes to be a playwright. However, Irina dislikes the “avant-garde” play and makes rude and critical comments during the performance, humiliating Konstantin. 

Human relationships are what drives the play and this cinematic version of it. All the characters in The Seagull are in love with the wrong person: Mikhail, the village teacher, is in love with Masha, a family friend, who is in love with Konstantin. But Konstantin loves Nina, a neighbour, who falls in love with Boris Trigorin, who is the lover of Irina. Although Chekhov described The Seagull as a comedy, the characters in this play are all disappointed in love and pessimistic about finding meaning in life.

Director Michael Mayer assembled a magnificent cast, with Annette Bening giving one of her best performances ever as Irina. Saoirse Ronan as the young Nina, just discovering her sexual power, is completely believable, and Elizabeth Moss as the depressive Masha was extremely funny. However, Billy Howle’s performance as the desperate Konstantin was at times a bit exaggerated.

Mayer uses a lot of close-ups to highlight the characters’ feelings, making the film intensely intimate. Despite the low budget it looks fantastic, thanks to the period detail of the interiors and Ann Roth’s gorgeous costumes. The Seagull perfectly catches both the comedy and the tragedy of Chekhov’s original, and is highly recommended.

Shopping addiction

Every time we walk down the street, open a magazine, switch on the TV or check social media we are exposed to a barrage of smart, slick and convincing adverts encouraging us to buy, buy and buy. The aim of all this, of course, is to sell, sell and sell, and the underlying message is that shopping will somehow bring us satisfaction and personal happiness – and who would say no to that? However, most of us know the feeling of regret after spending money on something we couldn’t really afford and didn’t really need or even want. But when does a love of shopping become a serious addiction? And if it does become a serious addiction, can it be classified as a mental health problem?

According to recent studies, frequent shopping expeditions or spending money unnecessarily is not just a lack of self-control, but should be considered a mental illness. The studies show that 7% of adults have some symptoms of shopping addiction, with numbers of people affected by this condition rising, especially in Europe and the USA.

People who suffer from shopping addiction spend money as a way of avoiding negative feelings, like low self-esteem, stress, depression or boredom. “When I’m feeling anxious or stressed, the only thing that makes me feel better is buying stuff,” said one compulsive shopper.

Shopping addiction is not something associated only with the well off. It can affect people with low incomes as well as those from wealthier backgrounds. The things that low-income shoppers buy generally aren’t expensive, but many shoppers buy products in large quantities, “because it was a bargain,” they say. Sometimes shoppers return the items and sometimes they keep them but, on the whole, they never use them. Others try to sell the products or give them away.

So, what are the effects of compulsive shopping? Well, compulsive shopping can affect people’s lives in many ways. They can accumulate enormous debt, and they can encounter problems at work and in their private life as they spend more and more time shopping and also hiding their addiction from their family or partner.

Researchers have found that items bought by compulsive shoppers are often related to appearance, like jewellery or clothes. There is also some evidence that links shopping addiction to a preoccupation with body image and eating disorders like anorexia. Psychotherapist Anna Forbes thinks it is time to recognise shopping addiction as a separate mental health condition. “This will help us develop better diagnosis techniques and treatments,” she commented.

Treatment includes psychotherapy, antidepressant medication and advice such as getting rid of credit cards, going shopping with a friend who doesn’t suffer from shopping addiction or taking up a hobby.