Topic 1: Increasing travels between countries enable people to learn different cultures or to increase tension between people from different countries

Topic 39: Discuss the reasons why people define happiness differently and how to obtain happiness?

It is always interesting to find that individuals take different views toward the nature of happiness and the access to it. As far as I know, the perception of happiness differs considerably from one individual to another as a result of the mixed effect of individual characteristics and environmental factors. These elements determine the approaches taken by different people to attain happiness.

People have different objectives to attain and different interests to pursue in a lifetime, and meanwhile, their objectives and interests vary in different life stages. One has the passion for toys as a child, fashionable clothing as a youth, an admirable occupation as an adult and possibly company of family members as an elder. With age, one's attitudes, capabilities and concerns are subject to change. Following the latest fads, for example, appeals to young people, despite the expenditure of time and money. By comparison, senior people are hardly interested in keeping their clothes in fashion, buying trendy consumer products or changing a hair style, and moreover, tend to regard them as a wasteful use of money.

In addition to those factors that are visible, some factors are less obvious and tend to be subjective in influencing one's perception of happiness. These intrinsic factors include one's temperament, characters, pursuits and philosophies. Taking monetary wealth as an example, people perceive the value of money differently. Some people sacrifice everything in their pursuit of wealth, whereas some people take money lightly. Instead, they treasure family, friends, hobbies and philanthropy. It is also one of the reasons why people see favourable events differently (such as a marriage, a family reunion, lottery winnings, a promotion, and so forth) and react dissimilarly to troubles or bad luck, for example, accidents, conflicts, divorce, and so forth.

Considering the fact that people are all motivated to attain objectives for their happiness, they should first evaluate whether the objectives are attainable or not. High expectations for the future might bring nothing but high levels of stress and a sense of disappointment. Setting attainable objectives is a recommended alternative. Another step to be taken is giving different weight to different subjects, such as money, health, growth, fame, power and relationships. Few people can attain several objectives at a time. The key is to identify the top priority.

1. 
   subject to = influenced by = exposed to
   
2. 
   fad = fashion = trend = cult = craze
   
3. 
   subjective = personal
   
4. 
   sacrifice = give up = forgo