Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
Monday, November 28, 2011
TR, 9:50am
13 comments:
Celia
said...
I believe gratitude and empathy are very important when it comes general life satisfaction and happiness. I enjoyed today's lecture because it was very inspiring without being over the top.
Gratitude is a wonderful thing, when you do something good for someone and that person apreciated it is a good feeling. People these days are to busy complaining, they don't show much gratitude. Some people show gratitude because they feel bad for the person but not because they wanted to do it and that's not cool. Do it because it's the right thing to do, not because you have to or you feel like if you do it, they return the favor.
Gratitude has played a major role among two individuals in a society. By obtaining this concept each individual will benefit from each other and gain knowledge, but virtue is left out and not used. Many people tend to rely on others for help or just complete a task for someone. I feel that gratitude is a nice concept, but now in this environment we live in it has replaced virtue, and the opportunity it brings to our society and the virtuous people.
Gratitude can be defined as thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation, emotion toward other people. In life we have to be thankful for having what other people wish they had. Appreciate things in your life, people that been around with you; when you need it them the most.
I hold this theory of gratitude to be true. The feeling of gratitude and debt of gratitude are not the same. You get a more positive feeling when the person doesn’t give you an obligation to give something back. Gratitude should not be a stressful virtue to practice. From experience, I don’t feel grateful when I’m told to give something back to the person that did me a favor. One approach I often hear when someone expect something back from is the guilt trip. It would be nice to give something back to show you’re grateful. However, it should be your choice if you want to give something back or not. You shouldn’t feel guilty at all when you’re trying to be grateful. Sadly, in this society, when someone does something nice for another person they expect something in return. In some men’s mind for example, they take a woman out to eat and expect to have sex afterwards. In a scenario such as that, some men get what they want. In reality, that mindset is offensive to women. Overall, the sense of gratitude isn’t defined as a contract. Otherwise gratitude wouldn’t fall in the virtue category.
I am quite confident that everybody thinks that they do have gratitude. My parents, and I am almost certain that most kids’ parents, are teaching us to be thankful. Ever since I can remember, my mom and dad would tell me, “Say thank you, to the nice lady. Don’t forget to say thank you to that nice man.” It became a very nice habit to thank people. Most certainly we are all being raised with the “attitude for gratitude.
Another completely different issue is the Seneca’s point of view. I like to believe that people should always have good intentions when helping others. What’s the point of helping someone and have bad intentions while doing so? Honestly, that just doesn’t make much sense. Another issue I have with this theory is that, no matter how good my intentions are, I simply cannot predict the reaction of the receiver. Are they going to feel obligated to “repay” the favor, are they going to get angry for doing them a favor? What is their reaction going to be like? Therefore, I believe that both, giver and receiver, should assume that the intentions on both sides are good.
Let’s just be grateful and thankful for favors that others do for us, and as the psychologists discovered, let’s all have more peaceful lives. I believe it is as easy as that. Look for the good at people. If you get disappointed, just bounce right back. Life is easier with positive attitude. Matej
To have gratitude is to have an understanding of something you're glad you have, but what if the world has treated you so bad you're not thankful for anything? I don't know if this applies to most people because even the humblest person is just thankful for a glass of water i guess what im trying to say is some people are miserable no matter what. I hope never to become someone like that.
I don't believe that most people ever truly experience gratitude. They either confuse it with a sense of indebtedness (the most likely case) or they feel anger/resentment for being helped. I think it must be a beautiful emotion(?) to experience because not only does imply an action worthy of thankfulness but it is also an overall pleasant sensation. It increases our overall ability to empathize which leads to better human to human interactions. Gratitude can also be seen as a skill that has been lost in recent years in terms of practice and meaning.
Gratitude or thankfulness is a positive emotion and a virtue that a few people know about or recognized them and unfortunately they don’t know to put them into practice. It is pointless to do something for someone that need one’s help and expect the receiver to be in debt with the giver for rest of their life. Gratitude is hard to define but I believe that when someone is willing to give and help those around is always better to lower the expectation of receiving something back. Feeling thankful should not be a just another holiday once every year. I believe that we all shall be thankful every day, every minute and every second to each other. Talking about thankfulness, I want to take this opportunity to thank Professor Triff, for all the things he taught me during this semester, I really enjoyed doing Philosophy!
Gratitude is a virtue that should be taught by every parent to their children. I think indeed that feeling grateful towards simple things make an individual live a longer and happier life. In today’s society people believe that there is never enough of something; not enough money, not enough home space, not enough vacations, not a good enough job, etcetera. But instead of having that hunger for money and material things we should focus not on the “not enough” but in the “we have”; we have a job, we have a family, we have money, we can go on vacation, we have food, and why not also on the “what other people don’t have that I do”. There are always people less fortunate in life than we are, and by looking at those cases we should be able to realize that we have enough (in some cases more than enough) and that instead of complaining we should be grateful for what own; spiritually and materially. And by doing that if we don’t get to live longer at least we’d enjoy life and live a little bit happier. -Armas, Randy-.
In today’s world, “An attitude of gratitude” seems to be another specie in great danger of extinction. As a society, we are doing a great job raising spoiled brats that are “entitled” to everything by doing absolutely “nothing.” Unfortunately, nobody told these kids that happiness doesn’t come through accumulation of material belongings or by attaining a powerful and high socio-economic status. There is no surprise we have more stressed out people than ever before turning to all types of drug cocktails trying to stay sane, when the old myth that the more you have the happier you’ll be doesn’t make sense anymore. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and research is being done to help explain why it is that in one of the most prosperous times in human history, people report to be less happy than ever. A UBC psychologist Elizabeth Dunn conducted a research where people were given either $5 or $20. Some were told to spend the money on something for themselves, others to donate the money to a charity or buy a gift for someone else. Prosocial spenders were happier at the end of the day than selfish spenders and it didn’t matter one bit whether they spent $5 or $20, so long as it was for the benefit of others. “You don’t have to go out and get some high-paying job so that you can spend thousands of dollars on other people,” said Dunn. “It may be enough to think about how you spend $5 in a day.” http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=651b2aaa-72c5-4536-a55b-024dd5597f5e&sponsor=
Even if it is for a selfish reason like trying to figure a way to be happy without necessarily caring about others, now there is proof that to obtain happiness, having an attitude of gratitude and giving is the way to go. Hopefully we will see more of this in years to come.
I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to share this semester with all of you and Dr. Triff. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Happy holiday season! “BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.” GANDHI.
Gratitude and empathy is one of the two most important things you should have in life. You can go throughout live being ungrateful thinking you deserve everything that is given to you. When you have gratitude you appreciate the things that you earn and given to you way more. Besides, you are more liked by people when you have gratitude. Empathy is important as well. You have to be able to understand peoples suffering. Through this, you become a more patient person and much more understanding. I fell that empathy gives people a lot of patience. You cannot live life without being empathetic towards someone’s problems or issues.
Gratitude is something that everyone should live by. There are so many things to be grateful for and so much for a person to give. Yet, I believe that such things as gratitude, empathy, giving without the desire of receiving is disappearing. Many now a days are willing to only give only if they are getting something in return. It shouldn't be that way, but that whole concept is not as bad as it sounds. For example, there will always be a reason to give, most do it to get satisfaction in return. Gratitude is also disappearing as we can see that people are not grateful for the things they want. It is not enough anymore and this can be seen in the consumerism. People buy things they want and not need. Many get rid of stuff for no reason. Parents are not raising kids with such virtues in life which can be dangerous for future generations.
13 comments:
I believe gratitude and empathy are very important when it comes general life satisfaction and happiness. I enjoyed today's lecture because it was very inspiring without being over the top.
Gratitude is a wonderful thing, when you do something good for someone and that person apreciated it is a good feeling. People these days are to busy complaining, they don't show much gratitude. Some people show gratitude because they feel bad for the person but not because they wanted to do it and that's not cool. Do it because it's the right thing to do, not because you have to or you feel like if you do it, they return the favor.
Gratitude has played a major role among two individuals in a society. By obtaining this concept each individual will benefit from each other and gain knowledge, but virtue is left out and not used. Many people tend to rely on others for help or just complete a task for someone. I feel that gratitude is a nice concept, but now in this environment we live in it has replaced virtue, and the opportunity it brings to our society and the virtuous people.
Gratitude can be defined as thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation, emotion toward other people. In life we have to be thankful for having what other people wish they had. Appreciate things in your life, people that been around with you; when you need it them the most.
I hold this theory of gratitude to be true. The feeling of gratitude and debt of gratitude are not the same. You get a more positive feeling when the person doesn’t give you an obligation to give something back. Gratitude should not be a stressful virtue to practice. From experience, I don’t feel grateful when I’m told to give something back to the person that did me a favor. One approach I often hear when someone expect something back from is the guilt trip. It would be nice to give something back to show you’re grateful. However, it should be your choice if you want to give something back or not. You shouldn’t feel guilty at all when you’re trying to be grateful. Sadly, in this society, when someone does something nice for another person they expect something in return. In some men’s mind for example, they take a woman out to eat and expect to have sex afterwards. In a scenario such as that, some men get what they want. In reality, that mindset is offensive to women. Overall, the sense of gratitude isn’t defined as a contract. Otherwise gratitude wouldn’t fall in the virtue category.
I am quite confident that everybody thinks that they do have gratitude. My parents, and I am almost certain that most kids’ parents, are teaching us to be thankful. Ever since I can remember, my mom and dad would tell me, “Say thank you, to the nice lady. Don’t forget to say thank you to that nice man.” It became a very nice habit to thank people. Most certainly we are all being raised with the “attitude for gratitude.
Another completely different issue is the Seneca’s point of view. I like to believe that people should always have good intentions when helping others. What’s the point of helping someone and have bad intentions while doing so? Honestly, that just doesn’t make much sense. Another issue I have with this theory is that, no matter how good my intentions are, I simply cannot predict the reaction of the receiver. Are they going to feel obligated to “repay” the favor, are they going to get angry for doing them a favor? What is their reaction going to be like? Therefore, I believe that both, giver and receiver, should assume that the intentions on both sides are good.
Let’s just be grateful and thankful for favors that others do for us, and as the psychologists discovered, let’s all have more peaceful lives. I believe it is as easy as that. Look for the good at people. If you get disappointed, just bounce right back. Life is easier with positive attitude.
Matej
To have gratitude is to have an understanding of something you're glad you have, but what if the world has treated you so bad you're not thankful for anything? I don't know if this applies to most people because even the humblest person is just thankful for a glass of water i guess what im trying to say is some people are miserable no matter what. I hope never to become someone like that.
I don't believe that most people ever truly experience gratitude. They either confuse it with a sense of indebtedness (the most likely case) or they feel anger/resentment for being helped. I think it must be a beautiful emotion(?) to experience because not only does imply an action worthy of thankfulness but it is also an overall pleasant sensation. It increases our overall ability to empathize which leads to better human to human interactions. Gratitude can also be seen as a skill that has been lost in recent years in terms of practice and meaning.
Gratitude or thankfulness is a positive emotion and a virtue that a few people know about or recognized them and unfortunately they don’t know to put them into practice. It is pointless to do something for someone that need one’s help and expect the receiver to be in debt with the giver for rest of their life. Gratitude is hard to define but I believe that when someone is willing to give and help those around is always better to lower the expectation of receiving something back. Feeling thankful should not be a just another holiday once every year. I believe that we all shall be thankful every day, every minute and every second to each other. Talking about thankfulness, I want to take this opportunity to thank Professor Triff, for all the things he taught me during this semester, I really enjoyed doing Philosophy!
Gratitude is a virtue that should be taught by every parent to their children. I think indeed that feeling grateful towards simple things make an individual live a longer and happier life. In today’s society people believe that there is never enough of something; not enough money, not enough home space, not enough vacations, not a good enough job, etcetera. But instead of having that hunger for money and material things we should focus not on the “not enough” but in the “we have”; we have a job, we have a family, we have money, we can go on vacation, we have food, and why not also on the “what other people don’t have that I do”. There are always people less fortunate in life than we are, and by looking at those cases we should be able to realize that we have enough (in some cases more than enough) and that instead of complaining we should be grateful for what own; spiritually and materially. And by doing that if we don’t get to live longer at least we’d enjoy life and live a little bit happier.
-Armas, Randy-.
In today’s world, “An attitude of gratitude” seems to be another specie in great danger of extinction. As a society, we are doing a great job raising spoiled brats that are “entitled” to everything by doing absolutely “nothing.” Unfortunately, nobody told these kids that happiness doesn’t come through accumulation of material belongings or by attaining a powerful and high socio-economic status. There is no surprise we have more stressed out people than ever before turning to all types of drug cocktails trying to stay sane, when the old myth that the more you have the happier you’ll be doesn’t make sense anymore.
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and research is being done to help explain why it is that in one of the most prosperous times in human history, people report to be less happy than ever.
A UBC psychologist Elizabeth Dunn conducted a research where people were given either $5 or $20. Some were told to spend the money on something for themselves, others to donate the money to a charity or buy a gift for someone else.
Prosocial spenders were happier at the end of the day than selfish spenders and it didn’t matter one bit whether they spent $5 or $20, so long as it was for the benefit of others.
“You don’t have to go out and get some high-paying job so that you can spend thousands of dollars on other people,” said Dunn. “It may be enough to think about how you spend $5 in a day.” http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=651b2aaa-72c5-4536-a55b-024dd5597f5e&sponsor=
Even if it is for a selfish reason like trying to figure a way to be happy without necessarily caring about others, now there is proof that to obtain happiness, having an attitude of gratitude and giving is the way to go. Hopefully we will see more of this in years to come.
I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to share this semester with all of you and Dr. Triff. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Happy holiday season!
“BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.” GANDHI.
Gratitude and empathy is one of the two most important things you should have in life. You can go throughout live being ungrateful thinking you deserve everything that is given to you. When you have gratitude you appreciate the things that you earn and given to you way more. Besides, you are more liked by people when you have gratitude.
Empathy is important as well. You have to be able to understand peoples suffering. Through this, you become a more patient person and much more understanding. I fell that empathy gives people a lot of patience. You cannot live life without being empathetic towards someone’s problems or issues.
Gratitude is something that everyone should live by. There are so many things to be grateful for and so much for a person to give. Yet, I believe that such things as gratitude, empathy, giving without the desire of receiving is disappearing. Many now a days are willing to only give only if they are getting something in return. It shouldn't be that way, but that whole concept is not as bad as it sounds. For example, there will always be a reason to give, most do it to get satisfaction in return. Gratitude is also disappearing as we can see that people are not grateful for the things they want. It is not enough anymore and this can be seen in the consumerism. People buy things they want and not need. Many get rid of stuff for no reason. Parents are not raising kids with such virtues in life which can be dangerous for future generations.
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