A surefire path to happiness


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“What is your name?” “Irina.” “And what is your address?” Little did I know these questions were about to usher in the happiest moment of my life.

After the crash, all went black. In one big blur, I was carried from the car to the ground, to the ambulance, to the hospital. It was beginning to slowly dawn on me what had happened. The word terrifying doesn’t do it justice. But was I breathing? I was. Did I remember my name? I did. Could I recall my address? I could. Were those doctors around me? They were. The feeling of overwhelming, all-consuming happiness was ballooning inside me with each question. I was alive, in my right mind, being taken care of. If you’ve been in a car crash, you’ll know the feeling.

Most people haven’t. They think they have all the time in the world, so they delay happiness. Happiness is to be experienced some time in the future. Happiness is to be experienced when they graduate, get married, buy an apartment, reach that goal, fulfil that dream. Not that these things don’t contribute to happiness. They do. If they happen, that is. Sometimes they remain the fairy tale that never comes true. Sometimes they become the Everest that people climb only to find themselves feeling absolutely nothing.

With so much uncertainty, you might wonder if a surefire path to happiness even exists. It does. But this happiness is not in the future. Nor does it look like a fairy tale. It takes the humble form of being able to breathe in and out. Learning to appreciate being able to breathe in and out is that surefire path. With countless ways to walk it, you might wonder if it is even worth trying. It is. For, if you succeed, you will have direct access to overwhelming, all-consuming happiness with or without a degree, a marriage, an apartment, that goal, that dream. I know one effective way to succeed, but I sure as hell don’t recommend using it. 

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What I originally set out to write was an article for my C2 Proficiency Writing class (see the the prompt below), which I did and even shared with my students. What you see above though is a result of such ruthless editing that it might have become an independent piece of work. If it still looks like a C2 Proficiency article, it is not reflective of what I can do in 45 minutes. The ruthless editing took me hours. But the most important thing is I loved it and I am somewhat satisfied with the result. 

I hope, in the words of the assessment scales, I communicated complex ideas in an effective and convincing way, holding your attention with ease and fulfilling all communicative purposes.

Prompt: An English language magazine is running a series on the topic of happiness. You decide to send in an article. You should briefly describe one or two situations in which you have experienced a sense of happiness. You should also analyze what contributes to feelings of happiness for many people and suggest whether the pursuit of happiness is a worthwhile aim. 

Source: Proficiency 2


Image credit: Photo by Denise Jones on Unsplash

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