Runnnig head: Comparative Analysis

Thesis-Driven Comparative Analysis

Thesis-Driven Comparative Analysis

Thesis Statement

It is essential to happiness that our way of living should spring from our own deep impulses and not from the accidental tastes and desires of those who happen to be our neighbors, or even our relations.

Discussion

Gretchen Rubin spent a year studying books and research reports about happiness and then tested out the ideas on herself to find out if they would make her happier. She wrote about her experiments in a highly-entertaining memoir called The Happiness Project, which came out last week. (Rubin, 2009)

Whereas in early September 2004, Rhonda discovered an unfailing principle that underlies every aspect of our lives. She was astonished that this life-transforming information was not widely known and practiced. In that moment, Rhonda made it her life's focus to share this knowledge with all people around the world, so that billions could powerfully transform and improve their lives. (Byrne, 2006)

On the other hand Rubin was actually pretty happy before starting the project. She is a wife and mother of two children, and a successful author. They have a nice apartment in New York. What's not to be happy about? The problem for Rubin was that she wanted to appreciate the good life she knew that she had, and stop feeling annoyed so much. She felt guilty for being a nag and a complainer. "How could I discipline myself to feel grateful for my ordinary day?" she wondered. Because she knew her life was already good, she didn't want to radically change it -- she wanted to change small things in reasonable ways that made sense for her and her family. As she explains, "I didn't want to reject my life." (Donovan, 2003; 125)

Whereas Rhonda immediately began studying the work of the world's finest minds - great thinkers, artists, scientists, inventors, discoverers, and philosophers - drawing from fields as divergent as quantum physics, metaphysics, psychology, and religion. She found again and again that the knowledge of this one principle had run like a golden thread through the lives and the teachings of all the prophets, seers, sages, and saviors in the world's history, and through the lives of all truly great men and women. (Byrne, 2006)

On the other hand one thing Rubin learned while researching happiness studies was that "people are more likely to make progress on goals that are broken into concrete, measurable actions, with some kind of structured accountability and positive reinforcement. (Rubin, 2009)

When the team arrived in the United States to film the living masters of The Secret, they only had one interview lined up. But they brought with them an entire crew, and the firm intention that they would film every person they needed for the film. Wherever the team went, more and more amazing teachers would emerge - great writers, leaders, philosophers, doctors, and scientists. And in a matter of a few short weeks, fifty-two 'teachers' of The Secret were filmed. Back in Australia for post-production, normally the most arduous process of any ...