Band 6+: Write about the following topic: Happiness is considered very important in life. Why is it difficult to define? What factors are important in achieving happiness? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

It is hard to define happiness. One might say happiness is about success and achievements, others might say it is about love and peacefulness. Despite the significance of happiness in our life, each person comes up with their own conclusion of happiness, for which there is no connect answer, because it is an abstract terminology that depends on our personality.

Our personality contributes to a large part of how we act, how we feel, and how we think, hence what we define ‘happiness’ as. Someone are ambitious might feel satisfied with his achievements, while others who value more on the connection between family might find happiness when he is with his family. This is a subject term that varies from person to person. The definition is not a right or wrong question but an open question. Even people in different life stages might have different thoughts on being happy – kids are happy when they play, teenagers are happy when they are with their friends, some adults are happy when they are with their lover. Our principles throughout our life journey constitutes our very own understanding of joy, thus making it impossible to generalise a meaning for this vague word.

Whilst having known that joy is something subjective, I believe that there are several important factors in achieving happiness. First in priority is our mindset – being grateful of what we own and to treasure the wonders of life. With gratitude in our mind, joy will be achieved. Despite a hard day in life, a cup of water could lighten up your mood – this is happiness. It might seem abstract, but it is, at the same time, simple. Value every moment and every memory, transform anger and depression to delights, remember the precious bonds with the world: perhaps this is the key in our path to chasing ultimate happiness.

Hard yet simple, abstract yet exists, different yet common. Happiness is not the same for everyone but it is a feeling for everyone at some points in their life. It is a vital part of our life despite the vast difference inits definition. Yet, it is always there existing in the universe.