Greetings!
We happened upon
these words of Henry van Dyke and couldn't resist
sharing the question he so eloquently posed:
"Are you willing ... to own that probably the
only good reason for your existence is not what you are
going to get out of life, but what you are going to give
to life; to close your book of complaints against the
management of the universe and look around you for a
place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness ... to
make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for
your kindly feelings ...?"
Are you willing?
It not easy, but that challenge is keeping me on
track. Making this documentary film helps me focus
on this. I try not to even open my "book of
complaints" but rather to seek out a place, every day,
where I can plant a few seeds of happiness or launch a
few waves that then ripple outward through my family,
friends and colleagues, to strangers and beyond.
For me, its about bringing the inside job to the
outside world! In big ways through H-Factor, and in small
ways, everyday...
Lisa
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We're
organizing our tapes, cutting a new trailer, and
searching for a cutting-edge editor who can take the
project over the finish line. Although we've
pushed back the finish line just bit because new and
great opportunities to shoot happiness happening just
keep appearing. After hearing NPR reporter Eric
Weiner interviewed on the 20/20 happiness special about
his new book, "The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search
for the Happiest Places in the
World," felt we
had to talk with him, and he agreed. So we just finished
talking with Eric and shooting his reading at the KGB
Bar in New York City last month, along with another
wonderfully witty author, Jennifer 8 Lee. Ms Lee, who
penned the recent bestseller, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles,
her fascinating insights on the role of food in
our happiness ups and downs.
We're still
working on securing permission to film in Bhutan this
summer-things move at a royal pace in the Kingdom where
patience is not only a virtue, but a necessity!
We're definitely screening the film at the 4th
annual European Conference on Positive Psychology in
Croatia this summer and will also touchdown in Denmark
to see for ourselves why the Danes have captured the
title of happiest nation on earth!
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Adwin
Adwin is one of those
multi-hyphenated individuals: poet, spoken-word artist,
children's book author and illustrator, teacher, writer,
and recording artist. Blending all these talents into a
fully functioning, philosophical practice he calls
Flowology, Adwin finds his bliss in helping
others connect with their own flow and generate
happiness. He introduced an innovative education program
that tackled the problem of diabetes and obesity among
today's youth, impacting more than 250,000 children in
the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and Long Beach School
Districts. Adwin also directs Agape's Spoken Word
Ministry and facilitates workshops for Youth and Family
at the University of Transformational Studies &
Leadership Academy. We are delighted to have his unique
voice enliven the H-Factor
narrative. Click on the Exclusive Video link in this issue
for a sneak peak at Adwin's creative contribution
to H-Factor.
All the flavors in Adwin's unique mix
can be found on his webpage.
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Who do you think is happier overall,
men or women? Not easy to answer, right?
So many variables, but social scientists have
collected some data to illuminate this just a bit for us
all. In the early 1970s, women reported being
slightly happier than men. Today, however, the two have
switched places, and there's an apparent "happiness gap"
between men and women. Two studies, covered in
depth by New York Times David Leonhardt, point to this
apparent switch as part of a larger trend related to
work place satisfaction and time spent with family.
For more on this intriguing turn in the tide,
click here to read the full NYT article, "He's happier, She's Less So."
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Our
showcase for happiness art created by young students at
the Children's Education Center at Cal Tech in Pasadena.
We welcome your artistic expression of happiness.
We'll gladly feature your H-Art print in an
upcoming issue.
Kailee
7 years
old
"The Owls"
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H-Factor
"the movie" is the little train that could!
We're on track and though we haven't yet set a
destination date will be coming your way soon.
Until then, please send us your adventures in the
pursuit of happiness. We'd love to include them in here
and thank you in advance for your creative contributions
to our upstart little
newsletter.
With
heart,
Lisa, Kayla, & Aryel Kamen and the staff
of
H-Factor...Where is Your
Heart?
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Last Saturday, I saw the
movie, Horton Hears a Who, and I remember reading
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss when I was a kid.
Well, I'm still a kid, but my mom and I read it when I
was a much younger kid. I always liked the adventures of
Horton. He's a nice elephant who keeps bumping into all
kinds of
greedy, selfish, lazy people but he stays trustworthy, loyal
and patient through it all. Horton kept saying in the
story that "a person's a person no matter how small,"
and that makes me stop and think and change the way I'm being
sometimes, so I think that's a good message to share in my
Korner today.
Love, Kayla.
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Click the image above
for a sneak peek!
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H-FACTOR...Where
is Your Heart?
Film
Review by Leenar Kasor
Published
Jan. 16, 2008 in Teewang Lae Wela
(Space & Time) Thailand blog
@ http://www.prachatai.com/
"Simply
referring to happiness evokes something dynamic and benign,"
Lisa Kamen said with an exuberant smile on her face. The
filmmaker, currently at work on her documentary
H-Factor...Where
is Your Heart? valorously
travels with her young daughter Kayla in tow from one
continent to another, exploring the intricacies of people's
happiness by asking the simple question: "What is your
happiness?"
Back
to one of those days when Lisa was pedaling her bicycle around
in a northern part of India, an idea occurred to her. It was to explore the
question of what motivates the Indian people to
unpretentiously express themselves through fun and happiness
despite suffering deprivations and inadequacies in their daily
lives. That essentially was the starting point fo this
documentary film.
In
the process of making H-Factor, Lisa and 9-year-old
Kayla carry their cameras in search of shots that convey the
happy feelings experienced by men, women and children of
different ages and colors-people from all walks of life.
Together they traveled to the far-away corners of India and
around the U.S.
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4th European Conference on
Positive Psychology (ECPP), July
2008
Come learn, teach, and
enjoy old and new friends at this international exchange of
positive ideas in the beautiful city of Opatija, Croatia,
nestled on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. H-Factor will screen for
attendees at
the Welcome Reception. Speakers include Ed Diener,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, Claremont Graduate University; Randy Larsen,
Washington University at St. Louis; Alan Carr, University
College Dublin, Ireland; Wilmar Schaufeli of Netherland's
Utrecht University; and Márta Fülöp of the Hungarian Academy of
Sciences. For more information, visit www.pospsy.ffri.hr/
Happiness & Its Causes 2008
Keynote presentation and workshop
by Positive Psychology founder
Professor Martin Seligman
and Daniel
Gilbert,
author of Stumbling on Happiness
May 8-9,
2008
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Written and edited by
Rachel Ross
H-Factor's Content Development
Specialist
& Resident Skeptic
Designed by
Dustin Zahn
Dzahn Design
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