Greetings!
Greetings, happiness seekers! We've been
very busy this season manifesting thanks, hope, and a can-do attitude. Turkey
day has come and gone but our thanksgiving endures and expands. We're thankful
for the outcome of the presidential election and very hopeful now for the
future of our democracy and global partnerships. If each of us embraces a
can-do attitude, inspired by our Can-do in Chief soon to take office, I feel
there's nothing we can't accomplish.
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On November 20th,
Lisa and Kayla presented the half hour version of H-Factor to undergraduate
students in the Science of Happiness course at the University of Southern California
Department of Psychology. As
students peppered us with questions and our off-the cuff responses flew fast
and funny, we could see that this stimulating moment in time we had created to
explore happiness would ripple outward in many positive ways in the days and
weeks to come. Thanks to Professor
John Monterosso and PhD candidate Ravi Iyer (see Ravi´s link).
Presenting H-Factor to open-minded
students primed for happiness studies was so exhilarating that we're determined
to make such experiences more frequent. Israeli academics (who saw the film
when we screened it at the 4th European Conference on Positive Psychology last
July in Croatia) will be presenting
H-Factor at an upcoming happiness conference at Bar-Ilan University outside of
Tel-Aviv commencing January 7, 2009. We will update on the conference in
Israel within the next Happiness Headlines.We're now editing the material into several 10-minute,
topic-focused segments designed to better accommodate the educational
conference and workshop formats.
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In honor of the time
of year, this month we will ask each of you to take a moment to profile your
own happiness. Where does your bliss come from? From where does your joy
emanate? What does your happiness look, taste, feel and smell like? How would
you describe it? Can you share it? Do you realize that happiness is indeed
viral? When you have the Joy Bug it is in fact, infectious!
Consider the possibility that while we may formally celebrate
Christmas,
Hanukah, Kwanza, etc. in December these holidays may actually be
symbolic of an opportunity to bring light to the darkest days of the
calendar. What a concept
that many of the faiths may not neccessarily be performing
religious
ceremony but simply attempting to illuminate the bleakest days of
winter
with warmth, reflection and love. Setting
religious beliefs aside for a moment, the notion is purely
emblematic of
HAPPINESS!
Merry Everything & Happy Always to you and yours!
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Even if you can't buy it, happiness has become
big business, according to a recent piece in the New York Times. Although
that's not what our film is about, we are delighted that the pursuit of
happiness is garnering attention and generating some profit for happiness
experts and seekers in these difficult times.
Despite the stock market roller coaster, banks going under, unemployment
skyrocketing, and foreclosed homes peppering the landscape, attendance at Happiness
and its Causes was booming! This 2-day conference, held in San Francisco
last month, gave happiness entrepreneurs a golden platform to promote their
books and courses. Leading academicians also offered nuggets of their findings
on the science of human happiness, also known as eudemonia, the
classical Greek term for human flourishing.
The audience, composed largely of the helping professions, included a senior
vice president of a large mortgage company who said she had laid off more than
500 people in the last six months, and was there to learn how to boost the
morale of employees working weekends and holidays and making do with bonuses
cut in half. "What truly makes people happy is a higher calling," she said,
adding that companies like hers were not totally at fault for the mortgage
crisis. "Western society is too focused on blame. In order for our customers to
be happy, they have to understand that they're accountable."
Click here to read about the growing number of books, research papers
and hand-on happiness courses showcased at the Happiness & Its Causes
conference.
A related article in another distinguished publication contends that money
CAN buy you happiness, but, here's the catch: you've got to spend the money on
someone else! That's the insight into the
secret of happiness by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton and two
colleagues from the University of British Columbia. Their article,
"Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness," appeared in the March 21,
2008 issue of Science. Read on for a very interesting discussion
of this finding and the "pro-social work place."
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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.
Sarah
6 years old
"Playing"
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Find something more important than you and
dedicate your life to it. That's what we're doing around here and we'd love to
hear your stories. We'll make sure they ripple around our pond and beyond.
Happy Holidays from Lisa, Kayla, Aryel Kamen and the staff of H-Factor...Where is Your Heart?
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Here's a poem I wrote and wanted to share with
you:
What does your happiness rest on?
Does it come and go like a fleeting thought that refuses to be caught?
Does it rest on health or wealth?
Does it rest on loved ones close at hand?
How about blue sky, gentle waves and warm sand?
Or a break from homework stress?
May be one day we will find an answer we all can share,
An answer that never crumbles or fades away.
Until that day, I'll rest my happiness on all of the above,
and on love.
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Click the image above
for a sneak peek!
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In September 2003, smile cards began appearing
around the world. They are markers of a newfangled game of tag, where
"you're it" because someone has done something nice for you. Then
it's your turn to do something nice for someone else and pass the card along in
the process.
Want to find out if kindness is truly contagious? If doing random acts of
kindness really does bring you happiness? Simply join in playing this game of
pay-it-forward: anonymously make someone smile, leave behind a smile card
asking them to keep the ripple going. It's easy and fun. The HelpOthers.org
website offers
smile cards and kindness ideas to get you
started! Request your free smile cards (available in several languages)
or freely download their high-resolution PhotoShop files to your printer to
make your own. So, tag, YOU'RE IT! Pass It On...
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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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