from TED.com

The following video clip of Shawn Achor, CEO of Good Think, Inc., on TED.com is a must see. Shawn talks about the Happiness Advantage and backs it up with scientific research.

Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from this clip:

What we’re finding is it’s not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. And if we can change the lens, not only can we change your happiness, we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time.

If you can raise somebody’s level of positivity in the present then their brain experiences what we now call a Happiness Advantage; which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative or neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy level rises.

Awesome stuff. Plus, he tells us a few ways to get to positive:

• write 3 new things you’re grateful for each day
• journal about a happy or positive experience (ie: re-live it)
• exercise
• meditate
• perform acts of kindness

Watch this.  Then watch it again.  Really.

Welcome Share the Love! And thank you for promoting love!

Do you work to bring more joy, kindness or love into the world? Submit a listing here.

Happy at school

There’s a great article in The Nation by Susan Engel called “Putting Kids’ Happiness on Our Educational Radar“.  Here’s a little excerpt:

…research shows that if we were to emphasize happiness in school, we might ensure a happier adult population. While some people are temperamentally more optimistic than others, children can acquire new ways of thinking and spending their time that increase their general sense of wellbeing in the long run. …

How might our schools cultivate happiness? Psychologists agree that the route to happiness lies not in lollypops and television but instead thrives when children have a strong sense of connection to others, opportunities to create things (ideas, art, machines, for instance), some sense of choice in what they do and whom they do it with, and a feeling that what they spend their time on has some purpose and meaning.

Sounds like a good investment to me.

Happy – A Documentary Trailer from Wadi Rum Films on Vimeo.

Today’s World Happy Day! And there’s a documentary out exploring the ultimate question: What makes us happy?

The film takes us from the bayous of Louisiana to the deserts of Namibia, from the beaches of Brazil to the villages of Okinawa, HAPPY explores the secrets behind our most valued emotion.

There are screenings today across the globe. Find one near you.

Geoffrey James, award-winning journalist and author of Inc.com’s Sales Source column, put out a list of “10 Questions That Create Success“. They’re fabulous. My favorites are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

I’d like to add one more:

11. Have I treated myself with love and kindness?

I do believe living each day–each moment–with these questions in mind will lead to a more joyful, meaningful life. What do you think?

Welcome Life Vest Inside! And thank you for promoting kindness!  Here’s a video from their website about the power and reach one act of kindness can have.

Do you work to bring more joy, kindness or love into the world? Submit a listing here.

Come out for some Joy & Juicy Inspiration this Saturday with Women of Visionary Influence! I’ll be speaking, and so will the fabulous Susan Glavin of Be The Gift.

Saturday January 7, 2012 at The Melting Pot (downtown Portland near 5th and Park)
11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Come at 11 to meet and greet!
$15 for WOVI Members, $25 for Guests, Includes lunch

Seating is limited. Reserve your ticket now.

Registration closes at noon on Friday January 6, 2012.

Picking up balloons at Dollar Tree

My dear friend and fellow spreader of joy Dana Layon-Damara of Zen Flow Yoga and I, along with our kids, went out to pick up 75 smiley face balloons today. Add those to the 20 already in house and there are now 95 big yellow smiles filling my living room (aka: The Joy Team office).

These balloons, each accompanied with a specially-made card, are destined to to spread joy to every single patient spending Christmas in the hospital at Legacy Salmon Creek.  The cards carry simple wishes of joy and love and will be signed by several folks tomorrow before each are attached to a balloon. We’ll be delivering these bright bundles on Friday to Legacy Salmon Creek and the good people working there will pass them out to each patient on Christmas Eve. Our hope is that these small tokens will bring big cheer to not only the patients, but also to the hospital staff.

A big shout out to Seth (wearing the Santa hat above), one of two managers at The Civic Dollar Tree on West Burnside in Portland. He went out of his way to help by driving around and picking up enough smiley face balloons to fill our order.  He had them filled and waiting for us when we got there.

And some more love to Camille Hollingsworth and CRAVE Portland!  The raffle she held at the CRAVE Chat last month raised $88 for The Joy Team–and almost completely paid for this holiday cheer project.

I am grateful for water. World Gratitude Day

September 21st was World Gratitude Day.  We took the opportunity to express gratitude for some things on a walk through Portland, Oregon:

• water at a public drinking fountain
• books at the public library
• farmers at a farmers market
• public art at a mural
• public transportation at a bus stop
• Goodwill (and goodwill) at a Goodwill storefront

Chalk the Walks on August 23rd

Here’s a FUN way to spread joy that the whole family can be part of. All you need is a little sidewalk chalk and about 10 minutes on August 23rd.

Chalk the Walks (a project of The Joy Team) is all about spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the magical power of sidewalk chalk.

Remember when you were a kid and you’d draw pictures and write happy thoughts with chalk in your driveway and down the sidewalks of your  street? And the adults always smiled when they read the big, pastel-colored messages? This is just like that. Only we’re bigger now. And we don’t have to go in the house when the street lights go out.

The idea is as simple as it was in childhood: write happy messages, have fun doing it, spread some joy while you’re at it.

Then, share your lovely creation by posting it on the Chalk the Walks Facebook page and Tweet about it with #chalkthewalks. By the end of the day, we’ll have a fabulous collection of images from (hopefully) all over the U.S. (or even the world!) spreading joy, optimism and inspiration through the playful, magical power of sidewalk chalk.

Fun, yes?  Yes.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get some chalk!

Need some ideas for messaging? Try some of these.