Talking About Death and Happiness Death—and its relationship to life—has been pushing onto my agenda in the past month, so much so that when I sat down to write this month’s post, I found it impossible to not write about it. “But Jim, “you are possibly thinking, “isn’t this site about happiness and leadership?” Well, … Read more
Happy 6th Birthday, IDOH! The United Nations created the International Day Of Happiness in 2012 on a unanimous vote by all 193 member nations (a rare occurrence!), and the day has been celebrated since 2013. The UN Resolution recognized the pursuit of happiness as a human right and a “fundamental human goal.” The founder of … Read more
Some of my best ideas emerge from challenges posed by my clients. I was recently asked to create a keynote for a client’s All Staff retreat to tie Positivity into their overall theme, Speaking About What Matters. The final product blended my Happiness work with my core teachings on Conversation as Action. “What if,” I … Read more
Dear tribe members: If you celebrate the Great American Holiday of Thanksgiving, you will soon gather round a meal and give thanks for your blessings. Enjoy that moment. Know also that I appreciate you; Thanks for being part of this conversation. AND that’s not what this quick note is about. This is about the workplace, … Read more
The focus of Act Happy Week is to educate the public about purposeful actions you can take to create chemical shifts in your body that drive Positive Emotions. Here is today’s exercise: Day 2: Practice Gratitude To build strength in your Positive Emotion “muscles” you must exercise them regularly. Just as you must run to … Read more
Which came first: the chicken or the egg? We’ve puzzled this question for hundreds of years, and many are still divided on the best answer. But when speaking of the Positive Emotions family, Happiness vs. Gratitude, there is no debate about which comes first: Gratitude. Gratitude To build a House of Happiness, you must first … Read more
Every day, people buy too much stuff, eat too much food, and waste away their hours chasing after happiness…to no avail. They may find excitement or satiation, but TRUE HAPPINESS still eludes them. Fortunately, happiness is really inexpensive and pretty simple to find, but that doesn’t mean that it comes easily. If you’re bold, and … Read more
Over time, fear, exhaustion and shame can dim the brightest of lights, and that is why you must, at all times, do what you can to keep that flame inside burning bright, choose the path of light and love, and allow your brilliance to be seen. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools that you can … Read more
One of my mantras is that you — and you alone — are responsible for your own happiness, that it is your decision. And if no one else can “make” you happy, it stands to reason that you cannot make other people happy either. Right? Well, sort of. Just because you can’t make someone … Read more
How do you feed your soul? Do you grab pre-packaged Pleasure from the freezer, microwave it, and eat on the run; or do you cook up your Joy from scratch using organic, locally-sourced ingredients? Perhaps you have a saucepan of Gratitude constantly simmering on a back burner? Or do you wait for others to invite you … Read more