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May 2011 Happiness Hotline

Happy happy May,

I hope you had a wonderful Easter break and a fun filled Mother's Day.  You may be thinking 'Mother's day isn't relevant to me' or perhaps "Easter isn't something I celebrate'.  I learned a long time ago to celebrate everything.  My childhood primary school celebrated celebration and our teachers took pride in teaching us a little bit about all kinds of cultures, religions and belief systems.  I remember learning about the Japanese Tea Ceremony from a wonderful Japanese woman dressed in a kimono, and about peace and tranquility from a saffron robed monk, both very exotic figures in outback New South Wales in the 1960's.  I also remember thinking 'why doesn't Australia have such great costumes?'  I often wonder if that's why I spent almost 10 years of my life as a costume and wearable art maker. It seems that I've hardly been home since I returned from the USA a month ago and next Monday I'm off again, this time into outback New South Wales for 6 days as a part of the team for the Royal Flying Doctor Service mental health road show. They're calling the trip Let's Laugh.  I can't tell you how excited I am about going! Last week, during a 'happy at work' seminar, I was asked to 'define happiness'.  I'm often asked this question and it always makes me stop and think; 'Can we actually define happiness?'  It can be so many different things.  I always throw the question open to the participants and I often hear "I'll be happy when............."  To me it's a mistake to pin happiness to a particular outcome.  Often times, by the time we reach our goal we've moved onto the next big thing and what we thought would make us happy turns out not to live up to our revised expectations.   I keep a happiness diary.  It, or rather they - I'm now up to volume 4, contains notes and memories of things that have made or make me happy, things that bring on that feeling of inner joy.  There are entries relating to all kinds of things, material and experiential.  My new dishwasher, bought 10 years ago and still going strong, being with friends, learning new things, children, school concerts, early morning walks... the list goes on.  Some of the entries relate to big events and others could be considered trivial, but life is never trivial.  A flower, a butterfly, a friendly smile from a stranger.  If we take notice of and appreciate the small things that make us happy we're more likely to appreciate more of what we could otherwise take for granted.   Other entries might be seen as unusual.  These relate to those life experiences that might be seen as not particularly happy events. The happiness I find in the seemingly not so happy entries is that all the events in my life, the good and the not so good, have made me who I am today and sometimes looking back on what was at the time difficult, serves to remind me that at times when I feel most vulnerable or least capable of succeeding, I really do have the inner strength to pull through. My diaries are small note books that I carry with me. I can make entries when and where ever I like and they make for good reading at times when life is not so happy.  We also follow a 'happy rule' in our house.  When we get together and talk about our day we can grumble and complain all we like, but we have to start and finish our stories with something that made us smile.   For the remainder of the month, you might like to give some thought to the things that make you happy.  You might like to start your own happiness diary.  And remember every evening to ask yourself "What made me smile today?" Did you know that Let's Laugh are the major sponsors of the face book based global social network SMILE PROJECT?  One of the recent posts is a wonderful TED Talk video on the hidden power of smiling.  You can find it  at: http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html
If you haven't checked the out the TED website, www.ted.com/, it's well worth a look, and, if you enjoy simple positive daily thoughts that will make you smile, you might like to visit the SMILE PROJECT on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Smile-Project/106745079376856.

Keep smiling, take notice of what brings you happiness and inner joy, and have a brilliant rest of the month. 
Bronwyn Roberts
Chief Happiness Officer
Let's Laugh
bronwyn@letslaugh.com.au
www.letslaugh.com.au0421 335 197

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