If you want to see a cell nucleus, look down this microscope. If you want to see the moons of Jupiter, look through a telescope. On the spiritual side, if you want to see your Buddha nature, if you want to see Christ consciousness, if you want to see the religious side of the equation, fold your legs, sit down each day for two hours, count your breath from one to ten. Do that for five years and get back to me.
– Ken Wilber
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Tornado holiday
I had the thought the other day, that somebody ought to organize holiday trips, where you get to see tornadoes up close. Well, according to the NY Times, that’s been going on for a while now.
If I admit that I’d actually like to try it, does that make me a total adrenalin junkie?
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Arts – politics, 1 – 0
There’s an EU election on right now, and though it’s met mostly with apathy and boredom, someone has used the (butt ugly) election posters pasted all over Copenhagen for some good, and made weird little art projects out of them – quite good ones too. Check out a few:
EU Politics never made this much sense to me before.
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What is the good life
The Summer 2004 issue of Yes! Magazine asks “What is the good life?” Some of the articles are available online, including one by David Myers that seeks to discredit once and for all the notion that money can make you happy:
Watch television, and you’ll learn that the good life is in a new car, a cold beer, or a new drug. Look at surveys, and Americans say they want more money. But look inside at what actually gives you joy, and the good life may be closer than you thought.
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Happiness on the air
Friday morning, Danish national radio had a 6 minute segment from our happy at work conference, containing interviews with participants and speakers. And right after there was a 5 minute interview with me. You can hear the entire segment here (10 Mb mp3). It is, of course, in danish.
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After the happy at work conference
We had the happy at work conference yesterday, and it was a great experience. All our planning and desing efforts paid of, and everybody involved had a great day. Here’s some of the feedback we got:
Best conference I’ve attended in Denmark…Wonderfully inspiring and immediately useful…
Very refreshing and different…
A great day of happiness…
Fun to be part of, very inspiring. See you in 2005…
I can safely say, that we succeded in creating a space and a mood where people could explore happiness at work from many angles. All day long the participants were happy, energetic, smiling, enthusiastic and positive. And I think the key is to create an environment where people have to take charge of their own learning. This was not a day that we created for them – they had to make their own day.
For example: As soon as the participants arrived and were registered, they had to make their own badge. Instead of those boring preprinted badges with your name, title and company on’em, we had a large tabe with paper and pens in every conceivable colour, and everybody made their own badge, exactly as they wanted it. Some people got really creative :o)
The conference only had 5 speakers, who spoke for 30 minutes each. The topics were very different, and each had their own individual style, that added immensely to the conference. Each of them did a great job.
We had the CEO of Denmarks best workplace, Mads Kjaer, who spoke toegether with Malene Nilsson of Kjaer Group (their people manager) on what they’ve done to create their success story. We had a doctor, Claus Hyldahl, who spoke of the significance and practice of health in the workplace. We had Jesper Bove-Nielsen, the author of Corporate Kindergarten, who talked about play and innovation at work. John Bern talked about a simple model for happiness at work, and finally the well known danish actor Jens Arentzen talked about his take on happiness, in his very own style. All of this – and it wasn’t even noon yet.
Then we had workshops. Lots of workshops. Coaching, appreciative inquiry, conversation circles, juggling, meditation, massage, health checkups and much, much more. And the participants seemed to throw themselves into it with abandon – especially the impro theater workshop seemed to generat a lot of fun and initiative.
One very nice thing we did was to invite some professional storytellers to tell stories. One right after lunch, and one at the end of the conference. This was a great touch, which added a lot of fun to the proceedings.
After the workshops, we gave each participant a chance to formulate a plan for their own happiness at work, and to discuss it with the other participants. Then it was almost 6PM, and we closed the day.
Right now I feel happy and very, very tired. Every single gamble we took paid off. Every weird idea that we put into practice work. And put together, all of it created a day that was almost magical. We rock!
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Measuring happiness
Mike Wagner pointed me to this article in Business 2.0 on measuring happiness.
Does money really buy happiness? Not in Japan, apparently. Even the United States, the alleged capital of materialism, is not nearly as happy as its per capita income suggests it should be. Colombians and Costa Ricans, on the other hand, claim a level of satisfaction with their lives that is totally out of proportion with their income.
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Happy songs
I got an email from Mike Wagner, who wrote:
Have you ever heard James Taylor sing “Secret O’ Life”? I think it is a good
“happiness” song. Perhaps there is an entire category of “happiness songs”
we could gather, or likely someone already has. Simon and Garfunkel’s
“Feelin’ Groovy” might fit too.I immediately thought of Don’t worry-be happy by Bobby McFerrin. Do you have any additions to the list of happiness songs?
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Prison food
An article in The Economist talks about an experiment in which inmates in a british prison were given extra vitamins, minerals and fatty oils.
Bernard Gesch, a researcher at Oxford University, wanted to see if bringing inmates’ consumption of various vitamins, minerals and fatty acids (the stuff found in fish oil) up to recommended daily levels would affect their behaviour…
Half of the offenders received daily nutritional supplements, and the rest placebo pills. The two groups included a comparable mix of anxious, depressed and aggressive individuals. Their antisocial antics?ranging from violent assaults to swearing at the guards?were recorded before and during the experiment.
The results, published in the July issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, are striking. Those on supplements committed 25% fewer offences than those taking placebos. Moreover, with at least two weeks’ ?treatment?, inmates receiving supplements committed 35% fewer offences than before starting the trial, compared with a 7% reduction in those taking placebos.
Well, duh! Of course it matters what you eat. Of course you get cranky if your body isn’t functioning optimally, because your diet is wrong.
I had the pleasure of visiting Denmarks biggest prison a few months ago to talk about happiness at work with the prison guards, and I saw the food they served there: Awful! We’re talking old school, meat and gravy style food for both the prisoners and the guards. I’m certain that the conditions could be improved all around with something as simple as better food.
