Could this mean that governments will now pay more attention to the happiness of their people when they form their polices? We hope that this will be the beginning of a trend to create an awareness that deals with more than just income.
In the Happiness report the four happiest countries are Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. The report describes that other factors such as social and personal are important for happiness–mental health, physical health, individual values (people who care about other people).
The report indicates that over the last 40 years, the measure of happiness has not increased in the United States despite sharply rising incomes. The problems of poverty, insecurity, corruption, loss of social trust are just a few factors that affect America’s sense of well-being. Source: John Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs.
We should begin to learn from the reports, conferences and new initiatives. Seattle’s happiness program is a great example in the US and is going strongly. Check out their questionnaire and program. http://www.sustainableseattle.org/sahi
Of course, happiness begins with you and your ability to understand the principles, practice them and set an example. It is the beginning of building a world with more joy and less sadness.
Whitney Ferre believes that each of us in an artist, actively creating art called “life.” Despite that fact that Whitney is not some who could paint or draw as a trained artist, she opened two Creative Fitness Centers that do just that – show people how to create change in their lives through art.
According to Whitney, natural talent is not the driving factor behind creativity. Instead, it is the art making that creates the bridge from your logical, analytical left brain to the infinite, intuitive, miracle creating right brain. Her results have been so exciting that her art classes led to a published book, The Artist Within, and also an online Creatively Fit program. (www.creativelyfit.com)
The journey has not been without setbacks. Amidst opening two art centers, having three children and publishing two books, Whitney also opened and operated two wine bars with a partner. Unfortunately, the wine bars ended up in the red, which created much self-doubt. Whitney recognized the power of experiencing such kind of failure and refocused her vision on Creatively Fit. She now coaches and has an entire team of Creatively Fit Coaches across the United States, Africa, Europe and Australia.
For Whitney, there is no greater joy than creating joy in others. When her clients transform from “I can’t even draw a straight line” to creating their own art, her purpose is proven. Whitney believes that art making is a portal to your higher, infinitely creative self and there is no greater reward that helping individuals experience this.
This eight-part blog series, exclusively for www.UpsideTheBook.com, highlights the Every Woman Visionary. Each of these women, along with myself, are featured in the first-ever Spirited Woman 2012 Directory: Resources For An Inspired Life! (www.thespiritedwoman.com) set to launch tomorrow on 12/12/11. It is an exciting time for women, and the FREE magazine-style digital directory – rich with inspirational stories, resources and more – is our gift to you. Women from six countries and over 25 states participated in the directory.
For some people, wanting to make a difference sounds cliché; for Dawn Z. Bournand, it’s a life passion. Her philosophy is simple: give the best of yourself as often as you can. Dawn was inspired to name her company “Fabulously Successful” to help others break out of their comfort zones to grow and reach out on the level they were destined to achieve.
Dawn’s approach is different from other life coaches. While she supports and empowers people to live their purpose and create their own version of fabulous success, she also believes that owning your own business can often be a great way to accomplish your dreams. Dawn and her team focus on clients’ passions to determine how they may be able to weave them into their lives on a daily basis and perhaps even begin to make a living doing what they love.
One of the keys to fabulous success, Dawn believes, is finding joy in all parts of your life. As a mother of three young boys, she lives her message that life balance is not only possible but vital. According to Dawn, when one lives their life purpose, they have a reason, a why and they move forward with these core values in mind. That clarity makes it easy to decide the more important activities and release the rest.
The path to purpose has not always been easy for Dawn. As an expat in Paris, she was surprised and depressed by the lack of career options. Her turning point came as she silently prayed for guidance on a metro train, only to discover a phone message on her cell that would start her on her path to fabulous success.
For Dawn, touching just one person, igniting that spark of empowering others to excel is the reason she continues to grow her business. www.FabulouslySuccessful.com now offers group coaching and a Fabulously Successful Elite Club for Women and will be adding personal VIP days and workshops in France and in select cities around the world – all designed to help women use their light to shine even brighter and inspire others.
Advice for getting on track with your life’s purpose? “Go for it!,” says Dawn. “Find a success buddy, group or coach who can help you through the rough spots.” These rough spots can be the key to moving to the next level or taking your next step. Learn more about Dawn at www.FabulouslySuccessful.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/dawnbournand.
This eight-part blog series, exclusively for www.UpsideTheBook.com, highlights the Every Woman Visionary. Each of these women, along with myself, are featured in the first-ever Spirited Woman 2012 Directory: Resources For An Inspired Life! (www.thespiritedwoman.com) set to launch on 12/12/11. It is an exciting time for women, and the FREE magazine-style digital directory – rich with inspirational stories, resources and more – is our gift to you. Women from six countries and over 25 states participated in the directory.
Andrea Woolf wants you to have it all – the self-proclaimed “Queen of Having It All” discovered her gift of coaching others through challenges at a very young age. While other children played outside, Andrea could be found in her mother’s salon chatting with clients. Eventually, the client would reveal their personal obstacle and commit to specific action steps to resolve it by the time they left.
Andrea applied this talent to a very successful corporate career.While juggling massive projects in a high-pressure environment, she still found that helping individuals achieve their goals to be the most rewarding.When she discovered the role of executive coaching, Andrea says it was like “finding the glove that fit me.”
Her clients are fueled by Andrea’s core values of integrity, full self-expression and inspiring magnificence.She believes that all business is created through powerful and connecting communication, which quickly leads to amazing results and successes.Andrea is committed to inspiring others to own their personal magnificence by thinking and playing bigger while embracing the huge difference they make in the world.
Andrea certainly walks her talk, too.A confessed ‘recovering perfectionist’, Andrea discovered many of the tools she coaches others with as she wrote her first book, Ignite Your Life! How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.The need to write the ‘perfect’ book almost immobilized her, but lucky for us, she overcame her self-doubt and busy mind and voila, the book is now a reality!
Her advice to others?“The only thing between you and your dreams is YOU!”How very true – that’s why in order to have it all, you must let go of expectations and doubts and embrace the possibilities.Learn more about Andrea’s inspiring work and sign up for your free chapter newsletter at www.IgniteYourLifeBOOK.com.
This eight-part blog series, exclusively for www.UpsideTheBook.com, highlights the Every Woman Visionary. Each of these women, along with myself, are featured in the first-ever Spirited Woman 2012 Directory: Resources For An Inspired Life! (www.thespiritedwoman.com) set to launch on 12/12/11. It is an exciting time for women, and the FREE magazine-style digital directory – rich with inspirational stories, resources and more – is our gift to you. Women from six countries and over 25 states participated in the directory.
It would be easy to learn Vicki Lickorish’s story and just wonder how she gets out of bed in the morning. But, if you meet Vicki, her enthusiastic and loving attitude would never reveal the challenges and heartbreak she’s faced. She has rechanneled that energy into being an unstoppable force of encouragement and empowerment in helping others achieve their dreams.
Vicki’s first obstacle occurred upon discovering that her lifelong career goal of joining the police force was not possible due to being “vertically challenged.” Not long after, she met the love of her life, who didn’t care that she is short, and they began planning a family. Fate intervened once again. A miscarriage left her body infertile, and Vicki felt as though not only was she denied her career dreams, now her dreams of a family were dashed, too.
Being the unstoppable woman Vicki is, she and her husband pursued IVF and were ecstatic to learn she was pregnant with quadruplets. After a very difficult pregnancy, the babies were born but only lived a few hours. Although heartbroken, Vicki and her husband tried again, and 5 months later were pregnant with twins. Not long after, Vicki lost one of the twins but the other survived. On March 19, Vicki and her husband become proud parents of a healthy baby boy.
A year went by before Vicki learned the unthinkable – her husband, best friend and emotional rock was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Within a year, she lost her soul mate and at 31 was widowed and a single parent. To top it off, Vicki underwent a hysterectomy to stabilize her challenged health. For Vicki, this tremendous time of challenge was an opportunity to recreate her life – a rebirth of sorts. And that’s what she did.
With unconditional love as her guiding star and core value, Vicki studied how our emotions shape and influence our lives. She works with individuals to help them let go of past events, emotions and beliefs to achieve their goals and dreams. And if anyone is qualified to do this work, it is certainly Vicki Lickorish!
Her advice to others: “Never plan too far ahead!” Vicki believes that life is meant to flow and that when we set unrealistic goals, we miss out on the wonderful opportunities along the way. Vicki’s coaching work empowers people to follow their dreams by letting go of our self-limiting thoughts and negative relationships in our lives. She won’t promise you an easy path, but she does believe the results are worth the journey!
This eight-part blog series, exclusively for www.UpsideTheBook.com, highlights the Every Woman Visionary. Each of these women, along with myself, are featured in the first-ever Spirited Woman 2012 Directory: Resources For An Inspired Life! (www.thespiritedwoman.com) set to launch on 12/12/11. It is an exciting time for women, and the FREE magazine-style digital directory – rich with inspirational stories, resources and more – is our gift to you. Women from six countries and over 25 states participated in the directory.
During my vacation trip to Africa, I didn’t have my cell phone. There were a few days of withdrawal especially with email. I survived but I now that I’m back in the US I can admit to being addicted.
In our book, Upside: How to Zig When Life Zags, we discuss Need Vs. Want and ask readers to seriously ask the question as they make daily choices—especially in this economy. Do I really need this item?
“I need that toy”! Exclaims a child to his mother is a store. This often-heard phrase is a reminder of our society’s use of the word need. We need shelter and food—but what else do we really need? Abraham Maslow created a diagram in 1943 that outlines basic needs of mankind. Shelter and food are the essential foundation of the hierarchy, and once those are satisfied, love, acceptance, meaningful work and social relationships follow. (Excerpt)
In an August 19 article in the Chicago Tribune, a reporter, Mary Schmich, writes about getting her cell phone deluged in Lake Michigan in a wet biking splash. After days without a cell phone, she still managed to get her story written—no easy task. She had some words of wisdom as she was going through cell phone detox, “Life is largely a series of itches. We mistake cravings for necessities, dependencies for needs.”
As we know cell phones and other “tech toys” make life in our busy world easier, but what are the lessons that we can learn from Mary’s experience? In retrospect, without my phone I was able to be fully present and not distracted. I had a richer experience and was able to quiet my mind and enjoy my trip more.
As you go through your work week, be aware of those things in your life that you feel you really need. Try going without a phone, computer, or other devices. See if you can determine those things you crave vs. necessity– and, avoid those itches.
My perception of the simple life changed dramatically after my recent trip to the countries of Namibia and Botswana in Africa.
In my US workshops, I often ask people to determine what are the things in their life that contribute to happiness. The subsequent discussion with attendees usually includes how to lead a simpler life and be happy.
In my travels through Africa, my observations about the simple life caused me to reflect once more. For Africans, access to basics like water and electricity are minimal. Cooking is simple, done outside over a wood burning fire. This is the extreme in simple living. Walking five miles a day for water is a normal activity for everyone. Transportation to anywhere is limited to donkey carts or hitching rides.
I’ve read about these living circumstances but seeing it first hand, is monumental. I didn’t do any surveys on happiness but children playing without toys seemed very happy. Our guide said that “when you don’t know any other life it is easy to accept your circumstances and be happy with what you have.”
We can’t compare our US lives to African ones but we can take on their attitude of being happy with what we have—which is ten times more than any individual living in the African villages.
When asked in a recent radio interview on happiness what I was thankful for it was easy to reply—clean water out of a faucet. What are you grateful for that contributes to your happiness?
Economist and best-selling author Juliet Schor has a new video describing the new American Dream: http://vimeo.com/26573848. The film shows why economic and job-related strategies from the past that don’t work in today’s economy. It depicts, in her words, “what a post-consumer society could look like, with people working fewer hours and pursuing re-skilling, homesteading, and small-scale enterprises that can help reduce the overall size and impact of the consumer economy.”
In our book Upside, we talk about the need for creating your own career crystal ball of the future. This film is an excellent example of our concept: taking advantage of emerging job opportunities based on the needs of the future. It also takes into account the need to pay attention to our dwindling resources as that affects job opportunities, too. (more…)
Recent statements and interviews regarding the economy have promoted the idea that we all must experience the pain of the downturn. I’m puzzled by the phrase because pain isn’t what is needed. Rather, we need to be mindful and aware of our choices in our lifestyles, finances, and careers. Being aware means that we do our homework and research to make the best choices for the changing times. It doesn’t have to painful – it needs to be smart. (more…)
Our current road trip to Chicago took us through North Carolina last week. While in a little town called Maggie Valley, an unusual blue building that looked like a mini warehouse caught my eye. It turned out to be a unique used bookstore on a residential side street. The building was surrounded by trees with the Smoky Mountains as a backdrop while a fish-stocked pond and flowers were in front of the building.
When I entered the building, I had the feeling of being smothered with books, some a little musty. Every single space, ceiling to floor, was filled with books, with a few very small aisles to walk through. Almost disguised in a corner was a middle aged woman smiling and welcoming. After some pleasantries, she began to tell me her story. She is the author of a biographical story of her growing up. This isn’t an ordinary growing up story—it is a horror story and one of endurance. I won’t go through all the brutality as you can get her book but I was taken aback at her willingness to share—extreme poverty (no shoes or winter clothes), continuous beatings by parents and teachers, hunger, sexual abuse, repeated physical danger from bears, panthers, and poisonous snakes. I think you get the picture.
Yet, I kept looking at this jolly, smiling woman as she recounted some of the episodes and wondered how she ever made it through—alive. After I bought her book, her parting words to me were, “People need to know that they can change their lives even under the worst circumstances. It is possible to find a new life filled with love and compassion. They don’t have to repeat brutal patterns suffered in their childhood. They can change their lives” (more…)
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