Happ-E-Newsletter for January 15, 2007

Welcome My Dear Friend! Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?"

IT LOOKS LIKE RESEARCH IS PROVING THAT BEING HAPPY WILL MAKE YOU HEALTHER AND LIVE LONGER! MAKE BEING HAPPY PART OF YOUR NEW YEAR'S LIST!

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man." - Benjamin Franklin

Nearly a dozen studies show that happier people live longer. They're also less likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, and pain from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Plus, Carnegie Mellon researchers last month found that people who express positive emotions come down with fewer colds and flus after being exposed to the viruses than those who express negative emotions like anger, sadness, or stress.

HAPPINESS AT WORK = GOOGLE

Google was named # 1 in Fortune Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2007. If you work for Google you will have free gourmet meals at any of the 11 gourmet cafeterias at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.

Other services Google offers its employees for free are a workout room with weights and rowing machine, locker rooms, swimming spa, a massage room, laundry room, child care, haircuts and notaries onsite, get your car washed for free, car services and five onsite doctors available for employee checkups, free of charge. Please bring your dog to work with you once in awhile if it is okay with the group of people you work with.

Are the people who work for Google happy to work there? Yes, you bet they are because they know their company cares about them and shows them they care. That may explain why Google receives 1,300 resumes a day. Could your company have employees that are as happy as Google, even if you don't have enough money to give them all these services? Yes, they can and will be as happy.

Happiness training at work can be extremely profitable for companies, as well as for employees. A few brief sessions can generate enormous benefits. The cost would be minimal, and the positive effects can be permanent. The benefits of happiness training are numerous. Let's take a look at a few of the benefits for the organization.

Increased Production: Happy people are more productive workers. When the time flows better for workers, their ability to do their jobs are enhanced.

Decision Making Ability Enhancement: Happiness reduces stress and uncertainty, which is actually "confusion." People stop fearing the consequences and become part of the solution. When people feel good about the job they are doing, they do it better. Instead of creating problems, they are given the tools to become problem solvers.

Clients Experience Happiness: Happy employees treat clients substantially better. The employees' manner, calmness, the way they speak, even the tonality of their voice makes people feel good about working with their company. New customers are attracted to happy employees.

Decreased Absenteeism and Sick Leave: Happiness has a positive health connection. Happy people are less likely to catch colds. They recover faster from accidents and sickness than the average person.

More Energy Toward Work: If you want a job done right, ask a happy person to do it. The more they like the job, the more energy they have. Happiness is contagious, and that energy will spread throughout the organization.

Communication Enhancement: Good communication is a prime reason for success. It is also the leading reason for failure. The better one learns to communicate with oneself, the better they are able to communicate with others. Happy people with good self-esteem can communicate more honestly and effectively than others. Creativity can flow naturally.

Leadership Values: The leaders of an organization have the opportunity to create something more than "money is the only thing that matters," mentality. They can become part of creating a meaningful life not only for their workers and families, but for themselves as well.

Teamwork Improvement: A chain is as strong as its weakest link. Enhancing the individual with happiness strengthens and empowers the entire organizational chain. Unhappiness weakens the chain. Happiness creates a positive chain reaction. Cooperation will be experienced and enhanced.

Commitment to the Business: People begin to feel that they are an integral part of the organization, and work to support it in their actions, and values. Company morale improves and so does spirit and confidence. The faithfulness factor climbs and there will be more truthfulness, honesty and ethical behavior.

Being Ahead of the Competition: Incorporating happiness training in organizations allows the management to benefit from this new innovational style.

Employees Cherishing Their Jobs: Job satisfaction means that money is not the only reason people do things. Motivation will become a larger incentive for people's actions. Due to peoples improved attitudes, the work environment and quality of work will significantly improve as well.

Higher Profits: More efficient workers, less employee turnover, better concentration and focus, better team building skills will add to the bottom line. Friendlier surroundings allow for more progress and productive work.

Materializing the Mission Statement: Employees would understand the shared vision of management and personally work toward making it a daily reality.

Public Acknowledgment: Newspapers would be interested in the happiness polices instituted by companies and this would further enhance the management's image. Competent and dedicated workers would be attracted to the company as a result of this publicity.

Supervision Enhancement: Happier people are better aligned with management. Less critical supervision translates into more effective supervision and control which will increase productiveness.

Feeling Appreciated: One of the ingredients to happiness is gratitude. When you make someone feel appreciated they feel better about themselves and what they are doing for their company. They feel like they are making a valuable contribution to people in the company and to the people who purchase their products, goods and services. Employees feel they are actually making a difference.

BE HAPPY ZONE by Lionel Ketchian

Published in the Fairfield Citizen-News on January 12, 2007

Life is complicated, happiness is simple! LIVE RICHLY...PRACTICE HAPPINESS!

Everything we do in life is for the purpose of obtaining happiness! Happiness Empowerment to You! Reminding you to make the "Happiness Decision." Think Smart, Look Smart, Be Smart...Be Happy! Sharing Love, Peace and Happiness with you, Lionel Ketchian

Happiness 101 By D.T. MAX

Positive psychology brings the same attention to positive emotions (happiness, pleasure, well-being) that clinical psychology has always paid to the negative ones (depression, anger, resentment). Psychoanalysis once promised to turn acute human misery into ordinary suffering; positive psychology promises to take mild human pleasure and turn it into a profound state of well-being....Thus positive psychology is not only about maximizing personal happiness but also about embracing civic engagement and spiritual connectedness, hope and charity.

Happ-E-Mail :) I love your discussion of how to deal with difficult events while still being happy. You say: "If you are unhappy about a problem, you have created two problems when you had one." So true! The Buddhist correlate would be: "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." Another chapter in your eventual happiness book; this one is a real tour de force. Love and happiness in '07, Dr. Bob Nozik

Happ-E-Quote :) "Friends are relatives you make for yourself." - Eustache Deschamps

Happ-E-Quote :) "The great thing to learn about life is, first, not to do what you don't want to do, and, second, to do what you do want to do." - Margaret Anderson (1886-1973) Editor

Happ-E-Quote :) "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James

Happ-E-Mail :) I was just looking at my Mary Engelbreit 2007, Laugh With Me desk calendar, and thought of you! Don't know if you've seen it, but each week has a different quote on happiness and laughter. It's great, if you can get a hold of one. This week's quote is "Happiness is a form of courage." - Holbrook Jackson.
Hope all is well. Cathy Jewell Fischer

Happ-E-Quote :) "Nothing else can quite substitute a few well-chosen, well timed, sincere words of praise. They are absolutely free-and worth a fortune" - Sam Walton 1918-1992

Happ-E-Quote :) "It is no longer correct to regard higher education solely as a privilege. It is a basic right in today's world." - Norman Cousins

Happ-E-Quote :) "I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!" - Henry Drummond (1851-1897) Cleric and writer

Happy-Book :) You Can Do More Than You Think. Try to think of instances when you originally thought you would be unable to do something, but in fact were able to do it. This can teach you that your feeling that something is impossible, does not necessarily mean it is truly not possible.

From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book: Gateway to Happiness, p.376.

Happ-E-Quote :) "One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community." - Albert Einstein

Happ-E-Quote :) "Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace." - Dalai Lama

Happ-E-Quote :) "Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge--broad, deep knowledge--is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low." - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Happ-E-Quote :) Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away. - Arthur Helps (1813-1875) Writer

Our next Happiness Club meeting includes a presentation called: "Overcoming Problems With Happiness," by Lionel Ketchian.

Date :) Thursday, January 18, 200

Time :) 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Place :) At the Fairfield Public Library, in the Memorial Room

Address :) 1080 Old Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06824

WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT SMILING SINGLE SENIORS HAPPINESS CLUB :)

Our next Happiness Club meeting will be a discussion called: "Start the new year with a smile."

"You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." - George Burns (1896-1996) Comedian

Date :) Thursday, January 25, 2007

Time :) 6:00 - 8:00 P.M.

Place :) At the Westport Senior Center, 21 Imperial Ave., Westport CT 06880.

Stay happy and healthy - get well connected. Stacy Enyeart is the group facilitator. For further information, www.happinessclub.com or call Lionel Ketchian at 203 258-7777. Future meetings will be held on Thursday, Thursday, February 22, Thursday, March 29, 2007.

NEW! - MADISON CONNECTICUT HAPPINESS CLUB :)

Our next Happiness Club meeting will include a presentation called: "Joy and Defying Gravity," by Prill Boyle. Prill is a Fairfield author and will be discussing a collection of short stories featuring women who have found a new career after mid-life.

Date :) Wednesday, January 31, 2006

Time :) 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Place :) At the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library

Address :) 801 Boston Post Road, Madison, Ct. 06443

NEW! - WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA HAPPINESS CLUB :)

Date :) Our first meeting will be Friday, January 26, 2007, 7:00 PM 2007
Place :) The Connection Internet Cafe

Address :) 250-1 Racine Drive Racine Commons Shopping Center, Wilmington , NC 28403

Description: This will be of the Wilmington Happiness Club. Richard Dean Banton will present a brief introduction to the Option Method, a very powerful technique for overcoming unhappiness. If time permits we also hope to discuss New Year's Resolutions and plans for future Happiness Club meetings! We have a great location for this event and expect everyone who attends to have a great time and leave (at least) a little happier! - Richard Banton, phone: (910) 793-1940

Get in touch with me through the 'Contact Organizer' feature on the Meetup.com website:

Happiness is an inner state of well being. A state that enables you to profit from your highest thoughts, intelligence, wisdom, awareness, common sense, emotions, health, and spiritual values.

Happiness is one of the most important things in your life. Don't give away your power by being unhappy! Practice "Premeditated Happiness," because happiness is an issue of power. We give our power to others for many reasons. We mistakenly think that doing this will make us happy. The truth is that we have given others power over ourselves. We can now consciously reclaim our power and experience happiness. Happiness does wonders for your soul. Now is the time to learn to use happiness for dealing with challenges and difficult people so you can empower your life. Reading this newsletter will not just make your life better; it will make the world a better place...because you have decided to be happy!

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"Unhappiness is a form of suffering." Eckhart Tolle. If you're not happy by now, it's time to have a talk with yourself. Make the Happiness Decision Now! THAT'S ALL FOLKS...NOW BE HAPPY!

© Copyright 2007, Lionel R. Ketchian, all rights reserved.