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The Key To Happiness In The Workplace: A Lesson From The Happiest Person In The World

Guest post by: Dr. Paul Lanthois

Article Overview: Happiness can be a real deal clincher. With very little often separating competing bids and tenders, the deciding factor often comes down to how pleasurable it has been in dealing with the people involved. But are people naturally happy or is it a skill that can be learnt? I learnt the answer from who I regard as the "happiest person in the world" and the answer might have you reassess how and who you hire.

The Key To Happiness In The Workplace: A Lesson From The Happiest Person In The World

A couple of years ago I was fortunate to help out at a health center where i was reunited with a former secretary of mine. Berni worked with me for three years before she moved to Queensland's Gold Coast with her husband. In all my years of working with Berni, she always had a smile on her face and a happy outgoing disposition. I have known Berni for over 15 years now and I can't ever recall a frown or a phrase uttered in a negative tone coming from Berni. She wasn't one of those fake, Pollyanna,types who weren't connected with reality. Berni was genuinely caring and loving in her character and she was always happy.Berni managed would win my vote for the happiest person in the world.

During my brief stint working at this health center, Berni and her husband Mick invited me to stay at their house. The first morning at their house I was woken at 5.30am to what I thought were faint sounds of laughter and giggling. After fifteen minutes, this chorus of laughing was getting stronger. Curiosity got the better of me so I trudged out of bed to get a glass of water. As I walked passed their home office, I caught a glance at Berni, dressed in her exercise gear laughing. On returning from the kitchen, I glanced into the room again and Berni saw me, "Good morning. Isn't it just a delightful morning,"she beamed in the most genuine and kind manner. I noticed that she was dressed in her exercise clothes doing what appeared to be laughing exercises.

I returned to my room with a warm glow in my heart. "So that's how she does it!" I said to myself. "No wonder she is so happy. She is the only person I knew who actually practices laughing." Sure, I have heard of those laughing groups that get together but I dismissed it as an "only In California" activity.

Whether practicing laughing is your thing or not it definitely pays to  treat happiness as a skill that requires practice and can be developed. How can you begin exercising your happiness muscles? You can try what I did.

When learning anything about sport, school, business or relationships I placed very little credence on academic qualifications or position. I only paid attention to people who were more skilled or successful than me in a particular area. As the cliché goes, "Talk is cheap." I chose to pay attention to people who walked their talk.

I chose to observe and study people who had busy, challenging lives who were also happy. I asked them questions about how they coped in certain situations and I copied many of their approaches.

If you don't know of anyone who is really happy then read about someone who you admire or re-learn some happiness strategies from a therapist.

This is where the workplace can be of great support for employees struggling handling stress. Happiness and optimism are priceless skills that I believe surpass any form of technical training. By placing greater emphasis on employing happy, optimistic people not only will they help encourage a more enjoyable work environment but they will also be an invaluable resource in helping show others how to more effectively manage stress.

Related Articles
  Lessons from The Wizard of Oz
  Life's Formula
  Entrepreneurs and the Happiness Quotient
  Staying Positive in Tough Times
  What Makes Me Happy At Work?

Article Tags: california activity, curiosity, exercise clothes, exercise gear, exercises, fifteen minutes, glance, glass of water, gold coast, happiness, health center, husband mick, kind manner, muscles, negative tone, queensland, smile on her face, sounds of laughter, stint, warm glow



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Re: The secret to happiness - Happiness comes from within. We choose whether we want to be happy or not. Circumstances can influence our feelings, but in the end, it's up to us how we deal with our circumstances, positively or negatively. I admire anyone who can stay strong and be happy through adversity. There will always be challenges that we face, but I believe that if we face them with our heads held high, the odds of overcoming them are much greater. This reminds me of the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness." Happiness spelled wrong for a reason. One of Will Smith's greatest movies. I encourage you all to watch it as it's very inspiring.
Re: The secret to happiness - Happiness is working on the job you love. I forgot who said this, "give a man the job he loves doing and he will ever work again in his life"
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Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work...? - Last month, the BBC World Service programme, The Strand, featured 21 year-old Icelandic pianist/composer Olafur Arnalds. Arnalds achieved extraordinary success through his internet-led project to compose 7 tunes in 7 days, post them on his website and then post links to it via TWITTER. As a result his website got thousands of visitors eager to listen to his music, catapulting him to fame and bringing his music to the attention of the BBC, who featured an interview with him on the World Service programme, The Strand! So who says Twitter doesn't work? (HINT: It does help if you have something uniquely your own that other people want to get hold of...)


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