Happiness goes to the movies

This evening I presented at a local screening of the film "Happy" for Wallingford Meaningful Movies in Seattle.  People who come to Meaningful Movies are committed to sustainability, social justice and a better future for all.  They are environmentalists, advocates and grassroots activists. A few of the participants had taken the Gross National Happiness Index and we talked about their scores.

This month marks the forth year of my work with the Happiness Alliance, and I have seen only a few groups score as high as the 23 who took the GNH index.

What is remarkable about this group?  They scored higher on every section except the UK Happiness Index, which measures affect (how you feel) and satisfaction with life (is your life worthwhile). Remember that this group is deeply committed to a better future.

We talked about what these results mean.  In simple terms, everything in these people's lives are about as good as they get, but they did not feel that way. Perhaps this is an effect of deeply caring and deeply being aware of the state of our society, economy, personal lives and environment.

We talked about leverage points for happiness and how to focus on the positive.  This was an easy audience. They intrinsically "got it." Practicing compassion, gratitude and giving expands the capacity for changing the world.

Thank you to the Meaningful Movies super wonderful peeps!