Dear all, as we were speaking about the "get togethers", I was thinking of my experience in the two get together groups (Hannover (10 months, I attended approx. 6 meetings) and Heckenbeck (18 months, I attended approx. 6 meetings). Sometimes we used some translated AfH-"get together" materials, sometimes not. Mostly we used videos, from the suggested materials, or other TED or similar talks (there are TED talks in German). The number of participants dropped from nearly all course members in the beginning to 6-9, some new people came in. As people are so busy, I have the feeling that the "get togethers" must have some really valuable thing to offer, so that people "crave out time" (Kabat-Zinn in the course talk) to meet. What could this be? 1) Having a pleasant evening (necessary condition, but not sufficient :-)) 2) Connection, meeting friendly people in a safe and supporting setting 3) Self-help, getting reinforced in giving priority and action towards happiness 4) Spreading, being part of something bigger then yourself I feel that aspect 4 is something that could be a further glue and purpose for such a group. Yet, I think it is difficult to support. I don't know if you address the "Spreading" aspect in your local groups. Are you, Mark? It could range from actively working with friendlyness cards (kindspring.org), happiness flash-mobs, free hugs (our course did this at a marathon), supporting local caring activities, addressing schools, even to local or national politics. In my village, independent of the AfH group, a second happiness group was founded, naming themselves fake "Ministry of Happiness and Wellbeing". Their starting point is the "4) Spreading" aspect for our village. Aspects 1-3 are secondary (but also existing). They are thinking about doing Happiness Surveys in the neighbourhood, inspired by the Gross National Happiness Institute in Bhutan (http://grossnationalhappiness.org/). The surveys have different functionalities: 1) get an impression on the status and development of the Happiness competences and predeterminations, as well as the felt Happiness level, 2) identify areas for improvement, 3) educate about connections between behaviour and happiness, 4) by giving happiness a relevance, put an intention into the neighbourhood's cultural field. The group has just started, so I don't know, if this will go beyond the "funny idea" phase... Anyway, I think it would be interesting to collect and share elements and activities of thriving "get together" groups. What do you think about the "Spreading" aspect of "get togethers"? Best wishes Tobias Am 11.02.2020 um 14:02 schrieb Tobias Polzin:
Dear all,
thanks that you took time for our discussion. As Gaby said "it was a great WE-feeling and lot of energy for our team."
Attached you will find minutes that Gabi and Alex have noted (thanks!) and the zoom recording link. https://zoom.us/rec/play/usctfrqt-mk3SICXsASDAvEoW9XpL6Os2nVI-_ILzkrnBnQHOla...
Reminder: You can reach us all by using "[email protected]" to send a mail to us and additionally to Mauriza from Italy, Zoe from Australia and AfH in Brasil. [email protected] is also part of the list, but not Mark und Alex directly.
@Tegan, would you like to share some links regarding your HAPPTIVIST T-Shirts?
For me the most important take aways: * Focus of current work: Face to Face contacts in local communities, using breadth and depths activities * 85000 people use the app (Tobias: although it has so limited functionality) * 90% of the leaders lead only once (although they liked it). Although it is fully appropriate if leaders inspire participants to become leaders, I still find this astonishing and worth investigating.
Not new for me, but good to remember: * Support for national chapters is a long term aim for AfH, but as AfH is in the "we are making it up, while we go" mode, at current it is probably not the right timing and incoporating non-uk processes adds a lot of work (Thanks Mark, for making the comprehensible again) * Although it's not clear, how translation-friendly the new course concept will be, it's definitely welcome by all of us that AfH tries new concepts, and it's welcome by AfH international to continue to use the translated versions of the old course.
Best wishes Tobias
-- Ich werde versuchen, mehr Glück und weniger Unglück in der Welt um mich herum zu stiften. (Action for Happiness Deutschland. www.actionforhappiness.de)