[AfH-Chapters] Get-Togethers. Afterthoughts

Tue Feb 11 19:28:01 CET 2020

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-_ILzkrnBnQHOlahN7YQNuavsE5dlcWhxNalf8bmN92k?continueMode=true 
>
> Reminder: You can reach us all by using
> "AfH-Chapters at lists.ourproject.org" to send a mail to us and
> additionally to Mauriza from Italy, Zoe from Australia and AfH in Brasil.
> info at afh.org 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)