[AfH-Chapters] Get-Togethers. Afterthoughts

[Mark Williamson]

Hi Tobias, thanks for these helpful thoughts on the on-going AfH
Get-Togethers in local communities.

Yes you're right that there needs to be some kind of appeal or "chemistry"
which keeps people coming back to the regular Get-Togethers over time.

In our case (which has had 25-30 people meeting monthly for nearly 18
months), the lasting appeal seems to have been a mixture of:

*a) Personal benefit *- by using a format which people find genuinely
inspiring, friendly and enjoyable each month - so they look forward to
coming and keep coming back! And a key part of this is the friendships they
make with others and the chance to connect with them and share ideas
together

*b) Varying content* - having regular "new" content - but not in the form
of expert videos (we've never done that), rather via contributions from the
group - so we have had people helping us to meditate, do yoga, sing as a
choir, learn resilience exercises, do mindful drawing, letter writing,
laughter yoga, purpose-finding, art therapy, "speed relating" and more.
That has kept the sessions feeling fresh while still following the
monthly themes, e.g. we're planning to try some Tai Chi together for Active
April!

Your question about "spreading" is a really good one. Our group has done
this most actively when the monthly theme has related to kindness (e.g.
Altruistic August, Do Good December) for example by collecting donations
together and taking them to our local food bank and trying to support other
local charities.

I also feel that now we have these strong relationships and friendships
that have been built up over more than a year we're much better placed to
do more spreading activities - so I'm hoping that the group will be up for
doing more of these.

For example, at this week's session we discussed two specific
spreading-style ideas: one is for us all to give out cards/postcards about
AfH to people we meet and tell them about AfH, what we're trying to achieve
and how they can get involved. The other is to start spreading AfH content
(e.g. the latest calendar) with our neighbours via the Nextdoor platform -
which seems to be getting a great response so far.

And yes, we'd be delighted to hear about other "spreading" activities tried
by your groups and others around the world - so please do continue to
experiment and let us know what works best and how things like the lovely
KindSpring cards are received...

But in closing I wouldn't underestimate the importance of your point 1)
below (having a 'pleasant evening') - I feel by far the biggest predictor
of whether people come is them having a genuinely inspiring experience and
strong sense of togetherness with others. That to me is what really drives
people to keep coming back for more.

Hope that's helpful. And big thanks again for organising our call, it was
so great to speak with you all :)

Mark
---
*Mark Williamson*
Director, Action for Happiness
www.actionforhappiness.org
www.facebook.com/actionforhappiness
www.twitter.com/actionhappiness



On Tue, 11 Feb 2020 at 18:28, Tobias Polzin <
tobias.polzin at actionforhappiness.de> wrote:

> 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)
>
>
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