Alexander Kjerulf: Happiness at Work

Call To Action: Say Good Morning. Make eye contact. Say something extra. Touch. And, of course, SMILE. 

Kjerulf says that happiness at work is different from job satisfaction. Happiness at work requires 2 things:
1. Results: You are good at you do and your work is meaningful to you.
2. Relationships: You like the people you work with/for, they like you back.

Anyone can be happy at work and we should, not all the time but most of the time. Happy enough that when we get home, we look forward to going back to work the next day. Work is only 2nd to sleep in how much time we spend.

Susan Bird on Genuine Communication

Call to Action: Converse to change yourself.

Susan Bird would rather have a conversation than give a talk. Talking is trying to change someone else. Conversation is purposeful and co-creative. Focused conversations are goal-oriented and productive.

Gever Tulley on Risk & Safety

Call to action: Expose kids to danger while teaching them simple safety guidelines.

5 Danagerous Things he suggests:
1. Play with fire
2. Use a pocketknife
3. Throw a spear
4. Break apart appliances
5. Break a stupid law

At the time of the talk, he was writing the book Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do). He has a cool companion site: http://www.fiftydangerousthings.com/

Stuart Brown on Importance of Play in Adult Life

Call to Action: Play!

Dr. Brown makes the case of lifelong playing. He says that play and neoteny are key to our survival as a species. I just want to note they key patterns of play also found in nifplay.org

Play Patterns
1. attunement
2. body & movement
3. object
4. social
5. imagination & pretend
6. storytelling-narrative
7. transformative-integrative & creative

He also has a book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul where he outlines 10 principles of play.

Play Principles:
1. Humor
2. Kinesthetics
3. Exploration
4. Competition
5. Leadership
6. Collecting
7. Art/Creation
8. Story Telling
9. Fantasy play
10. Choices.

Daniel Kahneman on the Perception of Happiness

Call to Action: Make all happy experiences memorable.

Kahneman presents cognitive difficulties when measuring happiness. He presents the difference between the experiencing self and the remembering self. He notes the following observations:
1. The ending of a story is more important than the significant events.
2. Experiences are created in the service of remembering.
3. Happiness is usually comparative.
4. Money can buy happiness only to a certain extent, but lack of money undeniably results in misery.

In my opinion, if you become aware of your experiences then the difference between the moment and the memory fades. If you live in the moment, the confusion of the past and future will no longer matter.

Dan Buettner on Living Longer

Dr. Buettner presents results from a research on how to live the good life beyond a hundred years. He shows happy communities Sardinia Italy, Okinawa Japan and an Adventist group in California.

The main suggestions are as follows:

1. Integrate physical activities in your daily life.
2. Have weekly moments of peace.
3. Have a specific purpose for waking up in the morning.
4. Eat more plants.
5. Drink moderate amounts of wine.
6. Eat until you are not yet full. (80% is the recommended amount)
7. Live surrounded by loved ones.
8. Have around 6 lifelong friends in the same healthy & happy lifestyle.
9. Find some form of faith-based spirituality.

Personally, I think 8 & 9 blur together into one factor. But, that's just me.

http://www.bluezones.com/live-longer/power-9/

Jessica Jackley on Helping the Poor

Jessica Jackley presents 2 practical ways of helping those who can help themselves.

Kiva.org
Profounder.com

It's a captivating "love story." Watch and weep!