I like to cheekily describe my friend Andy Parnham as a happiness guru. He works part of the week for the charity Livability, that serves people with disabilities, while the rest of the time he acts as an independent wellbeing advisor and coach, running amongst other things, The Happiness Course. This is in a variety of settings, including schools, health centres, companies and the voluntary sector.
Do join us on this podcast as Andy and I discuss a subject of relevance to every one of us. We discuss and explore:
How happiness is not the same as wellness.
The over-emphasis on physical health when we talk about wellness.
The need to also include emotional, psychological, spiritual, relational and community aspects to fully understand wellness.
How and why Andy developed The Happiness Course.
How positive psychology research emphasises health is not just the absence of illness.
What the research shows are the factors that contribute to a flourishing life
– living lives of appreciation and gratitude.
– nurturing healthy relationships.
– forgiveness
– practising acts of kindness
– savouring experiences
Some hard bottom line results that result from happy employees:
– spend twice as long in their jobs as their least happy colleagues.
– believe they are achieving their potential twice as much.
– spend 65% more time feeling energised.
– are 58% more likely to go out of the way to help their colleagues.
– identify 98% more strongly with the values of their organisation.
– are 186% more likely to recommend their organisation to a friend.
What do we mean by the word happy or subjective well-being.
The three dimensions of subjective well-being – pleasure, engagement and meaning.
Distinguishing between happiness and joy.
The four areas covered in the happiness course – the happy life, the successful life, the relational life and the meaningful life.
Going on a journey from what makes me happy to what makes me fulfilled.
A corporate view of happiness.
The Jewish concept of ‘shalom’ that brings together the idea of overall wellbeing.
For more on Andy’s work and The Happiness Course see his and his wife Jill’s website here.
Andy has also written a guest posts for me: We’re all materialists now!
You may also find of interest
Podcast #006: Rediscovering Joy
Why I am working at becoming a happier person.
Why is joy more important than happiness?
The lies we tell ourselves about joy.
Moving from disappointment to joy.
What questions, thoughts and reflections does the search for happiness raise for you?
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The only way to be happy is to take responsibility, authority, and control over your life. You must own your thoughts. You must complete your actions. You build self-esteem by completing your actions. If you want to feel worthwhile, do worthwhile things. Do them with integrity. Do them with excellence. Do them with loving.
-John-Roger, DSS