A presentation for Dance Camp NW that focuses on the connection between personal happiness and global well-being and happiness.

1. Happiness and Well-being:
A global movement - A local solution
happycounts.org

3. What the Happiness Initiative is about:
A New Economic Paradigm

7. But how do we connect
Global Happiness Your Happiness
in today’s world where wealth, money and
consumption trump all?

9. What makes you happy?
guided exercise

10. What makes you happy?
gratitude
giving
compassion – mindfulness
in one word…others

11. Conversation & Discussion
In small groups, share where it is comfortable:
What makes you happy?
What comes up for you?
Together choose one or two points to share in
the larger group
Come together to share one or two points from
each group.

12. Some research indicates external is only 10%; other research
indicates up to 33%. This field of research is in early stages; the
issue is complicated and the determinates are interlinked.

13. Robert Kennedy on GDP
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence
and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross
national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution
and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.
It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It
counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in
chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and
armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's
rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in
order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not
allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy
of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of
our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our
public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our
wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our
country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life
worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are
proud that we are Americans.

14. Does money make us happy?
• GDP in the
US has more
than tripled
since 1950s.
• Adjusted per
capita GDP
since 1960 has
doubled since
2010
• Happiness
has remained
stagnant and
even fallen

15. Easterlin Paradox
40 year study of nations across the globe
Up to a salary of
$75K for family of
four, long and short
term happiness
increases a lot with
more money
After a salary of
$75K, long term
happiness
increases are
marginal or non-
existent, short term
increases in
happiness do occur.

16. Unbalanced and Unfair
The United States has the widest
gap between rich and poor of any
wealthy country.
The Nation, Unjust Spoils, Robert Reich
Share of annual national income
earned by the top 1 % of Americans:
1980 8 percent
2010 24 percent
Share earned by the bottom 50%
2010 20 percent

17. How much do we need?
If everyone on earth consumed at the level of the United
States, we would need five to seven Planets.

18. When money does the
talking..The US is the only wealthy nation without laws requiring :
– Paid Sick Days
– Paid holidays
– Paid Maternity Leave
– Paid Vacations
The US spends nearly twice per capita on healthcare than any
other nation yet, according the CIA fact book, the US ranks (out
of 150 countries)
– 50th
in the world in life expectancy
– 46th
in the world in infant mortality
– 2nd
in the world in obesity

20. Happiness Initiatives

21. Your Happiness Index

22. Scores for the over 25,000 people who have taken the GNH Index
Our Nation’s Gross National Happiness Index

23. Five regrets of the dying

24. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to
myself, not the life others expected of me.

25. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

26. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

27. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

28. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

29. A happiness challenge
Global Happiness Your Happiness
with global action & personal action
building personal happiness building community happiness
to

30. How Happy Are You?
Take the Gross National
Happiness Index to find
out. Use it as a guide to
enhance your happiness
and the well-being of
others.
Visit happycounts.org to take the
Gross National Happiness Index