I absolutely love your website, it’s filled
with fun videos and uplifting messages. Was there a specific moment when you
knew you had to start ‘The Secret Society of Happy People?’ How did you come up
with the name?
I came up with the name for
the Society when I was thinking about a humor column for an empowerment
newsletter. I asked myself, “Where are all of the happy people?” and then I
thought, they have their own club and don’t tell anyone about it. I then saw
people wearing Mardi Gras masks, just in case a parade-rainier crashed the
meeting it would protect their identities. And obviously they were chatting
about things that made them happy. Then
I day dreamed their banner: The Secret Society of Happy People. I spent the next year sharing my brilliant
idea for a humor column with people and many of them would say, “Let me know
when you start it, I want to join.” I
can’t pinpoint the exact moment I said, “I must do this.” I think it was more
of a collection of moments that I finally thought, “Why not have a Society for
happy people?”
How has your life changed since creating
SOHP?
That’s a hard one because
we’ve been around so long it’s just part of my life. I plan vacation time from
my day job around Happiness Happens Month for example.
But overall, I’m
consistently humbled by the people who reach out and say the Society has made
them feel OK about being naturally perky and equally humbled by the people who
say the Society has helped them recognize more happiness. I get to celebrate
happiness with people by helping them find and – or keep their happy.
What would you say is the best way for you to
reach people and let them know about SOHP?
The internet has changed
the way everyone communicates but it’s certainly allowed groups like the Secret
Society of Happy People to be accessible to happy people around the world.
Could you talk a bit about happiness and how
much it’s improved your life and those you’ve connected with in your group?
I’m a natural silver lining
seeker even in challenging situations. So I can’t say happiness has changed my
life since I fall into that genetically blessed bucket. It’s not that I’m happy
all of the time because no one is, but when I’m unhappy I work through it
pretty quick.
I think for others in the
group, we have some people who just feel happy to connect with other mostly
happy people. Per our survey that’s how
most of our members classify themselves. But we also have many that use our 31
Types of Happiness to identify more happy moments, read our blogs, newsletters
and join to help them increase their happy moments or develop a habit of
happiness which anyone can chose to do since our attitude determines about 60%
of our happiness.
When did you write your book Thirty-One Types of Happiness Guide? How
did you discover all the different types of happiness?
The guide was written in
the fall of 2012. However, we started out I think 13 years ago with the 21
Types of Happiness and expanded it to 31 about 10 years ago. It’s been part of
our message for years since we want to help people recognize more of the happy
moments that they already experience.
The list came up after
looking at some feeling charts and noticing they usually listed 2 unhappy
feelings for every happy one. I thought shouldn’t that be at least equal. So I
wondered how many types of happiness I could identify. We have more, but 31 is a great starting
point.
In your book you talk about feeling
‘awestruck’ and how surprisingly wonderful it is. Would you mind sharing a
particular moment that made you feel extremely awestruck?
Of recent, we’ve had some
of those huge super moons that are beautiful. I think most of my awestruck
moments seem to be connected to nature. I mean, how do you look at the Grand
Canyon and not be awestruck by the miracle of Mother Nature.
What specific things do you do to keep
yourself happy and amused on a daily basis?
First I’m easily amused, so
to quote a line from the original movie, Arthur, “Sometimes I just think funny
things.” So it doesn’t take much for me to find amusement in even annoying
situations on a daily basis.
Otherwise, I focus on
balance and being thankful (two types of happiness). Balance for me is about am
I getting enough sleep (not so much this time of year), am I eating right and
exercising. Am I making time for friends and family ~ to have experiences with
the people I love not just think about them.
And I start and end my day with my gratitude walk with my dog, Tater,
where I remind myself of all of my blessings.
Do you have any other tips to help everyone
increase their happiness right now?
I recently read an article
about why we need to unplug every 90 minutes to maximize our productivity. I’ve
been testing the theory and have found that the downtime helps you recharge so
you can optimize your busy time. That alleviates stress which then helps one
keep their happy. I’m so into this thought that I did a Happy Inspiration audio
on the topic for our new Social Member program and it’s available as a sample
audio if anyone wants to listen go here.
Wrapping
Up
Thank you, Pamela, for sharing some
of your knowledge with us! I appreciate your amazing outlook and all the
helpful suggestions to ‘keep our happy.’ I love what you said about finding balance and remembering to be grateful...two very powerful and positive things we can do for ourselves!
With Emotional Freedom
Technique many people have been able to release past hurts & traumas and find ways to
love their life again. EFT is wonderful way people can ‘get their happy back!’
For more information on EFT please visit and subscribe to my YouTube Channel and join me on my website!
If you’d like to get a personalized EFT script, or do a Skype or phone session with me please email
me: annagEFT@gmail.com.
Be sure to check back next
Tuesday August 20th, when I will be doing another interview with Serguei Levykin. Serquei is an EFT
Practitioner and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner. I am thrilled to
discover all the ways he is helping people relieve stress, anxiety, and
fear (especially fear of the dentist) with EFT, NLP and hypnosis!
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