It’s almost August, time for summer holidays… or to catch up with some of the posts on For A State of Happiness that you may have missed?
These are the topics I covered in the last eleven months, of the season 2014-2015:
September
- 3. People make life interesting. About an ephemeral encounter that taught me something about happiness.
- 8. Gross National Happiness – an idea whose time has come. I disagree with the Financial Times about the virtues of GNH.
- 15. My home is my hammock. One of my best bad ideas ever: I decided to by a hammock (lacking a terrace or garden, it’s in my bedroom…)
- 22. Happiness at work for you… Work can be a source of happiness for the employee…
- 29. … and your boss. … and it’s good for the employer, too.
October
- 6. Mojitos, lego and beyond: work and motivation. With the help of behavioural economist Dan Ariely, I look at the question what motivates us to work.
- 13. Walking in the sea. An adventure in the Wadden Sea. The feeling of bliss and accomplishment after four and a half hours of ‘horizontal alpinism’ is massive.
- 20. Beyond GDP, a long road to travel. The lessons of a European Commission conference on GDP and beyond.
- 27. When I am happy (Sunday, 13.44). Hint: a good coffee helps.
November
- 5. Happiness is a messy thing. Complex processes come into play to achieve happiness.
- 10. Crush your comfort zone and make the magic happen. Title says it, no?
- 17. My happiness bookshelf, work in progress. Follow-up from one year earlier: my shelf with happy books has expanded!
December
- 3. The power of negative emotions. Attending the Foro Bienestar happiness conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, I learnt about the force of the negative to power positive action.
- 8. Juggling yellow stress balls: my message at the Foro Bienestar conference. In my own speech, I suggested happiness is in measurement, a political agenda, and work-life balance.
- 16. Why are Mexicans so happy? Back from Mexico, I wondered why Mexicans are ranked higher than expected in the happy lists.
- 17. Reach your goals and increase your happiness. A guest post by LifeCoachHub with some ideas to chase accomplishment in the new year
January
- 5. Balanced and ambitious goals – new years resolutions. My plans to become the better me.
- 11. Je suis Charlie. Five day after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, happiness bloggers should also stand for freedom of speech.
- 19. Celebrate blue Monday. Blue Monday is a myth worth to be celebrated.
- 26. ‘Privacy is theft’, a warning against invasive technology. Dave Eggers’ The Circle offers many pieces of wisdom on happiness and technology.
February
- 2. The Happy Danes: why are Danes so damn happy? A study from the Happiness Research Institute has some answers.
- 9. Happy maps. What if maps would help to lead us to happy places?
- 18. La Grande Bellezza & the ability to enjoy our lives. The great Italian movie renders (un)happiness visible.
- 23. Comfort and ritual foods make you happy In part I of a series on food and happiness, I research how some food products make you happy…
March
- 2. Selling happiness. … while in part II I go into the marketing techniques (ab)using happiness claims
- 9. Street art, a form of art to bring light to our streets. The creation of a piece of art on a wall near my house led to a special encounter with the artist.
- 18. Who’s responsible for your work-life balance? You! TED speaker Nigel Marsh puts the finger where it hurts.
- 23. How happy are we actually in Europe? Three days after World Happiness Day, I explore data on EU happiness levels.
April
- 13. Money – making sense of the root of all evil. A workshop on money as a ‘blank slate’ helps face me the question: what does money mean to me?
- 20. A $70k minimum wage. My comments about a US company’s policy to raise salaries to enhance staff’s happiness.
- 29. The World Happiness Report 2015: a wealth of data to make the world a happier place. It’s all in the title, no?
May
- 4. Smile! An eternal smile does (not) lead to happiness in this short film.
- 13. Happiness in the past, present and future. Psychologist Robert Biswas-Diener believes we can find happiness in our past. I disagree.
- 18. Social Progress, a better way to measure a good society. My favourite alternative indicator (Yes, I have one).
- 25. Event on beyond GDP. Invitation to an event on happiness, featuring yours truly
June
- 1. An anecdotal explanation of Danish happiness. Coming back from a couple of days visit to Copenhagen, I started to unravel why Denmark is one of the happiest countries worldwide…
- 10. Can we replicate Denmark’s success story. … and identified urban design, work participation, and security (reduction of barriers to unhappiness) as factors to copy from Denmark.
- 15. Does happiness make good policy. Happiness is all about statistics. That is one of the insights I shared at an event by the Danish Embassy and YPFP.
- 29. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Time to dive into the chances of the sustainable development goals to enhance global happiness…
- 30. “There is no plan B, because there is no planet B” … including some advice from Ban Ki-Moon
July
- 8. Hope in the Greek crisis of happiness.As the news is full of the economic and political crisis, I look at a couple of stories with positive signs coming from Greece.
- 15. If urgent, be patient. That might be the idea to achieve a good work-life balance.
- 21. Spinach is not the key to happiness. And neither is Coca Cola. Happiness sells, also for coke and gin-tonics.
… for this season!
Read all? There’s always season 2013-2014, and For A State of Happiness will be back in September.