INTERNATIONAL HAPPINESS DAY!

INTERNATIONAL HAPPINESS DAY!

July 10, 2008
BE HAPPY ZONE
By Lionel Ketchian

What would be the impact, in the world, if 1,000,000 people celebrated happiness the same day? Eva Gregory and Jeanna Gabellini are the US Ambassadors for International Happiness Day. How did this all start, you ask? A man, who's name is Liberto Pereda Romera of Barcelona, Spain recently initiated this project. In addition an organization called: This Happy Planet with Mark Webb, Aymee Coget and myself are also working on this project.

The reason I am giving total support to International Happiness Day, is that we have been speaking to Jeanna and Eva, who are both truly wonderful human beings who completely understand happiness. Here is what Eva said about happiness: "This is a reminder to folks that happiness is their birthright and it's available to everyone. But they must make the decision to be happy. They have to choose. Happiness is a state of BEING not something we pursue. It is within the core of our being of who we really are." Now you can see why we have created this alliance to promote this wonderful day of awareness for being happy. Eva explains happiness exactly as I have for the past 18 years.

We currently have about 35 Happiness Clubs here in the USA and around the world. This month, we had our first meeting of the Whangaparaoa, New Zealand Happiness Club with Pat Armitstead leading it. On July 3, we will have the first meeting of the Happiness Club of Jerusalem, Israel at The Israel Center, with Host: Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, author of Gateway to Happiness and 22 other books. We are opening our first club in Las Vegas, NV with Christine Kevorkian as the facilitator. We have started one in Sydney, Australia with Professor Timothy Sharp, Ph. D., as the Advisor.

Do you want to start a happiness club near you? Listen to step by step instructions about how to do it with Happiness Expert Aymee Coget? Aymee started the San Francisco Happiness Club in 2004, and is ready to share simple steps to help your happiness club succeed. Join us for our once a month hour-long happiness club leadership Video-Teleconference. Listen on the phone, or watch and listen to Aymee while on your computer. The call will be held on July 2nd at 12:00 PM, EST. To receive call in access information and conference materials, send an e-mail to Narine at: narine.psy@gmail.com

Eva, further speaks about International Happiness Day by saying: "This is kinda like the Pay It Forward approach. Don't know if you saw the movie Pay It Forward but Trevor, the 12-year-old hero of Pay It Forward, thinks of quite an idea. He describes it to his mother and teacher this way: "You see, I do something real good for 3 people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward, to 3 more people each, so 9 people get helped. Then those 9 people have to Pay It Forward to 27." He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see, to 81, then 243, then 729, then 2,187. See how big it gets?" The Pay It Forward concept of doing unselfish acts of kindness, a service for someone, and asking them to pay the kindness forward instead of paying it back, is a powerful idea. We can do this for International Happiness Day...and beyond!" I totally agree, Pay It Forward is one of my favorite movies.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, where she is teaching Positive Psychology and is the author of the new book, The How of Happiness, has scientifically proven that practicing 5 acts of kindness a day will produce lasting happiness in an individual. Doing kind things for others, whether friends or strangers, either directly or anonymously, either spontaneously or planned, will help you to create and keep the happiness experience yourself.

We need your help and support in promoting the celebration of International Happiness Day on July 10th. We understand that "Intention Creates Outcome." What if one million people from all over the planet celebrated happiness on the same day? What would the impact in the world be with such a strongly shared intention? We're convinced that this will have a powerful, positive impact on the world. Come join our group on Facebook. facebook.com/editalbum.php#/group.php?gid=10644279659

We have gotten the party started so, come on in and leave a message on our Wall! If you don't have a profile on Facebook yet, it's easy! Go to Facebook.com to sign up. Once you've joined, click on: Join Group just under Jeanna's and Eva's picture. Be sure to review the page, read the discussion boards, and enjoy the videos. Bookmark the Group Page and come back often as we'll be getting active with discussions and free Tele-classes between now and International Happiness Day on July 10. Pass this message along to all your friends, and ask them to do the same!

Join me for International Happiness Day on July 10. Let's share our joy and Pay It Forward. Help spread happiness all around the world. Here's to outrageous and contagious HAPPINESS!

Lionel Ketchian is the founder of the Happiness Club and can be reached at PrintLRK@aol.com. The website is www.HappinessClub.com.