Happiness in Dubai

In pursuit of happiness

DAVID LIGHT (Staff Reporter)

26 July 2008

Dubai-based Dina Sabnani believes in spreading joy, and has founded the Happiness Club in the UAE to help people find that elusive streak of sunshine in their lives


COULDN’TWE all do with a little bit more happiness in our lives? While life in the UAE is certainly not arduous, our fast paced lifestyles can leave us feeling a bit empty. Alright so you have the car, the villa, the job that makes you a small (or large) fortune, but can we ever say we have enough laughter, friends and fun? The job that does make you a tidy sum often gets in the way of the finer things in life. Nine to five is out and in the Emirates work takes precedence.

How can one find the time to specifically dedicate to nourishing the soul, feeling good about life and enjoying oneself?

It is therefore with some considerable excitement that City Times can announce the inaugural meeting of The Happiness Club today at 3pm to 5pm at Zen restaurant, gate six of Zabeel Park Dubai. A phenomenon that originated in America and has swept across the world, Happiness Clubs are all the rage from Los Angeles to Lausanne.

Founded by American Lionel Ketchian, the first Happiness Club met in January 2000 in Fairfield, Connecticut as a result of a Happiness Class Lionel gave at a University in the state.

After the class graduated they wanted to keep meeting to continue to practice the new found happiness skills they learned hence the establishment of the Happiness Club. The Fairfield Club has been meeting every month since that date. They have continued to spread the word across the USA and the world via the internet, and Dubai is the 38th Happiness Club. At the moment there are five Happiness Clubs in countries outside the United States in: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Jerusalem, New Zealand and Switzerland. Dubai is set to become the sixth.

The UAE gets a Happiness Club

The woman responsible for bringing the idea to the UAE and recently appointed Happiness Club Ambassador for the Emirates by the founder, the effervescent Dina Sabnani, had a chat with City Times giving us the low-down on what goes on in the meetings and what she hopes to achieve with the club.

Dina has been living in Dubai for the last three years. “People here have such busy lives that they often forget that beyond the cars and villas that work affords you there needs to be happiness otherwise what’s the point? I’m an extremely happy person and I see others here that are not so I thought I would start up this group that meets every month.”

“It really all began with Facebook. With Facebook being as social as it is I have been networking with some interesting people across the world and one of those was a popular law of attraction coach in the US.

Through him I got an invite for International Happiness Day which is on July 10 and has its own group on Facebook. I just loved the concept of it so I went and checked it out and they were looking for ambassadors for different countries.

I asked them what I had to do to be ambassador for the UAE and they said, ‘Just ask,’ so I did.”

Dina immediately began to get going on organising ideas for happiness related events and information in line with her new role. “I first of all sent out the press release advertising International Happiness Day on July 10, trying to get the word out. It got picked up online which I was really excited about. From there I set up the UAE Facebook group for the Happiness Club which now has over 185 members. And then I decided to form an actual Happiness Club where people can meet and find happiness.

These clubs are all over the US and the world so I thought I would give it a go here. It’s my way of giving something back and fulfilling my passion for doing something for humanity, as cheesy as that sounds, I’m beginning to sound like Miss Universe! But seriously I thought you have conferences on leadership, success workshops, management and stress classes so why not happiness?

Ultimately we are all looking for it so I think these classes can give people a helping hand.”

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