The sun is the giver of life. And it is always there.
Yes, even on clowdy days. Even when highly overcast, there is sun. That huge ball of fire so unimaginably far away pierces through outer space and even through the clouds.
Ever since setting up our solar power generation, I have been highly focused on the ridiculous lack of sun these past two months – most likely a world record for this time of year.
But the sun has been shining through and we have been generating as much as 40% of solar capacity on overcast days. While this is a minor victory for solar power and a pain in the butt for people looking for excuses to ignore sunscreen warnings about clowdy days, it is of some comfort to anybody who feels like the sun might have abandoned them.
Yes, even on dismal days, there is a sun smiling on you. And if you don’t wiggle your way out of putting on the sunscreen, it’s a happy smile indeed.
I would like to introduce you to Fang Li Yun, a 52-year-old Malaysian pharmacist of 24 years. She is part of what they call the “Funny Action” project, which helps people learn to laugh and to smile even when there is no good news to smile about.
Like so many other people, Fang Li Yun thought happiness would follow her income, and as a pharmacist she was making good money.
But in 2006 she discovered clowning and discovered there was more happiness to be achieved. This lead to a mission or pilgrimage of sorts with Hunter Doherty “Patch Adams” and a group of thirty other people from various countries to Mexico last year. Together they visited patients, the homeless, the elderly, shut-ins and HIV-infected people while dressed in their best clown attire
What made the biggest difference? In 2008, a friend of hers who was president of a breast cancer support group, asked her this question: “The happiness a clown brings to people is only momentary. How are you going to make the happiness last?”
Now she teaches people how to laugh: “Everyone is born with the ability to laugh. Laughter is the best medicine and an effective way of fighting illnesses. Based on statistics, babies can laugh up to 400-500 times a day, while adults laugh an average of only 14 to 15 times a day.”
Fringe benefits of clowning around include increased self-confidence and reduced stress. Fang Li Yun discovered that whenever she focuses on making other people happy, she also experiences a surge of joy and forgets all her worries and cares.
As suipporters of the 12for12k charity innitiative, we are proud to introduce the April charity we are supporting. Yehu.org is a microfinance organization in the rural coastal region of Kenya for the poor, run by the poor. It provides financial and other support services for small businesses owned by very poor people.
Yehu operates in conjunction with Choice Humanitarian, an international NGO specializing in village development. It was created based on the principles and procedures of the world-renowned Grameen Bank.
Yehu Microfinance works with BasaBody and Coast Coconut Farms to empower poor rural entrepreneurs in Kenya to help create a sustainable living for themselves. This is done through enhanced accessibility to sustainable financial services, business opportunities, and skills training. In other words, we are not giving them fish; we are giving them fishing rods so that they can catch their own fish. This is the part I really like. From a “happiness” perspective, we are helping people both materially and psychologically, by giving them the means to create a worthwhile life for themselves.
In our continuing support of the 12 for 12K Challenge, we are pleased to share with you the februrary charity, which is Stop the Silence.
It is estimated that about 150 million girls and 75 million boys are vicitims of sexual abuse, and that the majority of all sexual abuse victims are girls who are minors. Pretty scary.
Note: When using the ChipIn widget to make your donation, the email on the front page will be the main 12for12k Charities one. However, your payment does go directly to Stop the Silence and your PayPal or Credit Card receipt will show this.
Is there a good reason to fight? Most people will say yes, Mahamta Gandhi notwithstanding. It is just to fight in the cause of justice. The rational for Western nations removing the Taliban from Afghanistan was to free women from slavery and all Afghanis from various levels of opression. Most people in the world, whether they like the war or not, seem to agree that this sort of situation justifies fighting.
Beyond saving people from opression, slavery and torture, is there any reason why fighting should be tolerated? I suggest not. The fact is that fighting does nothing to reduce anger. Acting upon one’s anger actually feeds the anger, as I wrote in Climb Your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness. Yet fighting persists, despite common sense and criminal laws against assault.
The latest on this is in a Maclean’s article that rips away the ludicrous arguements that keep grown men fighting in the NHL (National Hockey League). The death of player Donald Sanderson is bringing the issue to the surface again, but seems to be falling on deaf ears amongst NHL leadership. My question is, “What planet do these guys live on?”
Actually, I have two other questions, which I wrote as follows in a letter to the editor of Maclean’s:
There are two big questions to answer. First, fighting is not “part of the game”. In fact, it is against the rules; that’s why there are penalties against it. The only question for the leagues is whether the penalty matches the crime. And that raises the second question, because there are already penalites in Canada for punching someone, which is a crime called “assault”. Why do thousands of police officers, night after night, watch live broadcasts of crimes in progress and in recent memory only Marty McSorley and Todd Bertuzzi were charged?
So what can you do? back off from potential fights. Don’t express your anger with fists or harsh tones of voice. As I said to my daughters this morning, “At 5 and 7 years old, don’t you think you girls can control your body parts? Isn’t it a bit embarrassing that you let your hand hit your sister and your tongue shout mean things you know you shouldn’t?”
I mentioned a while ago that we are supporting the 12 for 12K Challenge, a charitable campaign launched through social media. Each month in 2009, a new charity will be selected, and we are asking you to consider a small donation ($10, but feel free to give more if the spirit moves you).
The first charity, for January 2009, is War Child. Why? There is a good piece where Danny Brown puts the value of $10 in perspective.
Here is a quick overview of the War Child Charity:
…and below is a video of Little Lady and Little Sister protesting against poverty. In truth, they did this 100% spontaneously the first time, but I did not have a camera handy then. So this is actually a “re-enactment” video. Note that the banner reading “PlYSE” is supposed to read “Please” (not bad for a 7-year old learning to write in French), as in PlYSE support the 12 for 12K Challenge.
Happiness can be found wherever you look for it. For instance, in the Dancer from Khiva. This is a Russian book, translated into English, about Bibish, who was kidnapped and driven out to the desert to be gang-raped…and life rolls on from there with all the consequences, such as never being able to be married as a result (but she does). And never being able to dance because dancing is frowned upon in her village (but you know the title of the book!)
There si a more complete review of the book here, but they message for you today is that we all are driven down the road of circumstance, but we all have the option of turning the steering wheel. Yes, some things happen that really suck. It is up to you to decide just how badly they will suck and how happy you will choose to be, despite circumstances.
Today’s Los Angeles Times has a feature on happiness, my favorite topic. The feature helps debunk a lot of myths, mostly that things and circumstances make us happy, sad, angry or whatever. Here is the paragraph that most people should read:
Lyubomirsky and her colleagues analyzed studies on identical twins and other research and came to the conclusion that happiness is 50% genetic, 40% intentional and 10% circumstantial. “Half of your predisposition toward happiness you can’t change,” she says. “It’s in your genes. Your circumstances — where you live, your health, your work, your marriage — can be tough to change. But most people are surprised that circumstances don’t account for as much of their happiness as they think.”
Just for the record, there really is not an accurate way to measure happiness, because ti is such a subjective issue. However, a 50-50 divide between genetics and environment is generally considered a good rough estimate by more happiness researchers. Depending on the effort you make or do not make, I am sure that number is very elastic, but let’s play with that number for now.
The L.A. Times feature continues on other pages, too. For instance, there is an excellent list of handy tips for “cultivating happiness” .
Can happiness come from the state? Not likely. The state is there to help us organize our society to some extent, at least to avoid chaos and help us protect ourselves from individuals and groups who might want to harn us. As such, it acts as a bit of an insurance against total misery. But now some UK city councils want to develop policies to help us increase happiness.
I doubt this will lead to much, but it certainly is a step above just promoting economic well-being. Read about it here.
Over at the Accumulating Peripherals blog, there is a discussion on the pros and cons of happiness research. Matt offers explains his beef with happiness research and I have commented also on the discussion.
Much of the happiness research out there is based on self reporting. In other words, it asks you if you feel happy. OK, so the questions are more complex, but it basically asks for your opinion. On the one hand, that is poor science, because our perceptions of things are rarely accurate. A good example is how a couple high-profile crimes can get a city or even a whole country talking about how the crime rate is on the rise and it’s about time we stop the growing menace — even while statistics show that year after year the crime rate has slowly been declining.
On the other hand, happiness is a subjective thing. It is something we feel, and it could be argued that the only valid measurement of happiness is our perception of it. Please feel free to go over to Matt’s blog and comment. And then please come back here and comment, too.
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Ever since setting up our solar power generation, I have been highly focused on the ridiculous lack of sun these past two months – most likely a world record for this time of year.
