Picture this: It's Friday night, and you've just met up with a couple of good friends for a few
drinks. You're sitting outside with your first glass of wine as the evening sets in. It's warm out, and everyone sitting around you seems pretty happy. Your friend shares a funny story about their two year old, and you all fall about laughing. You overhear the people at the table behind you, laughing at an equally humorous story about a mishap on the train to work. All night, your evening is dotted with these little snippets of stories - from friends, from people walking by, from the barman serving your drinks. Our days centre around story telling, taking us from one conversation to the next.
It's happy stories that makes these occasions so rewarding. Think about the last time you met with family or saw a good friend - do you remember a story or funny incident that someone shared with you? I do. My friend recently shared a story about an outing at a local pub, where she sat eyeballing a man at the bar, thinking he was famous. She kept looking at him all evening, and after a few drinks, was courageous enough to go and ask him which TV show he stars in. Sidling up to him, she uttered:
"Erm, excuse me - are you off of the telly? You look really familiar, you must be famous?"
The man in question apparently looked at her with some distaste, before mumbling, "No, I'm not famous. I'm your GP."
As she reached the end of the story, everyone in the room was cackling. It's moments like this - positive moments, filled with laughter - that we all take away from a night out, meeting or party. At People Lab, we're really passionate about positive psychology and the power that happiness has in our day to day lives.
I've recently discovered a great website, Happier.com. The site centres around sharing positive stories and happy memories, stating that sharing the love (if you will) is the key to creating a happier society. In fact, their research shows that simply having a friend who is positive can increase your own happiness by 15%. They've also found that people who write down a few positive things about their day report feeling happier, less anxious and more optimistic. They also become more productive, sleep better, and have fewer physical problems.
We're really passionate about this way of thinking, and we actively promote happiness at work as part of our unique brand of employee engagement. Our work is firmly grounded in positive psychology - check out this slideshare presentation for more information on what we do:
We love promoting happiness in the workplace - in fact, it's embedded into everything we do. We really passionate about sharing happiness and spreading the love, and we'd love you to share happy, positive stories via our Linked In group. It doesn't matter what your story is, as long as it's a positive one - happy sharing!
