If you have five hundred and some dollars to spare this year, you might want to put aside your coupons and advertising supplements from the Sunday newspaper and invest your money in a happiness conference instead.
The 'happiness' industry is a growing one and it's growing fast. We have tended to concentrate on depression and it's various treatments in the past two decades and an emerging trend is to focus on happiness and it's 'treatments' instead.
San Francisco just hosted the first "Happiness and its Causes" conference which brought together scientists, therapists and others in the health industry who want to get a handle on happiness. What makes us happy? How do we continue and increase a sense of happiness, and what's behind happiness anyway?
Studies confirm that money does not equal happiness (I'm trying not to yell 'but it doesn't hurt!' as I write this). Various groups of indigenous tribes have been seen to be just as happy as the extremely wealthy.
But apparently there are methods to achieving happiness. The science of behavioral neurogenetics is researching the genetic component to depression and happiness. And group therapy, social interaction, support groups and more divine endeavors are all considered key factors in achieving happiness.
Entrepreneurs in Happiness are springing up, like entrepreneurs in multi-level marketing and internet business did in the 80s and 90s. Like any business, they have step-by-step programs and offer on-line classes, using techniques from the scientific to the spiritual.
TV stars like Tyra Banks and Oprah are also hosting shows dedicated to the pursuit of happiness.
And don't forget, it's a constitutional right!
Tell Us
Are classes, courses and conferences in happiness a bit gimmicky to you or do they have real merit? Would you attend one? What have you done to achieve happiness?
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The research suggests that one of the benefits of married life is a more frequent and satisfying sex life. Married people are also healthier and live longer.
January 24, 2009 - 2:37amThis Comment
I think for me, it would depend on who was speaking at a conference. There are spiritual teachers out there who I would love to hear in person, and I think I would take away inspiration and motivation from their original thinking.
I agree with Miscortes that we have to find our own happiness. We have to find what fulfills our soul and mends our wounds on our own. But I know that I have learned a lot through self-help or spiritual-seeking books written by experts in those fields, and they have helped me find conclusions that would have taken me years to reach on my own, if ever.
I went to look up the agenda for the conference. There were psychologists, biologists, professors, a high Tibetan monk, medical doctors, employers, a city manager, a publisher, reasearchers and people who are accomplished in athletics, music and dance. There were sessions on consciousness, happiness as a trait, meditation, the biology of stress, medicine, well being at work, well being in a city, discipline, creative expression, compassion, depression and relationships, among many others.
I think I would see such a happiness conference as a way to sample philosophies from people who study it as a science and art, and as a sort of "super-therapy" session that would leave me with tons to think about. But even saying that, I have to say that $500 is a lot to pay. I doubt I'd have that much extra hanging around unless I won the lottery, which brings a different kind of happiness, LOL!
December 1, 2008 - 10:18amThis Comment
I do not think I would attend this workshop. I think everyone has their own ways to happiness, although in spirit of the Thanksgiving Holiday, my sister-in-law and I had differing opinions after conversing about this subject.
She indicated that she would love to attend one of these formal happiness gatherings to do something for herself. A spa of happiness, if I may. She made a great point when she said that with two kids she has little time for herself and that this would be great. Plus, it may be cheaper than professional counseling.
I am a single woman and I think in the traumatic times that I have had within the last two years, happiness is something I had to find...slowly and within my own good graces. Learning to be happy living by yourself and leaning on friends and family for support at times. It is good to have that time of spiritual healing.
Either way, there is only good that can come out of a happiness conference....it is positive energy.
November 29, 2008 - 10:14amThis Comment