Happiness and Education

 “I’d say that I think the most revolutionary act that you can commit in our society today is to be happy.”
Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams
Physician, Social Activist, and Author

I have long been a strong believer of Emotional Intelligence and regularly read books and attend weekends, workshops and motivational talks. There is no question that our experiences shape our lives. The meaning we add to them determines how we react and function as we mature. I constantly read psychology and transformation books and discover more blind spots i did not realize I have. Recently I read several great books on Emotional Intelligence which include: The Charge by Brandon Buchard, The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, Les Brown's Fight for your Dreams, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, The 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people, Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill,  Tony Robbins awaken the giant within, The Greatest salesman in the world by Og Mandino, Don't Sweat the Small stuff by Richard Carlson, Drive by Daniel Pink, The Power of Positive thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen and many many more.

The books inspired and motivated me and taught me a lot about myself. They improved my confidence and helped me become much happier and more fulfilled. As a new teacher I think there needs to be more of a push to have these books and the associated transformational technologies  in the education system. Schools should have entire sections in the library dedicated to Happiness psychology and I think teachers should incorporate these positive messages into the curriculum. Individuals like Tony Robins, Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, Brandon Buchard, Les Brown, T. Harv Eker, Bob Proctor and many more have made 100's of million of dollars transforming millions of lives. All of them have a myriad of videos, audios, and technology based services such as Webinars, podcasts, radio shows and more. Can you imagine how great teaching would be if both the students and the educators were happier and more fulfilled???
I think spending as little as 10 min a day to an hour a day implementing Happiness Psychology through technology or as part of the lessons and units can drastically improve student engagement and the shaping of an exciting future. This is not a trend this is a reality as even psychologytoday is blogging on this subject matter extensively.

This is one of the thoughts in the article " There is also little doubt that all of the new technologies, led by the Internet, are shaping the way we think in ways obvious and subtle, deliberate and unintentional, and advantageous and detrimental The uncertain reality is that, with this new technological frontier in its infancy and developments emerging at a rapid pace, we have neither the benefit of historical hindsight nor the time to ponder or examine the value and cost of these advancements in terms of how it influences our children’s ability to think." and " For example, as the technology writer Nicholas Carr has observed, the emergence of reading encouraged our brains to be focused and imaginative. In contrast, the rise of the Internet is strengthening our ability to scan information rapidly and efficiently." Incorporating ICT into the classroom can be a very powerful and useful tool.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201212/how-technology-is-changing-the-way-children-think-and-focus and well as http://techinedu.com/
Technology and Happiness can and must go hand in hand. Shawn Achor author of the Happiness Advantage is a Harvard university Professor. His class on happiness is one of the Most popular courses at Harvard University. There are endless resources that use ICT to communicate happiness and also have students do activities and exercises that will make them happier. Here are a few examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXy__kBVq1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0LbwEVnfJA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q1dgn_C0AU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dep9KPWp3g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr6M7-C3QfU

I am exciting how this relatively new psychology can shape education and create a future and create possibilities of Utopia!