Do this exercise…
Step 1: Ask someone you know “What did you do today?”
They will respond most likely with activities or about what they accomplished on their to-do list or they will be very dry and boring and tell you how they went to work and so on… you get the idea.
Step 2: Ask the same person to place their hand on their heart and feel their heart and get in touch with their heart for a moment. Now, ask them to check in with their heart before they answer your next question. Ask them “What did you do today?”
Most likely they will tell you about feelings, interests, passions…
You will clearly see a difference. What would happen if everyone spoke from their heart? Would we be a society that cared more, that nurtured each other, who loved each other? I would like to see a world based on the love we have for our fellow human beings not a world who is protecting ourselves from each other…
The mind versus the heart. Please speak from the heart and show people that you care and love them… Didn’t someone famous say… love thy neighbor for a reason…
If ever there was a "right person" for the job of spokesperson for happiness it would be Aymee. Aymee's the real deal. She walks the talk, and is an infinite source of happiness, joy and inspiration to everyone who's fortunate enough to cross her path and inevitably be touched by her. Aymee can put a person totally at ease and bring out the best in them. This can be seen in her interviewing style that has her subject reveal a playful, tender, open and honest side to them. There's a selflessness about Aymee that can be not just heard but felt in everything she does. Aymee is a person who truly cares about her fellow human beings, wants nothing but the best for us and is willing to do the work it takes to care for us asking nothing in return. It's hard to believe there's actually a person like that out there, but there is, and she's it.
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Aymee is the Queen of Happiness and her smile is contagious.
-Heidi Lloyd, Independent Film Maker,
If anyone knows how to exude happiness, it's Aymee Coget. Aymee is fun, whole hearted, and witty. Ready to smile and laugh at any opportunity, Aymee will always inspire you to find the positive aspects in your life, and in life in general. She is a refreshing burst of happiness in your way, that most people just don't offer you.
-Jesse Seaver, Stand- Up Comedian,
Aymee is eccentric and out going. She likes to challenge society's established norms.
-Azure Kraxburger, M.A. Student,
Aymee has faith in happiness and is a prophet of positivity.
-Chris Struett, Lover of Life,
Aymee has great communication skills. She uses poignant words and has amazing eye contact. Her ability to connect to others through her words and gestures are both potent and graceful. The enormity of Aymee's positive influence has affected my life forever. I consider the time I met her to be apart of one of the most pivoting moments of my life; a moment that marks the time I was able to be with my fear in such a way that I could see clearly what I needed to do to live my dream as a successful artist and most importantly to be present in my journey of discovery.
-Tobias Tovera, Aspiring Artist,
Aymee is dynamic, positive, energetic, full of life and inspiring.
-Kerrie Halmi, Executive Coach and Trainer,
Aymee is one of those rare individuals who just radiates warmth and openness. It's almost as if she just landed on this planet, completely trusting and positive. But she is also incredibly aware and sophisticated. What an amazing blend of qualities. And oh, who can forget that infectious broad beautiful smile. And, of course, Aymee is physically beautiful. Even though I think she actually is aware of how gorgeous she is, she seems at ease with her physical self. She seems to enjoy her beauty without arrogance or self-consciousness.
-Evie Hock, M.S.W., Therapist,
Aymee is exceptionally kind, warm and loving. She has a positive nature that inspires others and gives them the confidence to believe in themselves. She is highly articulate and intelligent, equally caring and empathetic. Aymee makes a strong and positive first impression. In spite of her incredible physical beauty -- she is really stunning -- she is very down to earth and unassuming. She is as beautiful inside as out. She is totally natural. When we met, she was so warm and "open." I immediately felt comfortable with her, and it seemed as we'd known one another already. Aymee radiates love. She imparted a very simple concept to me -- that happiness is a choice one makes every day. that's a very simple truth; but somehow, although I think I had heard it before, Aymee presented it in a way that has enabled me to absorb that realization... and it has had an amazingly positive effect on my life.
-Anonymous
Someone said this for a reason. I have found this to be true in a number of areas of my life. Many people often give up before they even start, they never get to the point where they try and try again. Where would we be if Einstein quit after the first try? Where would we be in the first settlers in
In my PhD program, I have to pass three exams (Theory, Practice and Research) in order to get my Master’s degree and move into candidacy for my Doctoral degree. We are supposed to get three tries to pass all of the exams. I failed my research exam three times over a year and a half! The first time was because I really didn’t know what I was talking about, the second time was because I was on a nine hour jet lag, and I actually never received any feedback as to why I didn’t pass. The third time, I failed because I did not write down one sentence that explained my thinking about a topic. In my feedback session, my professor said, “Aymee, I wish you would have written that down!” So I knew what I was talking about but I neglected to articulate it clearly in my paper.
The school said I could take it one more time. I asked for a different method of exam since this way was not working with me. They gave me an assignment to design three research studies on the topic of my choice. I ended up spending my summer writing a 50 page paper including three research studies. I finally passed and was able to move forward with my candidacy!
Right now, I am in the middle of creating a pilot for my tv show. On the first day of shooting we had 7 major disasters! I couldn’t believe it! Two days later my co-host resigned because he hates acting! Now we have to rework it and we are behind on schedule.
Millions of people will benefit from this show so no matter what my obstacles are; it will not deter me from helping people live happier lives. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?! I keep reminding myself Persistence Pays off!
Step 1: Acknowledge the break up - If you can’t acknowledge it you can not move forward.
Step 2: Accept the breakup - If you can not accept the fact that you have broken up, you can not move on.
Step 3: Identify lessons learned - People are pulled together for a reason, everyone has something to teach us. This would be a time where you sit down and take into account everything you learned from your experience with your former partner.
Step 4: Be grateful for the lessons you learned - Because of your experience with your former partner you have grown in ways that you would never have if it wasn’t for that person, so give gratitude for your growth.
Step 5: Let go - This is actually a physical exercise where you try to feel all of the hurt, anger, frustration, depression, and sadness in every cell in your body where you are all but consumed by it. Then place your hands over your head and take a deep breath. As you exhale, move your hands down your body like a French Coffee press. You are pressing all that you cultivated in the beginning into the ground.
I guarantee this process works! Ask me any questions if you feel stuck anywhere…
Good luck and remember - no one is responsible for your happiness except YOU!!!
If I pay attention to my body, it suits me well and treats me well. When I ignore my body, it gives me pain.
Over the years, my body has gone through many transitions… from very skinny to almost 170lbs! During that overweight time, I don’t think I ever looked that overweight, but I looked like a hefty, big boned Mid- Western Girl. When I realized how much I weighed I went to the gym and worked out three hours a day six days a week and lost 35lbs in 2 months! I remember when I lost all of that weight, I was approached by a photographer from Vogue who asked me to do a photo shoot! WOW. That made me feel good!
Also, since age ten I was diagnosed with triple scoliosis. (curving and twisting of the spine) Basically, I have the back of a 90 year old! I have always had to pay attention to my body and treat it well. I get care once a week for my back because if I didn’t then, I would be in constant chronic pain from my scoliosis.
It amazes me how many people ignore their bodies. Someone once said, “Treat your body like a
Reflections of Family Vacation
The two biggest reminders I experienced for how to have successful family and love relationships are FORGIVENESS & LETTING GO.
Your family will be there in your life forever, if you let them. Flesh and blood counts for something and these relationships are built on the foundation of unconditional love.
So given the main premise of the relationship, unconditional love, forgiveness and letting go helps to maintain and manage relationships positively.
Also the more positive actions, behaviors, and language that are dispelled into the family dynamic the more positive it will be. Imagine if everyone in your family consistently told you “Hey, you were Right”? How good would that feel? Or if you received compliments and words of admiration and encouragement from your family members?
Everyone has their flaws. To accept the perfection in ourselves, our parents and siblings is one of our lessons in life. When we achieve this is when we can fully give and receive unconditional love.
Bliss in Business:
The Role of Business in using Gross National Happiness as an agent of world benefit
In 1972, the King of Bhutan introduced Gross National Happiness (GNH) as the guiding philosophy of the country's development. Now the
Standard of living, health of the population, education, ecosystem vitality and diversity, cultural vitality and diversity, time use and balance, good governance, community vitality, and emotional well-being are the nine provisional (GNH) indicators identified by the Center for Bhutan Studies. Imagine if all countries adopted this principle; we could transform our Earth into a paradise.
Since implementing the GNH measure, Bhutan has reported an increase in life expectancy by 19 years while the gross enrollment rate in primary schools has reached 72 percent and the literacy rate has grown from 17 percent to 47.5 percent according to the Times newspaper of India. Not to mention that it is a leading country in sustainability. Again, the implications for countries that take a stand on the importance of happiness is desirable for their citizens and is clearly the next step beyond the industrialized GNP that has been emphasized in Western society. In his introduction to Well-Being: the Foundations of Hedonic Psychology (63), Daniel Kahneman expresses the hope that hedonic science will prompt economics to shift its focus from "those aspects of life that can be traded in the marketplace to desirable goods such as love, mental challenge, and (reduction of) stress."
This current and future transition has severe implications for the business sector as well as management scholars. Emphases on employee subjective well being (happiness) and positive affect have been growing bodies of research in the management literature only in recent years. It is clearly time for the business sector to not only take a stand in the ethics and morality of their accounting, corporate social responsibility, and environmental implications but also for the happiness of their employees.
Linkages to the increase in the bottom line, performance, effectiveness, and productivity have all been shown as results of happy employees. In 2004, (Halverson, 2004) it was discovered that if your manager has positive affect because of the emotional contagion theory, you are likely to also experience positive affect, which will improve performance. Frederickson and Losada (2005) have identified that the more positive emotions that are experienced at work will increase an individual’s scope of attention (Frederickson & Branigan, 2005; Rowe, Hirsch, & Anderson, 2005), broaden behavioral repertoires (Frederickson & Branigan, 2005), and increase innovation (Bolte, Goschkey, & Kuhl, 2003) and creativity (Isen, Daubmen, & Nowicki, 1987). Besides the aforementioned characteristics, positive affect has shown to make a difference in the health of our physical body, which, of course, leads to low absenteeism due to illness. (For a review, see Frederickson & Losada, 2005.)
It is in the benefit of the business sector and in management scholarship to explicitly take on Bliss in Business, especially as countries take on the GNH as a priority.
Now that it is clear that happiness is a high human concern, and it is to the benefit of political and business sectors to adopt it as a moral obligation it is necessary to understand what it is that increases happiness in individuals.
We propose a paper/interactive workshop that pragmatically outlines a conceptual framework for managers to employ to help increase the happiness, well-being, and positive affect of themselves and their employees. The techniques are inspired by the positive psychology movement, eastern philosophy, and the human potential movement.
We would like to envision a future of business that recruits employees not only by the monetary benefits but also by explicitly stating the importance of their happiness. If governments continue to move in the direction of enacting the GNH, business must follow in their moral obligation to help individuals and society at large.
She did many self-help/ self-development workshops yet she was still unhappy. At last she came to the happiness club over and over and she never missed a meeting.
The message we teach at the happiness club is “HAPPINESS IS A DECISION” never made sense to her. In her words, “I felt like you were telling to be an orange and I am a lemon.” She thought that we were trying to tell her to be something she was not.
One day, I tell her a story about two women. One was sad for many years, she was divorced and she was very bitter and felt that her life was a struggle and she always needed people to pity her. She felt like her life was miserable and it would always be that way because of the events she suffered in the past.
The other woman, was happy, joyful, outgoing, colorful, fun, excited for life. This woman too had suffered a great deal in the past but chooses to see and experience life’s positive side.
It was through this story that Molly realized that happiness really is a CHOICE!!!
This was big news in the happiness club because Molly told the group once that she never would be happy, NEVER.
One woman who attended the happiness club even cried for her in empathy!
Anyway, once Molly made the happiness decision, she needed tools to help her maintain her happy state.
We do an annual meeting in the park and practice random acts of kindness. This is a very popular meeting! After the meeting we asked for a volunteer to perform 5 random acts of kindness everyday until out next meeting 30 days later.
When I checked in with her a few weeks after the meeting, she said “I feel like an angel on Earth!” I continually look for things to do to help people every chance I get. And now, when she needs help there is ALWAYS someone there to help her.
She recommends EVERY PERSON perform these 5 Random Acts of Kindness because the positive change that occurs in your life is unbelievable!
Molly has been happy every day since she realized that HAPPINESS IS A DECISION. Random Acts of Kindness is only one of her tools to help her live her sustainable happy life.
p.s. there is a random acts of kindness foundation at www.actsofkindness.org
Come to the happiness club!
It is for happy people or unhappy people. It is for people who want to share their happiness or learn how to be happy! This month we will be focusing on one of the top methods to help us live happier lives! It is performing random acts of kindness! Who would have known that such a simple gesture would help us be happier! In other words, pretend you are an angel on earth looking for innocent bystanders to be nice to, to try to make their day, to help them smile….
Who wouldn’t want to be an angel on Earth? On May 28th under the circle of Palm Trees (20th and Dolores) in
If you have any questions call or email me.
Aymee Coget
There are many ways to ignite this inner derived, long lasting and self sustaining happiness, ask me how…
