Most of us probably don’t believe we need a formal definition of happiness; we know it when we feel it, and we often use the term to describe a range of positive emotions, including joy, pride, contentment, and gratitude.
But to understand the causes and effects of happiness, researchers first need to define it. Many of them use the term interchangeably with subjective well being,” which they measure by simply asking people to report how satisfied they feel with their own lives and how much positive and negative emotion they are experiencing.
In her book, “The How of Happiness”, positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky elaborates, describing happiness as the experience of joy, contentment, or positive well being, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.
That definition captures the fleeting positive emotions that come with happiness, along with a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in life and suggests how these emotions and sense of meaning reinforce one another.
And it is to convey the secret to achieving such kind of happiness that Happy Ho held its second Happiness Class at Oil India, Duliajan on March 2nd, 2020. The facilitators included our Mindfulness Expert, Mr. Jwalant Swaroop, Psychotherapist and Healer, Dr. Nonah Khanna and Motivational Speaker, Mr. Nagesh Alai. The audience comprised of mainly new appointees at Oil India; this session was a part of their initial one week training, in order to help them learn how to cope with the stress and pressures of a corporate environment.
The class started with a morning prayer by Mr. Jwalant, followed by a hearty breakfast. Here’s the series of events that followed:
- Introduction of Program, Facilitators and Happiness Song (Nagesh Alai, Jwalant Swaroop and Dr. Nonah Khanna)
- Secret of Pineal Gland – Video Presentation
- Happiness Shower – Creating wave of Joy and Peace (Dr. Nonah Khanna)
- Happiness – Secret of Success in Corporate Life (Nagesh Alai)
- Coming Alive to Happier Self (Jwalant Swaroop)
- Interactive Session Q & A (Nagesh Alai, Jwalant Swaroop and Dr. Nonah Khanna)
- Gibberish and Gratitude Activity (Jwalant Swaroop)
- Certificate Award Ceremony & Closing of the session
We also measured their General Happiness using the General Happiness Scale designed by Sonja Lyubomirsky (pre and post the session) which asked them to rate their answers on a scale 1 to 7, for questions like “In General, I consider myself” wherein 1 indicates an unhappy person and 7 indicates a very happy person.
The class ended on a cheerful note wherein both the participants and facilitators walked away with an extremely fulfilling experience, and hearts with a little more of authentic happiness! Certificate of participation was given away to all the participants by Mr. Tausif Raihan Sajid, Manager (L&D) Oil India, Duliajan.
Looking forward to another year at Oil India. Till then Happy Ho!
