HAPPY
Happy
All posts by Shirley
I am
I AM
Join us for this exclusive screening of I AM: a movie about restoring faith in human nature waking up to the miracle of who you are! A dialogue will follow the screening.
'I wish everyone could see this film. I wish everyone would HEAR this film.'
-Jo O'Connell
I AM is an uplifting and magical film that asks: what's wrong with our world and what can we do about it? The answers are profound and challenge our ideas about human nature.
The filmmaker of I AM is Tom Shadyac (the director of blockbuster films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor) who seemed to have it all-big houses, fancy cars and private planes. But when a cycling accident left him incapacitated, he set out on a journey to answer those questions.
On his journey, he discovered what's right with the world... our inherent nature for cooperation not competition and the simple yet significant universal truth: We are all connected to each other and to everything around us.
Money & life
MONEY AND LIFE
What is our current relationship to money? Can we use the opportunity of the current economic crisis to heal our relationship with money and re-discover true wealth?
In a culture increasingly governed by money and over-saturated with stuff, our lives have become more and more devoted to the cycle of production and consumption that is required to keep the economy growing. How long can it last? And what is the cost to our social well being, to our psychological and spiritual health?
Money & Life is a story of transformation based on a new route to wealth. It invites us to meet the challenge of our time: to participate in the great transition to a sustainable, equitable and restorative economy that meets the needs and realities of the 21st century. A reset... a new normal!
Money & Life was directed, produced and edited by Katie Teague an independent documentary filmmaker working in the growing field of transformational media. She founded StormCloud Media for the sole purpose of bringing inspirational educational media to the social change process.
Unraveled
UNRAVELED
Join us and witness a real tragedy...'a mesmerizing one-man dive into narcissism, entitlement and unchecked greed.'
'It's easy to say you would never cross the line. But the line is presented to very few people. '
-Marc Dreier
Just days before Bernard Madoff captured headlines as the largest Ponzi schemer in U.S. history, Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that netted hundreds of millions of dollars from hedge funds.
Unraveled is a documentary film set during his house arrest. The film recounts Drier's struggle to prepare for the possibility of life imprisonment with first-person flashbacks of his actions. The film also shows Drier's attempts to grasp his tragic unraveling and the unraveling of his family.
The film's producer and director Marc H. Simon will be available to answer questions following the screening. Running time is 80 minutes.
MINDFULNESS
Finding My Zen
How is your day going? If it’s anything like mine, it’s 24/7/365. And my crazy schedule would try to get 25 hours out of a 24 hour day.
I once wrote a thesis on the effect of stress on the body and I am telling you it isn’t pretty. Stress busters were common in the olden days. There were so many natural things that we did that took us to a place of joy; leisurely dinners with family, extended holidays, gathering with friends just because, reading a great book and pondering the meaning of life. We even had time for daydreaming. Now all those happy times it seems have to be scheduled as our lives spin out of control.
In this chaotic world most of us are lucky if we don’t fall into bed comotosed before midnight. I am done with that. Since the beginning of this year I have been making a conscious effort to pause. To be in the moment and to be good to myself. I have seen too many of my contemporaries drop like flies last year and being in your fifties is not old! I also recently had a friend who was ill…the family didn’t show up for three weeks because their schedule was over the top. How busy can we be?
Recently there has been a slew of books published touting something called mindfulness. It is a concept as old as time. Mindfulness didn’t begin with Eckhart Tolle, it was adopted from Zen Buddhism, yet, it was Tolle who re-popularized the idea and brought the conversation to the mainstream through his books The Power of Now and The New Earth. A little thanks to the Big O!
What exactly is mindfulness? Mindfulness is the conscious act of being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to our inner experience. Purposeful pauses, as Janice Marturano in her book Finding the Space to Lead calls it…is about giving yourself permission to stop…be in the moment and get clear about next steps. So instead of reacting to life get proactive with life. Mindfulness practices include meditation which has been proven to be absolutely good for the mind, body and spirit.
So I am going to suggest that if you want to learn more about this concept, check out Dan Harris’s book 10% Happier, or check out his book signing on April 16th in NYC. If you are in a leadership role check out Janice Marturano’s Finding the Space to Lead. Find out how Success can be enhanced by reading Success Through Stillness by Russell Simmons and of course reread the Power of Now.
Now is truly all we have because tomorrow is not promised and the past has already retreated. Don’t put off that vacation any longer, call a friend and have dinner just because you value them, show up for the people in your life. Mindfulness can help. Happiness can only happen when you and you alone are in charge of your life, your time and your joy. Mindfulness means NOW…it simply means that you can train your subconscious mind to give you the best life possible, because Mindfulness knows best.
Image by: The Father of Mindfulness — Thich Nhat Hanh
Finding the space to lead: A practical guide to mindful leadership
Finding The Space To Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership
In 2000, Janice Marturano a Fortune 200 senior executive, was tackling a major acquisition in a multi-billion dollar deal, juggling an overwhelming workload, an active family life, and at the same time was experiencing personal grief with the death of her parents. Overworked and overextended, Marturano was mentally, physically and emotionally drained. Prodded by a friend to take some time off, she attended a meditation retreat. What she learned there would change the course of her career and her life.
Janice shares the lessons in her new book, Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership, on how incorporating mindfulness principles in her daily life made her feel more focused at work and fully present at home.
Mindfulness made such a positive impact in Janice's life and work, she begun sharing her training with fellow executives who rapidly saw its benefits and spread it through the company and beyond. Years of neuroscience research have shown the efficacy of mindfulness training, and Marturano’s own surveys of executives have proved its practical value.
Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership is specifically geared to practicing mindful leadership in the workplace. This guide will help you better manage your calendars, meetings, to-do lists, strategic planning, and the interpersonal challenges of the workplace by offering specific exercises to face real-world situations in a mindful way. Whether you are leading a company, a team, a class, or a family this conversation will help you figure out how you can lead your lives with excellence.
You will learn about the four attributes of a mindful leader:
- Clarity
- Focus
- Creativity
- Compassion
"Janice Marturano is a widely-admired executive and a leader in a movement that is changing the shape of oour world through mindfulness and emotional intelligence. With this insightful book, leads of all shapes and sizes will not only become much more effective in every way, they will become happier." – Chade-Meng Tan, Google's Jolly Good Fellow and bestselling author of Search Inside Yourself
Vampires are us: Understanding our love affair with the immortal dark side
Vampires Are Us: Understanding Our Love Affair with the Immortal Dark Side
Starting as a meditation on mortality after the illness and death of her husband, Margot Adler read more than 270 vampire novels, from teen to adult, from gothic to modern, from detective to comic. She began to wonder why vampires have such traction in our society. Why is Hollywood spending billions on vampire films and television series every year?
This interest led her to explore issues of power, politics, morality, identity, and even the fate of the planet which she pens in her latest book, Vampires Are Us: Understanding our Love Affair with the Immortal Dark Side. She discovered that in a culture that does not do death particularly well, we are obsessed with mortality. Adler writes, "Vampires let us play with death and the issue of mortality. They let us ponder what it would mean to be truly long lived."
She further writes "vampires allow us to ask questions we usually bury". What does one value more and what does one value less with a short human life? Is the vampire's frozen 'life' sterile? Does life only mean something when it is part of a cycle of birth, growth, decay, death and the birth of new life?
"Every society creates the vampire it needs," wrote the scholar Nina Auerbach. Adler's book explores how vampires have existed in cultures throughout history and how our obsession has continued to grow. Dracula was written in 19th century England when there was fear of outsiders and of disease seeping in through England's large ports. Dracula, an Eastern European monster was the perfect vehicle for those fears.
But who are the vampires we need now? In the last four decades, going back to Dark Shadows, we have created a very different vampire: the conflicted, struggling-to-be-moral-despite-being-predators vampire. Spike and Angel, Stefan and Damon, Bill and Eric, the Cullens who are all struggling to be moral despite being predators, as are we. Perhaps our blood is oil, perhaps our prey is the planet. Perhaps vampires are us.
"Every society creates the vampire it needs." - Nina Auerbach
ANGEL OR DEVIL?
Living Life from the Gray area!
I recently read an interview with filmmaker Lee Daniels in which he talked about living life from the gray area and I quote: “Even the most evil person was somebody’s baby at one time. And that’s where life is lived. I’ve never been that comfortable with black and white.”
His statement resonated deeply since I have always known that we all are imperfect beings full of ‘paradox and contradiction’ capable of unspeakable acts through words and deeds. The realization and acceptance of this ‘knowing’ is very freeing. It allows me to embrace my dark and light natures. It allows me to live a more authentic and courageous life. It allows me to forgive myself and others when mistakes are made. It allows me to be less judgmental and more accepting of myself and others. It allows me to be more compassionate and kind. It allows me to be a better human being.
As the year begins, I somehow feel that the acceptance of this very simply belief is the path to sanity and a happier life. But I would be remiss if I did not remain hopeful that sometime in the future, humans will evolve to ‘beings’ who will consistently choose to act and respond based on their ‘light’ nature…I remain confident in the eventual victory of good over evil.
10% Happier: How i tamed the voice in my head, reduced stress without losing my edge, and found self-help that actually works.
10% Happier: How I Tamed The Voice In My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, And Found Self
After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Nightline anchor, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes in his life. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure, involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset: the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had both propelled him through the ranks of a hyper-competitive business and also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out.
We all have a voice in our head. It’s what has us losing our temper unnecessarily, checking our email compulsively, eating when we’re not hungry, and fixating on the past and the future at the expense of the present. Most of us would assume we’re stuck with this voice – that there’s nothing we can do to rein it in – but Harris stumbled upon an effective way to do just that.
It’s a far cry from the miracle cures peddled by the self-help swamis he met; instead, it’s something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless: meditation. After learning about research that suggests meditation can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain, Harris took a deep dive into the underreported world of CEOs, scientists, and even marines who are now using it for increased calm, focus, and happiness.
He shares this journey in his new book: 10% HAPPIER: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works—A True Story. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America’s spiritual scene, and leaves us with a takeaway that could actually change our lives.
“A compelling honest, delightfully interesting, and at times heartwarming story of one highly intelligent man’s life-changing journey toward a deeper understanding of what makes us our very best selves.”
– Chade-Meng Tan, author of Search Inside Yourself
How to find work you love
HOW TO FIND WORK YOU LOVE
“Do you ever wake up in the morning and ask yourself: “Am I in the right job?” “At the right company?” “On the right career path?” “Doing what I am supposed to be doing with my life?” If so, you are not alone,” writes Louis Efron, Forbes Magazine contributor.
Numerous studies have shown that people dislike their jobs … Deloitte’s Shift Index survey indicates that 80% of workers don’t like their jobs and Arizona based “purpose” firm, Ignite, reports that more than 95% of workers in the U.S. are in the wrong roles. So why aren’t we in jobs we love?
In this class we will explore through narrative and exercises:
- What does a meaningful job - one that does more than pays the bills - really look like?
- How important is it to have a job that supports your personal values, uses your talent, and feels like what you were born to do?
- Why your dream job may not be as satisfying as you make it out to be.
- Whether to pursue a job for money, to build a resume, or for purpose.
- What you were passionately curious about as a child that you wish you could still do?
"Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart." - Rumi
Securities Trade,
& Hedge Fund Manager