The things that make us happy

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action research

We think about happiness a lot when we work with people. So much so that we created an exercise around it. In celebration of the International Day of Happiness, we’d like to share the technique with you and encourage that you integrate it into your own work.

The task is simple enough. Write 10 things that make you happy.

Well alright, there might be some pensive music and frozen statues too, but the essence is the same: what makes us happy?

We’ve used this exercise as opener in almost every project Recrear has run in over 6 countries. Perhaps not so surprisingly, we get a lot of repeating themes. Things like: “family and friends”, “being in nature”, “love”, “travel”, “learning”. Every now and again we get some quirky ones too. A guy who shares how he “likes to look into people’s eyes”. Someone else who is happy when his students “are excited about taking part in his class”.

In the post-exercise reflection, participants often tell us that they really enjoyed it. Usually, they communicate that they had never really thought about what makes them happy. At least not with so much intention and imagination. What more can you ask of a workshop, than for it to give you a better insight into yourself?

36 questions to fall in love (with your ally/partner/donor)

A remote cooperative inquiry to renew our organisation