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Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas, Costa Rica, Kind Traveler, relaxing ocean view

One Kind Stay

After Jessica Blotter and Sean Krejci returned from a trip to Belize, they felt inspired to create a simple way to give travelers opportunities to make a difference in the destinations they visit. So, in August 2016 they launched Kind Traveler, the socially conscious hotel booking platform. This unique “give and get” concept rewards vacationers with exclusive hotel rates and other perks when they make a $10 nightly donation to one of the platform’s 50 partnering nonprofit groups. So far, Kind Traveler contributions have fed 77 animals rescued from illegal circuses; funded 630 days of music lessons for students in underserved schools; and helped plant 250 trees in U.S. forests impacted by fires and natural disasters. Travelers also get a bonus from the internal benefits of giving back. “Contributing to the local community evokes feelings of happiness and purpose in addition to creating a more meaningful travel experience,” Jessica says. Want to leave a lasting impact during your summer vacation? Here are five of Kind Traveler’s favorite hotels and the organizations they benefit: Hotel G, San Francisco Using Kind Traveler to book a stay at the centrally located Hotel G in San Francisco’s iconic Union Square helps support animal welfare through the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SF SPCA). These donations feed and provide shelter for rescue cats and dogs, meanwhile travelers can also attend one of the SF SPCA’s local events when they visit. In addition to its partnership with Kind Traveler, the 149-room boutique hotel sells the creative works of local artists with developmental disabilities on behalf of the nonprofit Creativity Explored. The Standard, East Village, New York City With a lobby housed inside a historic tenement-style building, it’s clear The Standard, East Village not only embraces the swanky and eclectic soul of New York City but also supports it. By contributing to the Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC), the hotel helps provide free education and entrepreneurship training to local young women. LESGC also runs several local businesses like Sweet Things Bake Shop and Girl Made Gift Shop that offer job training and employment to teens and young mothers. The Palms Hotel and Spa, Miami Beach Sunbathe on pristine beaches and help preserve the coastline’s natural beauty at the same time with a stay at the Palms Hotel and Spa. Those who vacation at this luxurious beachfront resort can support the Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter. The nonprofit keeps beaches clean, tests and manages water quality and restores sand dunes. While in town, travelers can also volunteer during Surfrider’s quarterly beach cleanups. As an added perk, Kind Travelers receive a $50 spa credit per person per stay at the Palms Spa. Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas, Costa Rica A night at Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas in Guanacaste, Costa Rica benefits Alfalit, a worldwide literacy and education nonprofit, which has helped more than 8 million people achieve literacy since 1961. A traveler’s nightly donation provides basic resources for students learning to read, write and do basic math. Beyond supporting education, the eco-friendly hotel adheres to green initiatives that help protect the local environment, including the adjacent 1,000 acres of tropical forest. Hotel El Ganzo, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico With the Sea of Cortez as its backdrop, Hotel El Ganzo in San José del Cabo, Mexico is making strides to educate its local community about the benefits of art, music and sustainable agricultural through the El Ganzo Community Center. Located on site, the center helps locals understand how to plant and harvest their own food. This encourages people to take care of the environment and grow ingredients for nutritious meals.

Lifestyle

TV Host Steve Harvey Gives Back Through Youth Foundation

In honor of Father’s Day, Live Happy’s June Happy Act of the month is to support families. One of the organizations we admire is the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation (harveyfoundation.com) that provides mentorship and training to young people and single mothers. Actor, producer and TV host Steve Harvey shares how his organization’s life-changing programming is key to strengthening families everywhere. Live Happy: What inspired you to create the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation and how long has it been in operation? Steve Harvey: The inspiration was my father. My father passed when I was 43 years old. I was thinking about him and what all he meant to me. If I didn’t have him, I never could’ve gotten here. So, I thought of all the young boys and how difficult it must be without their fathers, and I thought, “Hey, I want to do something about that.” My foundation started about 18 years ago in 2000. How does community mentoring, and the support of positive role models, transform young people? Well, a young boy without a male role model is like an explorer without a map. A young boy is going to be some type of man; it’s the model that you put in front of him that he will most likely duplicate. So, if you put a bad man in front of him he’ll duplicate that. If you put a good man in front of him he’ll duplicate that, so that’s how it works. It’s so important because manhood is like a minefield, you gotta have somebody that’s gone through it to help guide you through the levels of manhood because being a man is very difficult. It’s too hard to figure out on your own. Who gets the most out of these mentoring relationships? It’s life-changing for the mentees and the mentors. A lot of mentors get a lot out of it. Man, they see a lot of themselves in some of these young boys. A lot of my mentors grew up without fathers, and they want to make sure they provide mentorship for young boys who don’t have it. The fact that a young boy now has a mentor, somebody he can call, text, email, ask a question with a male viewpoint—it’s immeasurable. I get feedback from boys after the camp when I see them graduate from college, when I see them join the military, when I see them with kids now, they come back and say, “Mr. Harvey you changed my life.” They come back as junior counselors. I had one kid that was a gangbanger, just a tough kid, we worked with him and worked with him. He graduated from North Carolina State, and he’s an engineer now. So many stories are like that, but you can’t measure the presence of a man in a boy’s life—it’s immeasurable. Tell us more about your camps, including the one you’re hosting this month in Atlanta. How can people learn about upcoming camps or volunteer opportunities? Well you have to go to the website (harveyfoundation.com), but in this camp we cover two things. We cover the principles of manhood and dream building. Those are two critical components. If I can get young men to dream, dream outside their present environment, dream outside of these neighborhoods that they’re in and see themselves somewhere else, it gives them something to shoot for. It’s the dream—your dream is actually more important than your education because if you have a big enough dream, your dream will spur you to get an education. Teaching a kid that it’s OK to dream, that it’s OK to want something spectacular is paramount. The other most important thing is the principles of manhood. Real men go to church, real men honor God, real men respect the law, real men respect women, real men take care of their children, real men are productive citizens, real men go to work every day. We gotta get that drummed into their heads, because too many times videos and social media are guiding our young men the wrong way to what manhood really is. What have been some of the most encouraging results? The best part is that the system works. The results are the best part—the flat-out positive results from all these young men. I have boys I’ve been mentoring personally sending me graduation pictures, wearing caps and gowns. Cats that were in 9th grade with no grades wanting to drop out are now saying, “I’m graduating;” “Mr. Harvey, this is my son and I’m taking care of him;” “Mr. Harvey, I got a job;” “Mr. Harvey, I’m in the military;” “Mr. Harvey, I’m in college now,” that’s what makes it worth it. On a more personal side, what makes you happy? I love peace of mind. Peace of mind make me happy. If I can find moments in the month where I can sit down and clear my head, maybe sit on a golf cart on the golf course and look for my golf ball that I hit in the bushes somewhere. If I can get out on the water or on the beach, that makes me happy. Watching my children figure it out and succeed makes me happy. Being a great provider makes me happy…and a Cuban cigar makes me happy. For more information or to donate or volunteer, go to harveyfoundation.com.

Resources

10 Podcasts to Help You Find Happiness

Audio is one of the oldest forms of media around, and yet podcasts are so hot that seemingly everyone is starting his or her own. They cover every topic imaginable, and it turns out we love to listen and learn. Podcasts can help us keep up with the news, lose ourselves in an imaginative story or just make our commute go by a lot faster. Below are 10 podcasts in the fields of positive psychology, mindfulness, happiness and self-help that will not only brighten your day, they will also add to your knowledge of how to become an authentically happier person. The Science of Happiness This excellent recent addition to the podcast happiness space comes from the Greater Good Science Center, which is affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley (Go Bears!). Heavy on the science of happiness and positive psychology, the show features interviews with professors and authors such as Rick Hanson, Srikumar Rao and Jonathan Haidt. Professional production adds to the compelling storytelling. Each episode runs about 20 minutes. 10% Happier with Dan Harris Network news anchor Dan Harris has become an unlikely but extremely effective evangelist for meditation and its benefits. With two best-selling books under his belt, Dan now produces this weekly podcast on the subject, which includes in-depth interviews with mindfulness heavy hitters such as (sometime collaborator) Sharon Salzberg and former Google “Jolly Good Fellow” Chade-Meng Tan. Dan has made it his mission to spread meditation to the mainstream, and he is absolutely succeeding! Each episode runs 50 to 60 minutes. Live Happy Now Live Happy’s own uplifting podcast features insightful interviews with experts in psychology and the science of happiness. Past guests have included psychiatrist and mood-food expert Dr. Drew Ramsey; author M.J. Ryan, one of the creators of the Random Acts of Kindness series; work/happiness expert Shawn Achor; and many others. The tone is friendly and accessible—a perfect way to start your day, lighten your commute and stay informed. Each episode runs about 30 minutes. The Flourishing Center Podcast The Flourishing Center, which offers a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology, highlights positive psychology research in its podcast. It covers everything from tips on overcoming rumination to practicing self-forgiveness. Each episode features three sections: Science Says, which summarizes recent research; Life Hack, which explains how to incorporate positive psychology tenets into your life; and Practitioner’s Corner, which highlights an individual practicing positive psychology. Each episode runs 30 minutes. Happier with Gretchen Rubin Best-selling author of The Happiness Project and several other books, Gretchen Rubin was an early convert to the podcasting medium. She and her screenwriter sister Elizabeth seem to have a lot of fun chatting and ribbing each other as they discuss various topics of interest, such as how to maintain healthy habits, The Four Tendencies (another one of Gretchen’s books), making time to read, family relationships and other issues that affect our everyday lives. The tone is breezy and casual, and occasionally the sisters will bring in a special guest. Each episode runs about 30 minutes. Happiness Matters Christine Carter, author of The Sweet Spot and Raising Happiness, hosts this parenting-focused podcast along with pediatric nurse Rona Renner. The show, a gabfest-style discussion between the hosts, focuses on how to raise a happy family and have harmonious relationships in the 21st century. Hot topics include “The Art of Saying No,” “Is Yelling the New Spanking?” and “Fostering Creativity in Kids.” Weekly episodes are short and sweet, running just 10 minutes. By the Book In each episode of By the Book, podcast personality Kristen Meinzer and comedian Jolenta Greenberg—two smart, funny Brooklynistas with attitude—choose a different self-help book to live by for two weeks and then report back with their findings. The show is warm, insightful and a great way to get the lowdown on these best-selling (but sometimes repetitive) books so you don’t have to read them all yourself. It’s like getting self-help Cliffs Notes, summarized by your hilarious best friends. Each episode runs approximately 45 minutes and many are followed up with a separate epilogue. The Action for Happiness Podcast Action for Happiness is an international initiative launched by the Dalai Lama. The podcast features interviews with luminaries mainly in the realm of mindfulness and meditation, such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Daniel Goleman and many others. Listen to substantive discussions of meditation in schools, how meditation can change the world and similar subjects. The sound quality could be better. Each episode runs about 40 minutes. Good Life Project The Good Life Project includes an “intentional community” that puts on mindful get-togethers in real life. In addition, they host this twice-weekly interview show with thought leaders in the happiness, creativity and personal development spaces. Catch up with authors and personalities like Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss, Brené Brown and many others. Good production and a lively pace keep things moving along. Each episode runs about 45 minutes. Adventures in Happiness New York Times best-selling author Jessica Ortner is an ebullient guide to happiness and fulfillment through “tapping.” But in addition to the mindfulness practice of tapping, she also covers a wide swath of lifestyle subjects from spring cleaning and feng shui to more serious topics such as depression and anxiety. Guests stop by to chat and lend their expertise. Each episode runs about 45 minutes.

Resources

Finding Happiness With the Help of Others

The latest research in maintaining the good life. Happiness, or the pursuit of, is at a record low with declines in 21 states, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. Dan Witters, research director with Gallup-Sharecare, said on The Gallup Podcast that 2017 is “the worst well-being year on record for the nation.” Gallup-Sharecare measures well-being in five categories: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. The normal indicators that can drive down a well-being score, such as employment or a recession, don’t seem to factor into our unhappiness. Dan explains that Americans took a significant hit in social and purpose well-being and noted that poor mental health is increasing. Yikes! Well, we certainly have our work cut out for us to improve things this year. Challenge accepted. We have collected the latest in happiness research to show you that all is not lost. No matter how bad things can get politically, economically or emotionally, happiness is always a choice. Be a Social Butterfly Good social skills—or the ability to appropriately interact with others—are important for our physical and mental health, and the lack thereof can lead to serious complications. According to a recent study from the University of Arizona, poor social skills were linked to loneliness and stress. Researchers noted that learning good social skills can improve both physical and mental health. Happy Couples People who are married, especially to their best friend, enjoy more life satisfaction over those who are unmarried, according to a study from the Vancouver School of Economics. This marital bliss isn’t just in the honeymoon stage, but throughout the span of the relationship. This serves people especially well in midlife when we start to feel that U-shaped dip in life satisfaction as stressors pile on. Couples who feel they are married to their best friend experience about twice as much contentment. All Together Now If life has got you singing the blues, maybe try joining a choir to turn that frown upside down. A recent study from the University of East Anglia in England finds that singing in a group may be a great way to boost your mental health. Researchers monitored participants in the Sing Your Heart Out (SYHO) project who had had previous mental health issues reported less depression and anxiety. What’s more, the social aspects as well as the singing fostered greater feelings of belonging and well-being. Learned Happiness Earlier this year, Yale University's popular new course "Psychology and the Good Life," taught by Laurie Santos, Ph.D., broke an enrollment record with 1,200 students. Laurie says she started the class for three reasons: to share her knowledge of psychological science with the rest of the world, to help college students and to make herself a better person. “Psychology has a lot to say about fixing human problems—from the big global ones to the tiny personal ones," she says. “This course is my attempt to critically synthesize what psychologists have learned so far about making our lives better, both on a global and local scale.” For those who want to learn about the science of happiness without paying an Ivy League tuition bill, Laurie’s course is offered for free on Coursera.

Resources

Live Happy Magazine Publishing Changes

Hello Live Happy Community, I’m so grateful for every minute you spend with Live Happy—reading articles and shopping for gifts in our store at livehappy.com, tuning in to Live Happy Now podcasts, sharing Happy Acts on social media and reading our award-winningLive Happymagazine. To best serve you on your happiness journey, we’re making some changes. We’re moving from a bi-monthly print magazine schedule to a yearly print “bookazine” (yes, it’s both a magazine and a book!) brimming with inspiration, expert tips and research. Our first special print edition (thicker and wider) will be Winter 2018, available on newsstands in September. This special edition will look great on your coffee table. We will also be creating more digital content, an expanded store product line (releasing in July) and a new format for the Live Happy Now podcast season (August).Plus, you’ll continue to find your favorite how-to articles, including the latest in positive psychology science, happiness trends and hands-on advice on livehappy.com. Happy Activists like you are the heart of our growing and ever-evolving Live Happy community. And we’re excited about the new things that we will be releasing in the months to come. Deborah K. Heisz Live Happy CEO, Co-Founder and Editorial Director P.S. We will no longer be taking subscriptions. The bookazine will be available on newsstands and at the Live Happy Store. If you have any questions or comments please contact us atcustomerservice@livehappy.comor 1-888-297-2094 (M-F 8a-8p CST).

Education

Teaching Medical Students Compassion

What does viewing works of art by Degas have to do with medicine? How can discussing Caravaggio’s paintings help doctors learnempathy? More universities are trying to find out. For many years, medical schools such as Yale and Harvard have used the visual arts to help teach prospective doctors better observation skills. Now a class at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas is using art—including painting, sculpture and design objects—not only to augment the students’ diagnostic skills, but also to grow and engage their sense of empathy and compassion. The Art of Examination, now being taught in its fourth year, is the brainchild of Bonnie Pitman, who is a distinguished scholar in residence at the University of Texas at Dallas. She’s also director of art-brain innovations at the Center for BrainHealth at the university and former director of the Dallas Museum of Art. Bonnie’s interest in combining art with medicine stems from her own experience of navigating doctors and hospitals since 2008, when she contracted a chronic respiratory illness. Now, as part of the class, developed with Heather Wickless, M.D., a UT Southwestern assistant professor, and Amanda Blake of the Dallas Museum of Art, she shepherds groups of medical students through Dallas museums, highlighting objects selected to evoke creative thinking and elicit feelings of empathy. At the Dallas Museum of Art, “we look at a Buddha sculpture, which is a symbol of compassion; we put on chanting and walk around it,” says Bonnie. After 10 minutes, she says, you can hear their breathing slow down into a “group breath,” as they hold the posture of the Buddha. “We compare him to another sculpture, an African power figure from the Congo with nails forced into him, absorbing all the pain and suffering of his community. I ask [the students] to take on his posture as well to feel the difference.” The students then stop to consider the difference in a patient’s perception depending on what posture a doctor holds as he or she approaches, to consider “awareness of being present with another humanbeing.” Later, the students gather around a gruesome death scene from Greek mythology. First they decide who in the painting they would sendto the emergency room first. Then they pair up to write letters to the depicted grieving mother who has just lost several of her children, and the results are often poetic and moving. The response to the class has been outstanding, says Bonnie, because caregiving and mindfulness are “not formally taught in medical schools. Things like, how to deal with patients in times of critical illness and death. How do you deliver that message, how do you absorb that into your body?” “The gift of this course is that I know it will make a difference for these doctors, that these powerful works of art will change them as individuals and asphysicians.”

Practice

Mindfulness in the Classroom

What if your child had a superpower that could help him or her be a nicer friend, a better student, make wiser choices and calm down from stressful situations? Laurie Grossman and Angelina Alvarez (Manriquez), co-authors of Master of Mindfulness: How to Be Your Own Superhero in Times of Stress, believe mindfulness is that superpower. “Kids having the ability to self-regulate, and to understand that is imperative,” Laurie says. “This is the most important tool that makes everything else work. If kids know how to calm down, then they know how to pay attention.” Laurie and Angelina’s book stems from their passion for the topic and highlights their work with Mason Musumeci’s fifth-grade class at Reach Academy in East Oakland, California, and the journey that these students made while practicing mindfulness. One technique used in the book is the Sharkfin, which is putting your hand in front of your face and slowly moving it down toward your chest. With your eyes closed and gentle breathing, you practice the five S’s: Sit up straight, sit still, sit silently, soft breathing and shut eyes. In the students’ own words, the book offers step-by-step instructions for mindful listening and breathing, including tips for specific situations such as bullying or problems at home. “If we can get kids to practice daily, just like brushing your teeth prevents cavities, practicing mindfulness can help the ravages of stress to not accumulate,” Laurie says. “If we teach them a tool, despite the craziness that is going on around them, they can find their center and their strengths.” If it were up to Laurie and Angelina, mindfulness would be part of every school's daily curriculum. “You can be really smart, but if you are thinking about what’s going on at home or if friends teased you, then you are not in the class with the teacher,” Laurie says. “What mindfulness does is it gets them in the class with the teacher.” Most of the kids in Reach Academy are no strangers to stress. Laurie says mindfulness creates a gap between emotion and reaction, giving the children a chance to calm down and make better decisions. Now, their fists of fury unclench while their Sharkfins go up. This not only makes life easier for the students and the teacher, but the knowledge of mindfulness creates a ripple effect that extends beyond the school. “What we are doing with awareness is creating space between what you feel and what you do,” Laurie says. “In that space lies freedom to choose how you will respond. That’s where the impulse control comes in. It is a proven stress reduction and it buildscommunity.”

relationships

Walking School Bus a Lesson in Happiness

“I always have a good day on Wednesdays,” says 12-year-old Albert Carter. The reason? That’s when he participates in his school’s walking school bus. Each week, a group of spirited senior citizens—including 66-year-old Jo Ann Washington and 80-year-old Bertha Barnes—along with other volunteers, chaperone about a dozen children on the 1-mile morning trek from East Berry Branch Library to Christene C. Moss Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas. “It’s important to walk because when you wake up in the morning, you feel all tired,” Albert says. “Walking loosens you up and wakes you up so then you can have energy to go to school and get passing grades.” Eight-year-old Ja’liyah Williams puts it bluntly: “Driving to school is boring,” she says. “My favorite thing about the walking school bus is that everyone comes and we play together. We’re always singing.” Volunteers don fluorescent yellow vests and teach the children safety rules along the way, adding to their brood as they go since some children are picked up in front of their homes. “It gives me great joy working with them,” Jo Ann says. “I’m glad to be a part and just feel like a kid.” Principal Charla Wright-Staten says she’s noticed a change in her students who walk to school. “They’re able to get some of their restlessness out and come in ready to work and learn,” she says. “They don’t know they’re establishing healthy lifestyles—we kind of sneak that in.” Change of Pace In 1969, almost 50 percent of children in kindergarten through eighth grade walked or biked to school. By 2009, that number dropped to less than 13 percent. That’s why community leaders in Fort Worth and around the world are implementing walking school buses, which teach children lifetime fitness habits and reduce traffic at the same time. The idea is simple: A group of children walk to school with two or more adults. Some schools partner with community groups, like how Christene C. Moss Elementary joined forces with Silver Sneakers, a fitness program for seniors offered by a local YMCA chapter. That’s how Bertha found out about the program. “I like walking, and I like kids,” Bertha says. “All of my own kids are up and gone.” In Fort Worth, 30 elementary schools have launched walking school buses as part of the Blue Zones Project, a well-being improvement initiative aimed at helping people lead longer lives by making healthy choices easier. Across the country, 42 communities in nine states have joined the Blue Zones Project, and walking school buses are common in those locations. Take it from Ja’liyah: “Come walk and get used to it. Then when you grow up, you already know what to do.” Happy Feet While the physical benefits are clear, Charla notes another significant impact the walking school bus has on her students. “They see it’s beyond just their parents, teachers and principal that care about them,” Charla says. “They’re seeing that there really is a village around them.” Take Albert, who appreciates it when the adults listen to what he has to say. “I feel better when I’m walking because we talk about stuff, and I just think about that sometimes and that kind of boosts my day.” But it’s not just the students who are benefiting: While Ja’liyah and Albert both say they’re learning to pay attention, listen and get better grades, Jo Ann points out that she’s learning from the kids as well. “It was cold one morning, and I knew those babies weren’t going to come out and walk,” she says. “That particular day, there were even more of them. You talk about devoted.” For Bertha, interacting with the children is leaving a lasting impression. “They’re teaching me how to be jolly and not worry about anything,” she says. While Bertha hopes she’s relaying the importance of morning exercise, there’s another lesson that’s not lost on the students. “It’s amazing that you can be 80 and look 52,” Albert says after learning Bertha’s age. His wish when he’s 80? “I hope I'm like Bertha.”

Giving

Syrian Family Spreads Peace Through Chocolate

For a Syrian refugee family now living in Canada, the link between chocolate and happiness is especially sweet. More than three decades ago the family’s patriarch, Isam Hadhad, made a dramatic career switch from civil engineer to chocolatier. He got into the chocolate-making business precisely because he realized how much joy it could bring people, explains his 26-year-old son Tareq. “He wanted to make the world a happier place,” says Tareq, who speaks English and is his family’s spokesperson. “(My father) says that if you want to build a connection to someone, you go and give him a piece of chocolate.” Then came the war in Syria and the family lost their chocolate factory—the second largest in the Middle East—to a bombing. But just two years after arriving in Canada as refugees, they have rebuilt with the help of a small, rural community in their adopted home country. Naming their new venture “Peace by Chocolate,” the family is using their success as an opportunity to serve up peace and happiness in each bite. “We feel that in every piece of chocolate we make, there is a taste of peace,” says Tareq. “We left our home because we lost peace in the community, in our homeland, so we felt that we should promote this great value in our new home country.” A small-town welcome After fleeing Syria in 2013, the Hadhad family lived for three years in Lebanon, reminded every day of what they had lost. What they didn’t know was that a tiny town on Canada’s East Coast was preparing to welcome them. When they heard about the Syrian refugee crisis, volunteers in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, decided to sponsor a family to come to Canada. Community members raised money, rented a house and recruited volunteer translators and English teachers. “It was a tremendous, overwhelming response from the community. People all wanted to contribute,” says Lucille Harper of Syria-Antigonish Families Embrace, the organization that sponsored the family. Starting anew The Hadhad family arrived in Antigonish, a college town of just 10,000, in the dead of a Canadian winter. But it wasn’t long before they had proved their resilience. Just two months after arriving, Isam started making chocolate out of their rented home and selling it at local farmers markets. Soon, he needed more space for production, and local carpenters, plumbers and electricians all volunteered their time to help build him a tiny shop. Business boomed, and finally, in September of 2017, the Hadhads opened a real factory. Kindness begets kindness As the family found success in their new home, they made giving back a core part of their company’s mission. When wildfires ravaged the town of Fort McMurray in Western Canada, they donated some of their profits to support those who had lost their homes. Shipping across Canada and making plans for U.S. distribution, Peace by Chocolate also quickly began making an economic contribution to a region that traditionally lags behind the rest of the country. The company has created jobs for more than two dozen employees. The Hadhads’ ambition of spreading peace and happiness through chocolate has already stretched beyond Canada’s borders. In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared their story at a United Nations summit on refugees as an example of the contributions newcomers have made to the country. Tareq says he hopes the company’s efforts will help to counter the bias and xenophobia that refugees often face around the world. “Whenever anyone hears any negative stories, they should check out Peace by Chocolate’s story. They will learn more about how kindness begets kindness.”

Giving

Choosing Happiness

Spring might be taking its time in getting to the United States this year, but happiness was blossoming around the world for the International Day of Happiness (IDOH). In 2012, the United Nations officially named March 20 the International Day of Happiness, and since 2013, Live Happy has encouraged people to create Happiness Walls where people could post a card that explained how they celebrated happiness. In 2018, Live Happy founders Jeff Olson and Deborah K. Heisz set a goal of having 500 walls worldwide—and surpassed that number by 200. Deborah went to Facebook to express her gratitude to everyone who made this goal possible. “I want each of you to know that you made and are making an amazing difference in the world,” she posted. “You are part of a movement and you are leaders in that movement. I can’t thank you enough for caring enough to make the world a happier place.” This year’s Live Happy celebration saw walls in every state in the U.S. and in more than 20 countries, ranging from bulletin boards in homes, schools and nursing homes to large free-standing walls that served as the centerpiece of festivals and daylong celebrations. Happy Dance, USA In Texas, happiness visited The Shops at Willow Bend in the Dallas suburb of Plano on March 17. Throughout the day, singers from the Septien Entertainment Group serenaded mall visitors. Shoppers were brought to smiles by the movin’, groovin’ and hula-hoopin’ that went on throughout the day. Children colored their happiness with the help of the newly openedCrayola Experience. Of course, since it fell on St. Patrick’s Day, the day wouldn’t have been complete without a tribute to ol’ St. Pat himself courtesy of the young dancers from the Maguire Academy of Irish Dance. Deb Johnsen volunteers for the Plano event every year, and one of her roles is to urge people to participate. She says some people initially have a hard time coming up with something to write down, but one man did not hesitate to say how happy he was to be with the same woman for more than 50 years. “That was a nice moment to hear him speak that gratitude out loud,” she says. Giddy as Goats Damp weather in Nashville, Tennessee, moved festivities inside, but baby goats brought their own special brand of joy to the event. In addition to the Happiness Wall, the main attraction of the celebration were baby goats (in pajamas) from Shenanigoats Yoga. “Happiness and baby goats just go together,” explained Jamie Codispoti, co-owner of the goat yoga company. “It’s immediately relaxing to hold a baby goat, and everyone is happy. It’s like a form of therapy.” That was evident from the smiles and selfies taken with the four-legged guests, but the overriding message of the day wasn’t lost on people stopping by the wall. “We just don’t take time in our daily lives to think about all the things that bring us joy,” said Nashville resident Kourtney Hennard. “This is great, because it makes us mindful of the things that already make us happy and reminds us how we can bring more happiness into the lives of others.” Viva Feliz Since IDOH is an international holiday, Live Happy took its show on the road and hosted a wall in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, at the first-ever Happiness Fest created by Luis Gallardo, who also serves on the council on the United Nations International Day of Happiness. The weeklong event featured happiness guides and experts from more than 40 countries, including Jennifer Moss, Raj Raghunathan and Amy Blankson. “We are very proud about the magnificent experiential learning community that gathered in San Miguel de Allende to share and manifest a world with more happiness and less misery,” Luis says.

One Kind Stay

TV Host Steve Harvey Gives Back Through Youth Foundation

10 Podcasts to Help You Find Happiness

Finding Happiness With the Help of Others

Live Happy Magazine Publishing Changes

Teaching Medical Students Compassion

Mindfulness in the Classroom

Walking School Bus a Lesson in Happiness

Syrian Family Spreads Peace Through Chocolate

Choosing Happiness

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