How Can We Be Happy While Haitians Are Suffering?

Every Sunday, Star and VIP American Happiness Association members receive an Action Plan. I thought we should share this week's AHA action plan in light of world events. Please liberally forward this message to your friends who need to hear it, keeping the spirit of a Creative Commons Copyright and the source of American Happiness Association intact.

Happiness Action Plan - January 17, 2010 - January 23, 2010
Topic: How Can We Be Happy While Haitians Are Suffering?

There are no words to describe the tragedy in Haiti. Many of our members are wondering how in the world we can be so selfish as to think of our own happiness while there is so much death, pain, fear, and destruction. It's not easy, but we do have some answers.

Immediately take whatever action you can, then let go

If you can give money, do so. If you worship or are a healer, you can pray, light a candle, or send healing thoughts. If you are part of an emergency team, you can go there. Do what you can, then let go of the outcome.

Increase your happiness practice

Most of us will need to increase our happiness practice. Those of us who are ultra sensitive or highly emotional will need to significantly boost our practice during this time. Some of the tools and practices that work especially well:

• Love - Let the people around you know you love them. Tragedies help us stop taking things for granted.
• Compassion - magnify your compassion for others. Strengthen your empathy muscle.
• Acts of kindness - a perfect way to show we care and can be caring to strangers and friends. You never know: your act of kindness in Canada may be "paid forward" all the way down to Haiti.
• Gratitude - for our loved ones, our own safety, our country, even our government.
• Perspective - If you are spiritual or religious, acknowledge that there is a big picture plan we don't fully see or understand.
• Courage - If you feel fearful, work on building and practicing courage.
• Turn off the news - reduce the negative impact to your brain. Remember your brain is a sponge and the news will literally put you into a depression if you repeatedly watch it. If you feel the need to stay caught up, set a 5 minute timer, go online and get your fix, and keep everything off the rest of the day.
• Social - Surround yourself with positive family and friends and increase your social time. (correspondingly reduce your isolation right now)
• Grieve - If you still feel sad, you may need to move through the grief process: denial, anger, sadness, acceptance. Watch a really sad classic movie where someone dies like Saving Private Ryan or Love Story, and cry your eyes out. Then move on.

Areas of your life that this affects:

• Your empathy and compassion "muscles" and a chance to grow them
• All of your emotions
• Your level of courage and a chance to boost it.

Questions to consider:

1. Have you done everything you can to help, then let go?
2. What tools and practices above do you need to boost to maintain your self-care?
3. What people do you have in your community that can be with you and support you?

Action steps for this week:

1. Immediately take whatever action you can for the Haitians, then let go.
2. Increase your happiness practice in the ways that resonate best with you.

Happiness Action Plans are AHA member benefits of the Star level and above and are distributed every week on Sundays.

Quick Link...

http://www.americanhappiness.org