Class Report
Live Deliberately: Be Happier, Healthier, and More Productive
Teacher: Greg Faxon, marketing consultant and personal coach (above)
Documentarian: Yumi Rydlun
Location: Northeast Neighborhood Library
Date: May 4, 2014
See more photos of this class on Flickr!
Take-home message(s): There were a lot. Here are a few.
1. From “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll:
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“So long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if only you walk long enough.”
Moral: You have to know where you want to go before you can get there.
2. Actively choose your own path by starting with something that excites you.
3. You can pick something to start doing or changing this week.
4. The power of a morning ritual sets the tone for your day by putting you in control. Act and decide = deliberate living.
Stuff to watch/read/do:
Watch this TED talk, by Shawn Achor, on the relationship between success and happiness.
Take the VIA Survey of Character Strengths (it’s free), and start finding ways to apply your signature strength in your day-to-day life.
Read “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt.
Visit Greg’s website, gregfaxon.com.
Yumi Rydlun recently waded in waters glowing with bioluminescent dinoflagellates in a Puerto Rican bay, overdosed on eggplant dishes and lokum after walking the ruins of Troy in Turkey, and attended a wedding on a llama farm outside Bogotá, Colombia. Her passion for learning across cultures has led her to work, study, and volunteer in Japan, Australia, and Central America.