Expat Happiness Tip #1: Fertile Ground For Happiness

Posted on 11. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life
3 comments

May is Expat Happiness month at Winning Away!
Throughout the month, we are looking at techniques and tools you can use to boost your happiness as an expat. To start things off, I would like to take a moment to ponder this thought:

The most fertile ground for happiness is when you are at peace with the past, content with the present, and hopeful about the future.

Of course this is an ideal to tend toward, not something you can or will achieve overnight. And the very nature of the expat life can make things a little tricky. When you feel like you are constantly in transition, it is a very normal tendency to dwell on the past, discount the present moment or obsess over what the future may bring.

What are three things you can do to help create your own fertile ground for happiness? What about picking one action for the past, one for the present and one for the future?

Your actions can be concrete or symbolic – but if you choose a symbolic action, give it a tangible component to make it more real. For instance, you could compose a song about a place you terribly miss, or you could write a letter to your future self to reassure him or her that everything will be all right in your next location.

Taking a page from my own book, I spent an hour on the phone this morning mending a family relationship with someone back in Europe. Let me tell you that it was anything but a pleasant conversation. It was well worth it in terms of happiness though. Working on healing the past, feeling content with where the relationship is at now, and with a much more optimistic outlook on our future conversations, I can genuinely say that this phone call made me happier, however uncomfortable it may have been in the moment.

Emmanuelle

Expat Happiness: My Manifesto

Posted on 08. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Musings & Inspiration
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Have you watched Martin Seligman’s TED talk yet? (If not, drop everything and follow this link post-haste – it is really that good) What struck you as the most important point?

From my perspective as an expatriation specialist, the pivotal lesson was this: instead of striving to make people less miserable (i.e. trying to make life abroad less challenging), just think of how much more powerful it would be to acknowledge expats as well-adjusted, highly capable people who are temporarily struggling and help them thrive.

I am seeing many more possibilities and much higher potential in the “thriving” approach. I am not interested in getting expats to the point where they are just coping. When you chose to become an expat, you made a gutsy, potentially risky decision – and I believe that with higher risk should come higher rewards. Let’s unapologetically pursue happiness. Let’s aim for a life so incredibly rich and fulfilling that the folks back home will kick themselves for playing it safe and staying put!

What do you think? Does that sound make sense to you? What would your manifesto of expat happiness say?

Emmanuelle

Expat Happiness: An Introduction To Positive Psychology

Posted on 06. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog
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I tried to write my own introduction to Positive Psychology. I really tried. But you know, sometimes it just makes much more sense to let the real experts do the talking – especially when you can hear it from the mouth of the man who literally invented the discipline.

Here is Martin Seligman on Positive Psychology, via that fascinating place, TED.com. You need to watch this. Seriously. And not only because he is a great public speaker.

If you cannot play the video, you can watch it here on the TED.com site

Comments, thoughts, first reactions?

As far as I am concerned, I think that this field of study is a) long overdue and b) incredibly important. “Happy people have no stories”? I beg to differ, and I am glad that these stories are now being told.

What stories of expat happiness do you have to tell?

Emmanuelle

May is Expat Happiness Month!

Posted on 04. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life
0 comments

While we are on the subject of happiness, I am taking this opportunity to announce that May is Expat Happiness Month at Winning Away!

Now that more and more of you are finding your way here (a big, warm welcome to all of you new readers!), I thought that organising posts by theme might make it easier and more fun for you to browse through this blog.

Why happiness for our first monthly theme?

I recently became interested in Positive Psychology. Now this is something I know absolutely nothing about, other than the fact that studying fulfilment and happiness rather than just mental illness makes a lot of sense to me. And I can see how the lessons taught by positive psychology could be highly valuable for us expats.

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The Expat Life: Quote Of The Month – On Happiness

Posted on 01. May, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Musings & Inspiration
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“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” Groucho Marx

You have to admit that when Groucho wasn’t busy being silly, he could come up with some pretty deep stuff! I love this quote of his – in a few words, he captured the essence of conscious, positive choice.

What is your motto to live by this month?

Emmanuelle