Happiness and Connection

Last month I changed my job description. I'm now officially a Happiness Teacher. I teach happiness in the form of playing the piano. Happy people learn more easily, are more resilient, are able to deal with adversity better, and, in general are more fun to be around. Who doesn't want to be happier?

Arthur Brooks, a professor at the Harvard Business School and happiness researcher has a podcast, Office Hours (check it out on youtube here ) I have been listening to it for a while, and have slowly been transformed into someone who is actively becoming happier. Combined with Brené Brown, Teresa Amabile, Angela Duckworth, Carol Dweck, David Yeager, and a host of other educators, authors, and researchers, I've been reshaping how I show up in the world, especially with regards to how I teach.

Connection and Guides.pdf

Download PDF • 5.78MB

I think these are important, especially connection. I live Brené Brown's definition, every day with my students. I say it repeatedly with my all girl jazz combo, I talk about it with the kids I'm accompanying. Brown is about "operationalizing you values," which is taking your values and putting them into action.

Humans need to be connected to humans according to the research that Arthur Brooks talks about in many of his podcasts.

A printout of "Before you play another note" was on my kitchen island when a friend was over. She's learning to play golf. She asked if she could keep a copy. It could have been rewritten for golf as, "Before you swing another club." A friend who's a trainer at the gym specializing in functional fitness, is using the it with her clients, and on it goes. "Before you lift another weight. . ."

"Noticing" is a new one. I included it in the pdf download as foreshadowing. At the end of every lesson my students receive a little card which highlights one thing that I noticed during the lesson. The cards are miniature pieces of art on one side and "I noticed:" on the other. Over time, all of my students are getting a tiny art gallery on one side and ways that they matter on the other. This is part of being a happiness teacher. I get to share my mom's beautiful art, which is happiness too. I'm calling the cards "Notice Happiness" cards, and will be available shortly. The impact of this is significant, and I can't wait to share it fully.

As a happiness teacher, I have a lot more leeway to experiment, play, and try new things. I'm getting great feedback from parents. I have kids who cry when they can't come to lessons! I get unsolicited hugs from the littles, my adult students email me with things they want to play, and music that they like. I haven't had a terrible lesson in years.

While these things have a big impact on my students, they are having a larger impact on me. Becoming a happiness teacher has eased the constricting around my heart when I'm out in the world. I sleep better at night and look forward to the next day, the next lesson, the next interaction, and the next project.

Happy playing!

Sarah