Speaking engagement: AIIKC

   This morning I had another opportunity to present my research on & my passion for Japanese character design to a Japanese Pop Culture class at The Art Institutes International of Kansas City. This was my third or fourth presentation there in the last couple of years, and I'm thrilled that they keep inviting me back! It's a great chance for me to practice presenting, to "try out" what it would be like to be a teacher, and great motivation to continue building on the deck. It has grown a LOT since its humble beginnings in 2010, when I created it for the Japan-America Society of KC.

   This class responded well and had great questions, particularly about how to learn the Japanese language. I LOVE being able to encourage and influence students to learn more about something I love so much! Thanks to Jason Smith and Barbara Brooks for having me out yet again.

What is a Good Life?

   Today at work I had the opportunity to hear Laura King, Ph.D. from the University of Missouri Dept. of Psychology. Dr. King has spent over 20 years exploring topics within "positive psychology" such as happiness and meaning in life, relationships, intuition, religion, death, and self-identity. Wow.

   She was a dynamic speaker, funny and approachable, and very engaging from the start. And she posed some very interesting ideas about the correlation between happiness and a life full of meaning. She posed that we should learn through observation rather than through inventing something new; that we won't find the meaning in our lives through abstract/pure concepts (altruism, heroism, truth), but rather through specific, achievable goals. She spoke about intuitive knowledge ("just knowing, without knowing why" and facilitated by a positive emotional experience)  vs. analytical knowledge ("knowing something, and knowing why it's that way" and facilitated by a negative emotional experience), and posed that intuitive knowledge is the path to happiness. Random events can be imbued with meaning—synchronicity gives meaning to random connections.

    She said that through her work she has learned that meaning creates happiness, and happiness creates meaning. Said another way, being in a good mood makes people feel as if their life has meaning—and happy, intuitive people report more meaning in various experiences. The perception of meaning in life is most often a subconscious perception, rather than through an intentional search. Thinking turns off meaning.

   If you feel better, you'll be happier; events will just seem to make sense and your life will have meaning. She listed several benefits of happiness: experiencing meaning in life; seeing the big picture; having efficient, creative, flexible cognitions; having the fortitude to face difficult news; faster recovery from stress; getting and staying married; and even a longer life!

   Rather than looking for happiness or trying to be happy, we should enhance our happiness by setting achievable goals, which accentuate the positive—but without eliminating the negative. There is a time for disappointment and grief—they are normal and necessary.

   She said happy people rate this statement highly on a scale of 0-10: "If I could live my life over, I'd change almost nothing." The wisdom, insight, and maturity of those that agree with this statement means that they have achieved true happiness: they can evaluate their lives, "warts and all", and still feel good about them. They'd say that life can be difficult, but it is rooted in a world that makes sense. And there are signs of meaning everywhere.

   It was an insightful presentation, and one that hit close to home. I feel like I've been trying to hard to create meaning without letting it unfold—though I often recognize it when it does. This was the #1 reason I created this blog in the first place, to think through, in writing, my experiences and try to make some connections. I'm going to be thinking about Dr. King a lot and how I can use this information in my life.

Random Hallmark Moments: SMCKC breakfast

   This morning I had an opportunity to join the Social Media Club of Kansas City at beautiful Union Station, for breakfast and a lecture by Scott Monty. Scott is the energetic and charismatic head of social media for Ford Motor Company. I'll add more detail later, but my headline from the talk is: social media isn't rocket science, people! It's a powerful tool that every wise company should be leveraging. (And I'm directing that specifically to my employer, who has proven to be exceptionally hesitant to enter this space in a meaningful way. But I'm trying to influence that.)

Random Hallmark moments: The Chief

 

   I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend a talk with Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley yesterday; he came to Hallmark to share stories from his career and talk about leadership. What a treat! He offered some great principles and reminders. Namely, that you should expect a lot from people and push hard. And how important it is for the people you lead to know how much you care about them.

   It made me reflect on how fortunate I am to work for such a caring company full of truly unique and talented people. Caring for those around me is easy: everyone is so fun and interesting, with great senses of humor, cool families, interesting hobbies and great stories.

   This week was one of the most challenging I can remember in quite a while. (And not just because I had 2 flat tires, Taylor hurt his paw, and Gypsy peed all over me and made me late to work.) We were in jeopardy of losing the opportunity to have our product placed for Christmas with a major retailer. And in part due to mistakes I had made. I had to consciously move past my fears about potential consequences for myself and figure out how to rally the whole team to overcome the situation. And as I'm sitting here at work tonight with my core team, adding support where I can and making sure the work gets done, I'm reflecting on the experience.

   I am very proud of the work at the end of the week. I'm even more proud of how everyone banded together and pitched in, and had fun together despite working so hard. We won't know for a few days what the retailer's response will be, but in one sense, we've already won.

   Today was actually a very fun day (despite being at work for 14+ hours). I asked the other managers to help me bring breakfast treats for the whole crowd, and then I ran out to Costco at lunchtime to renew my membership and pick up pizzas. Little did I know what a great idea THAT was... I didn't expect to be at work until 10 pm, and the leftover pizza made a pretty good dinner.

Joan, Sara, Jerry & I head to the parking garage; the last ones in the building, other than the cleaning staff!

   Although we devoured almost all of the food, there were some choice items left. Olivia just MMS'd these photos of her adorable boys enjoying the last of the cream cheese/wild blueberry danish. Looks like it was a good end to the day for everyone!