Katrina Kennedy Training

On Friday I taught The Business of Training & Development at Sac State. I had a delightful group of women who were intelligent, experienced, and really wanted to know how to move from being trainers to performance consultants. One woman in the group was recently laid off. She was there to formalize her knowledge, earn a certificate and increase her competitiveness in her job search. She had every reason to be sad, feel miserable, stick her head under the covers and not venture out on a rainy Friday for class.

Chatting prior to class she just seemed so...HAPPY. Yes, genuinely happy. She had made a choice. A choice to be happy. She saw the opportunity in what was before her. She was grabbing onto the opportunity to find exactly what she wants to do.

She reminded me of something I read on Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Blog. 

Fake it till you feel it.
Feelings follow actions. If I’m feeling low, I deliberately act cheery, and I find myself actually feeling happier. If I’m feeling angry at someone, I do something thoughtful for her and my feelings toward her soften. This strategy is uncannily effective

Your actions determine how you feel, so act happy! Gretchen has immersed herself in happiness research and I count this as one of my favorite perspectives. I like the acting perspective because the responsibility is my own, not based on an outside influence or thing to create it for me. I don't always remember to follow it, but I know in tough times we've got to do a lot more acting, whether we are the manager, the spouse, the friend, or the one who finds herself without a job.

Are you acting happy? Do you agree that you need to act it to feel it? What is helping you to remember to act happy even if inside you are feeling some turbulence and uncertainty? 

Happy Monday! It's going to be a great week!