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Nice to meet you happiness!
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: Mar 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Thinking of youth, instead of focusing on their potential, their strength & their powers, they focus on the challenges, the stresses, the complains. Yet, scientists explain that once basic needs are covered (food to eat, clothes to wear, roof over the head and place to sleep), the circumstances and all the external world (from winning lottery to getting paralyzed) determine only 10% of our happiness. Simultaneously, our internal world (the way our brain processes the world) determines 90% of our long-term happiness!Being happy is something that all people want, no matter where or how old they are. But are the benefits of happiness a worthwhile goal or is it just about feeling good? A review of the available literature has revealed that happiness has numerous positive effects which benefit not only individuals, but families, communities, and the society at large (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). The benefits of happiness include higher income and superior work outcomes (greater productivity and higher quality of work), larger social rewards (stronger social support and richer social interactions), more activity, energy, and flow, and better physical health (a bolstered immune system, lowered stress levels, and less pain) and even longer life. Happy individuals are more creative, helpful, charitable, and self-confident, have better self-control, and show greater self-regulatory & coping abilitiesThe science of happiness has flourished the last 2 decades. It has been applied in various fields of science, in psychology, business, health and more importantly in education. It is called “Positive Education”. Positive education focuses on developing both well-being and social responsibility, without changing its primary goals. It contributes in identifying and developing strengths, cultivating gratitude, and visualizing best possible selves (Seligman et al., 2005; Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006). It is proven that it makes people more successful and showed to have a more lasting impact and change on having pro-social behaviour. It increases happiness and decreases depressive symptoms significantly (Sin and Lyubomirksy, 2009). Compared to unhappy learners, happier learners pay better attention, are more creative, and have greater levels of community involvement. It increases engagement, creates more curious learners, and helps develop and overall love of learning (Fisher, 2015). With this project we aim to introduce positive education into youth work and initiate a “Positive Non-Formal Education (NFE)”. Having unhappy youth who focus on the complains and the hassles will not solve the problems of unemployment, inactive participation and social exclusion. Instead, having happy youth will contribute in reinforcing their learning, their personal development, their professional progress, their health state, their sense of initiative, volunteering and involvement in society and their connection with people. We believe that it is time for youth to say “Nice to meet you happiness!”The aim of the project “Nice to meet you happiness!” is to train the youth workers on the topic of happiness and positive NFEThe objectives of the project are:• To enhance the knowledge related to happiness, positive NFE & its benefits for youth• To provide tools & practices in the framework of positive NFE • To increase the level of happiness of the participants themselves & inspire them to further work on the topic of positive NFEThe project has one activity: a training course. The training course will take place in Amiantos, Cyprus between 20-27 of January 2017. It will gather 22 youth workers from Cyprus, Italy, Hungary, France, Romania, Bulgaria. The course will be based on the elements of experiential learning, self-directed learning and non-formal education (NFE). NFE endorses a participative and learner-centred approach, it is carried out by learners on a voluntary basis and therefore it is closely linked to participants’ needs, aspirations and interests. The project will have a variety of tangible and intangible results. Intangible results refer to the knowledge and experience gained by the youth workers involved, their developed skills and their enhanced professionalism. The tangible results refer to a video produced about the project, the positive NFE guide, articles, social media posts and press releases. The guide and video will include information and simple techniques that boost young people’s happiness and elements of positive NFE. We believe that these results will bring a new era in youth work and have a positive impact on the partners, on other youth NGOs and youth work on European level by achieving innovation in youth work, increasing the quality and maximizing the results of youth work. On a long run the project will help the youth to get employed, to be healthier, more respectful towards diversity, more open to inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue, have tolerance and respect of human rights
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