At Ocean Healthcare we’ve nailed our colours to the mast when it comes to Happiness. We believe that you cannot pour from an empty cup. This is the essence of our philosophy Live Happy Care Well. To consistently provide great care, as an individual, to another, you need to be in a good place yourself. We believe it is our responsibility as an organization to create an environment and build a culture where there is a proactive approach to Happiness.
Why we do Happy
Our commitment to Happiness is not about being soft and fluffy. Quite the contrary. We’re a results-driven, high-performance organization, where we all expect the best from each other. Our focus on Happiness is based on the principle that healthy things grow naturally. Those organizations who will excel in the long term, must provide more than a time-for-money transaction for those who work for them. To see and care about the whole person is just more human, more healthy.
Proactive Happiness
Vex King, in his book, Good Vibes Good Life suggests that “Our highest priority as human beings is Happiness”. For Happiness to be a priority it suggests proactivity. For many, when they think of happiness, they think of a positive feeling they get in response to something. Feeling happy is the reactive feeling, whereas Happiness is a state of being. The realisation that we can (even should) prioritise Happiness in order to effect it’s greater and deeper presence in our lives is a game changer.
Of course, Happiness still means different things to different people. To be honest, we’re still distilling our own thoughts on what we believe it is. Maybe we’ll never fully pin it down? However, we know in our heart of hearts that the pursuit of Happiness, whatever it is….is very important!
It’s About How We Choose To Look At Stuff
While we haven’t pinned down what Happiness is in full, we have some strong ideas about what it incorporates. We believe a major component of Happiness is how we choose to look at things. Stephen Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, suggests that “….a fundamental principle about the nature of man…is…that between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.” Mr. Covey describes a gap between all stimulus and our responses. In this gap lies a big contributor to our Happiness. Many of us don’t recognize this gap exists….but it always does….and whether we choose to exercise our freedom to choose or not, is on us. He also suggests in his book that “the way we see the problem, is the problem.” Many problems are gifts….if we’re brave enough and honest enough to challenge the way we look at them.
Dissatisfaction is a Winner
Another phrase commonly heard in the training and meeting rooms of our Ocean Healthcare offices is “If we’re not winning, we’re learning”. That suggest that there is something to salvage from those circumstances in which we are not winning. However, there is more to this quote than meets the eye. If we’re really honest with ourselves, we’re rarely learning when we are winning. When we’re winning we’re comfortable. The deepest learning and the best innovation comes from a place of dissatisfaction. Business is tough. Life is tough. But as we exercise our muscles and put them under healthy stress, we grow and stay healthy. Many of the problems we face get us down and only see the enormity of the challenge. We can often focus on the unfairness of our situation. However, nothing great happens at the top of the mountain apart from the momentary celebration for the victory of getting there. As we learn from Disney’s Hannah Montana “it’s the climb"..…that matters.
Unwrapping Opportunities
Some problems are truly horrendous. It’s hard to say that all problems provide opportunities. Maybe they do? However, as we approach Christmas this year and we start wrapping up gifts for our friends and family….perhaps look at the challenges you are facing and consider whether they might be opportunities….just badly wrapped.