We’ve included a small selection from thousands of testimonials we’ve received from program participants since 2008. Testimonials are sorted by theme: • INDIVIDUALS: Stress, Happiness, Health, Energy, Getting More Done, Meaning in Life, Depression, Mood Swings, Anger, Trauma and Grief, Resilience, Self Esteem & Confidence, Relationships with Children, Social Relationships. • WORKPLACE: Workplace Mood, Stress and Burnout, Workplace Relationships, Team Dynamics. • AIDS CARE: Healing Trauma in AIDS Orphans. Resilience in AIDS Orphans & Caregivers. Individual Stress • My stress was paralyzing me. I was miserable but felt powerless to do anything about it. I though it was normal - just how life is if you're not on TV. • Today I am stress-free and building a happy new life. • Thank you InHappiness! • I thought that I thrived on workplace stress, that I was coping with all my stress. When I started InHappiness I quickly realized how bad this stress was for my health and performance. • It's gone, I'm happy, and I feel so much lighter now. Thank you. • My job as fund raiser is full of stress - if I'm not successful, people will lose their jobs. InHappiness really helped me reduce my stress and perform better. • I was a stress-mess! Today - no stress, no problems. Now everything is sharp! • I was stress junkie but now I take life with a smile. Individual Happiness I am so much happier. Three of my friends who are in emotional crisis tell me how much better they feel after seeing me. My happiness lifts their spirits. • After 16 years of living in a self-pity party, I'm back - relaxed and happy. • My manager told me last week how happy I look. • I look and feel younger now. I’m active and happy. • “Mom, we’ve never seen you so happy.” • Everyone is seeing a difference in me. • I feel 100 times more positive and I’m coping with everything whether it’s a problem at home or at work. • InHappiness has changed my life. It’s given me a better outlook on life in general. I'm happier now. Individual Health • I used to get lots of headaches and migraines. I still get a few but seldom need to take tablets now. • I am diabetic and was on 1000 mg of medication twice a day. After InHappiness my blood sugar started dropping at  my 10am checks. I couldn’t understand it, so I went to see my doctor. He stopped my medication – my diabetes is gone. My blood sugar is 5-6 all the time now. This is just so wonderful. Thank you. • My hypertension is gone - after years of medication my BP is normal now. • I am still diabetic but my sugar is down from 15-17 to 6.4-8.3. InHappiness has changed by life. • I measure my BP at home in the mornings. My hypertension just dropped. It was very high, and used to be 150-170, but now it is normal at 120-116. These days 130-138 is high for me. Thank you. Individual Energy • In the past, after seeing so many patients I was so tired I didn’t want to go back to work tomorrow. Doing patient files gave me a headache. Now, I see patients, do the paperwork, and go back to see more patients. I'm seeing 50% more patients and feeling much more energized and happy. • I have more energy. Before InHappiness I often felt heavy like I just wanted to sleep, but that’s gone - it's over. • I’m energized, I feel light. • By mid-afternoon I just wanted to go and lie down in a dark room. I was emotionally and physically exhausted - most days I avoided the kids, skipped dinner, and just stayed in bed and slept. Now I'm full of energy - I work till five then go home, cook, and have fun with my family. It's a new me! • I was in my twenties but I felt old - always tired. Not any more. Now I'm gymming and swimming and going out with friends. Life is good. Individuals Getting More Done • I used to come to work at 6 to get an early start, work till 6 or 7 in the evening then take work home, and I still wasn't coping. Now I come in at 8, take my lunchtime to relax, leave at 5, and never take work home. And I'm getting more done! I have a whole new life after work. This is real life change. • I'm amazed - I'm getting so much more done. Meaning in Life • I have been blessed with 50 years of a happy, productive and successful life. I never thought much about it, but I knew that other men were not blessed in the same way. Last year I experienced an InHappiness training through my community organization. It opened my eyes as to why I have enjoyed such a good life, and how it could be even better. I rushed off to visit my grandchildren to teach them the InHappiness lessons so they can have the best life possible. The wonderful thing is that they understand it. They get what I tell them and they are changing. Now I'm asked by other parents to talk to their kids and even visit schools to speak to the children. It's important that we learn how to recognize and manage our feelings at a young age - imagine how much better their lives will be. Depression • I was in deep depression. Life wasn't worth living and I bought pills to end it. A friend took me to InHappiness. I didn't want to go but she insisted. Thank goodness! The first thing I did was to go home and flush those pills. It's hard to describe the change in me, but I am a new person. I am free and life is good. Yay!! • Sometimes the depression comes back for a visit, but I only let it stay for an hour or two now - not weeks or months like before. • After a decade of depressive episodes I have been depression-free for 18 months. Thank you InHappiness. You saved my life. • My depression was leading me towards suicide. I actually bought the pills. After your workshop I flushed them and rebuilt my happiness. Individual Mood Swings • I used to have mood swings. Sometimes in the morning I felt like not talking to anybody and I cried a lot. Since InHappiness I’ve slowly changed. I can see I’m not the same person as before. I'm much happier now. • I used to get angry quickly and it would last in my heart. Now if I get cross I quickly forget. • Before I was moody and very emotional. Now I can see the change in me - I feel released. • I’m not so serious any more. I laugh a lot more. I have fewer headaches. I have more energy. Individual Anger • I grew up in a tough neighborhood and soon learned the best way to protect myself and my young sister was to take the initiative and be aggressive. I started fighting and became good at it. I was soon a real bully. It carried through into adulthood - every time I felt stressed I would explode. I shouted at clients and my anger was legendary. Road rage was a problem. I pushed people off the road, even drove into other cars on purpose. Most weeks I got out of my car to physically threaten other drivers, and sometimes I beat them up. After a two-day InHappiness workshop my anger disappeared. It just vanished. Two years later and no road rage - I drive carefully now. I don't get angry. I haven't beat anyone up since that workshop. I'm a new person thanks to InHappiness. • I was famous for my anger and rage, with daily shouting and weekly explosions. Now I'm relaxed and smiling - I let things go. No outbursts for months. I can't believe the change in me.  Life is so much better. Trauma and Grief in Individuals • I suffered a lot when my father died. I experienced it as a deep hurt and thought I would never get over it. For years I used to sob every time I heard his name. After practicing InHappiness I experienced a release of my pain. Now, I smile when I hear his name and can talk freely about him without crying. • A month after I lost a stillborn daughter I was depressed and had lost my will to live. I was considering taking my life. I went with friends to an InHappiness workshop. When I heard the group would be laughing I wanted to leave, but my friends asked me to stay and just sit and observe. Even sitting on the sidelines I became totally involved in the workshop. I joined in the laughter  and suddenly experienced a powerful rush of emotions and release. The process lasted 20 or 30 minutes - I could feel tremendous changes happening in me. I was left feeling tired but happy - my pain was gone. I realize now that I was traumatized, and that this moving experience was the release of  my trauma. By lunchtime I was healed. My energy and enthusiasm for life was back. I still feel sad when I think about my little girl, but that extreme pain is gone. I have so much to live for. I am happy again. Thank you. • As children we were abused by our father. My mother denied that it happened and we came to hate her. Even after my father died none of us could forgive Mom for allowing it to happen. I realize now that it made me bitter and poisoned my life for more than 30 years. InHappiness finally helped me to recognize and understand my feelings and how they were pulling my life down. I was able to forgive my mother and reconnect with her - we have a beautiful friendship now and my life has taken wings with an amazing new energy. The best part was forgiving myself and discovering that life could be so much happier. Resilience • Before the program, I had great difficulty coping with the death of my patients, often slipping into depression for a week or longer. Recently I received word that my HIV-positive brother had shot and killed himself and his girlfriend. I traveled home to arrange their funerals and bury them. Two days later I was back at work and one day later I was back in our daily laughter therapy sessions. I felt sad, but I didn't allow the deaths to pull down my mental fitness, health, and happiness. I'm amazed at how this program has made me stronger. Four days after burying my brother I was over it - living happy and working at full capacity. Individual Self Esteem & Confidence • For sixty years I lived in the belief that I was worthless. My twin sister was the pretty one, the intelligent one, the lucky one. I believed I was destined to be miserable and unhappy. InHappiness completely changed that. It was hard to believe what was happening to me, but suddenly a lifetime of sadness and self-pity just evaporated. I realize now that I am also a beautiful person who is wonderful in my own special way. I've gone from being a wallflower to playing an active - even leading - role in my church and community. My new self-confidence has energized me. I feel like a teenager - I'm happy and full of energy always busy with new projects. I have only one regret - I wish I'd found this program fifty years ago! • My church is important to me, but I always made excuses when they asked me to get involved in projects. I was scared I'd mess up. Now I'm on the committee and helping to run church events. I even speak in front of groups now - something I never believed I would ever do. This program has absolutely changed my life. • I always hung back, and avoided eye contact with others - I tried not to be noticed. I didn't believe I was worth noticing. I thought I was a bad person. InHappiness transformed my life. I'm confident now and I believe in myself. I realized it was all in my head, and InHappiness helped me to change my head. I've made so many new friends, and life is full of fun now. • In the past I gave up easily. Now I persevere. Individuals: Relationships with Children • I used to fight with my child and say words that were not nice to her. Now we laugh together. Whenever I become cross or unhappy, she starts the laughter and my stress and my anger evaporates. We're much closer and happier now. • My kids wake me up to laugh with them, then again before school, when I get home, and before dinner. It's wonderful - we're so much closer now. • This has taken my relationship with my children to a whole new level. We laugh, we play, and they tell me so much more now. • I was often grumpy, getting home stressed and tired and chasing the kids away. Now I look forward to getting home and spending time with them. They de-stress me with laughter, then we talk and play. If I fall back into my old grumpy ways they just start the laughter exercises and I burst out laughing. Individual: Social Relationships • I was a grumpy, moody person. I avoided people and didn't make friends. I’m a lot more positive and confident in my social life now. I hear them say “Wow! Is that the same woman?” • When I saw other people talking I was convinced they were saying bad things about me. I stayed at home to avoid other people. Now I realize I was being silly. • I’m a lot more positive and confident in my social life now - I go out and participate in my church social groups and have fun with others.  Workplace Mood • The mood at work is much lighter. We feel better. This is now a happy place.  Workplace Stress and Burnout • I was suffering from burnout and heading for disaster. Now I'm happy and enjoying my work. It's amazing. • I thought I thrived on workplace stress, but now I feel so much lighter. • I'm stress-free and loving every minute of my work now. • My job is still high stress, but now I'm enjoying it. Workplace Relationships • For the first time I feel that my staff like me. Their attitudes have changed. They see me as a person, not as a manager any more. Our relationship has really improved. Before there was a lot of negativity when I gave them tasks - that’s gone now. They are much more positive in taking on new challenges. • Work relationships really changed. Cooperation and communication are much better now. We're helping each other to do better. • People who had major personality clashes for months or years are now cooperating with newfound respect, consideration and even friendship. • The change in my staff was incredible. • In my highly-stressed team we experienced frequent workplace conflicts. I spent much of my day resolving conflicts between staff members who came to me in dispute - typically 4 to 6 cases a day. Within two weeks there was a huge drop off in these cases. After three months I was seeing only four cases a month. This represents a huge reduction in my workload and means that the team is getting much more work done. • There’s an absolute change in cooperation. There’s a stronger bond and better relationship between all the team. The bond between us has grown. We’re standing together and working together as a team. We’re all more energetic, and that helps us get through the day and week. • When people get upset, they bounce back and get over it much more quickly now. Before some staff would stay upset for days or even weeks - now they bounce back in a day or less. • I didn’t communicate much with management before. I was afraid to be close to the management. Now I can talk to them - I’m not scared anymore.  Team Dynamics • There's an absolute change in cooperation. There's a better relationship between team members. There's a stronger bond between us. We stand and work together as a team. We all have more energy, and we're getting much more done. I think we're all enjoying work a lot more. • The new cooperation is wonderful. We are finally working as a team. If we have a problem, we solve it between us - we don't take the problem to management. We are like a good family now. • Within two weeks, the way my staff interacted with each other changed radically. Before they ran to me with all their problems. Now they sort problems out among themselves in a positive way. It really has built a wonderful team spirit. • There's a big increase in help. Staff members voluntarily help others where they see help is needed, even when it means doing things outside the scope of their own job. Healing Trauma in AIDS Orphans • You have given these damaged children the gift of a normal happy childhood. You have transformed their lives. Thank you. Manager: Orphan & Vulnerable Children Care Center • Wow, the children have changed! There was a little girl who never laughed or smiled and now she’s laughing. The kids enjoy it, they even lead the exercises. It’s fantastic. Before some kids were reserved and quiet, they came from home with lots of stress - now they start laughing in the bus in the morning. And on their way home they are laughing - you can see beautiful smiles. It has really helped them.   Teacher: Orphan & Vulnerable Children Care Center • The children are much happier. After the daily therapy they are elated - they are loud and happy and sweet and they giggle. They have a new confidence to express themselves in loving ways and feel they have freedom to do so. They’ve much more loving. I get lots more hugs and kisses than before. It’s really impacting on them in a positive way.  Manager: Orphan & Vulnerable Children Care Center • We have a boy in the daycare center who had not spoken for three years. He was an aggressive bully, beating on other kids and breaking toys - even hitting the teacher. Within weeks he stopped the bullying and now he is a happy healthy child, laughing and playing with the other kids. Counselor: Orphan & Vulnerable Children Care Center Resilience in AIDS Orphans & Caregivers • When we picked up the children in the morning they were quiet, sad, and withdrawn - we knew they experienced stress and sometimes abuse at their foster homes. Even if we got them laughing during the day, as soon as it was time to go home they became visibly stressed and withdrawn again. Soon after we introduced the program, the kids bounced back. They'd be laughing and happy coming to the bus in the morning, and stay laughing and happy leaving the bus in the afternoons. It was an amazing change - they were no longer stressed and sad and were coping with conditions in their foster homes - shrugging off the stress that had been dampening their spirits. • Before we started the program we asked the caregivers the cause of their biggest stress. It was patients dying - especially the children. Many were attending three funerals a week of patients they had become close to and attached to.  They reported that their grief from a patient's death seriously affected their mood and ability to work for one to three weeks, depending on how close they were to that patient. Two months after the program was implemented, the same caregivers were bouncing back - and reported themselves fully recovered and able to work at 100% capacity - within a few hours to two or three days in cases where they were especially close to the patient. The caregivers had developed Happiness Intelligence. They had become fiercely protective of their own happiness. They understood the negative affect that grief was having on their happiness and on their mental fitness and physical health. They were sad about their patient, but had changed their behavioral processing and were bouncing back ten times faster than before.