Lisa Cypers Kamen, Luminary At Inspire Me Today

Lisa Cypers Kamen is a filmmaker, positive psychology coach, author, host of Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio, professor and lecturer specializing in the field of sustainable happiness. She is widely recognized as an expert on the subject. Lisa’s acclaimed documentary film co-produced with her now fifteen year-old daughter, Kayla, “H-Factor…Where is your heart?” explores how people in varied circumstances find, generate and share happiness. In addition to her film on happiness, Lisa has also published a number of articles and books entitled, Got Happiness Now?, Are We Happy Yet?, Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed and Reintegration Strategies, about combat trauma and using positive psychology principles to create wellness in a post-war new normal. Lisa’s written work is featured on blogs for the Huffington Post, PositivelyPositive.com and InspireMeToday.com and she is a TEDx community event speaker. In addition, she is the Happiness Expert for the Florida Department of Citrus/ Florida Orange Juice in its Take on the Day campaign.

Harvesting Happiness for Heroes™ is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that delivers stigma-free integrated combat trauma recovery services to warriors and their loved ones. Modalities include scientifically proven strengths based Positive Psychology coaching and interdisciplinary tools such as film, yoga, meditation, art and creative writing designed to mindfully empower the client to achieve increased self-mastery, self-esteem and reclaim her/his life. HH4Heroes focuses on the balance of mind, body and emotion resulting in greater overall wellbeing and the transformation of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) into Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG). HH4Heroes offers retreat workshops, one-on-one coaching, Battle Buddy programs, as well as our new R.E.B.O.O.T Online virtual community coaching classrooms designed to reach underserved areas. In addition, HH4Heroes deploys Return to Duty™ civilian and corporate training to help welcome a warrior home and into the community and workplace.

Lisa is committed to teaching Happiness is an inside job™ and helping others end their needless suffering through intentionally cultivating greater joy.

For more information, please visit HH4Heroes.org, HarvestingHappiness.com, and HarvestingHappinessTalkRadio.com

Recent Releases

Are We Happy Yet?: Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life

5 Lessons for Happiness

Here are a few of the best lessons I can happily share: 1. Life is tough Agreed, life is filled with trials and tribulations. To say one is happy all the time is a lie. To know happiness is available at any time is a truth. Happiness will not wait for us. Happiness will not invite us to the party. We must invite ourselves to say, "yes", diving deeply and happily into life... all of it... the ups, downs, twists and turns of our miraculous journey. Happiness exists in tandem with adversity. Happiness waits in all the nooks and crannies…

- When we decide to open our eyes and be fully awake, we realize that much of the suffering is a self-created illusion. If we can trick ourselves into being the victim of our own misery, then surely we can just as easily volunteer for self-determined joy.

Thank You in Any Language is Good for Your Health = Global Gratitude Gathering

November 16, 2013
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Events

Each of us has 86,400 seconds of daily once in a lifetime opportunity to be thankful. Every second is precious and unique. And we only get one shot at that precise moment in time. Why not make them grateful? Gratus is the Latin root word for gratitude; meaning appreciativeness, thankfulness and gratefulness. Gratitude is positive acknowledgment for what we receive; albeit, tangible or intangible. Being gracious with our thankfulness is one way to validate the goodness in our lives. It is a profoundly simple process that allows us perspective in recognizing the source of our goodness is oftentimes derived externally…

In The Underbelly Of Pain, Lick Your Wounds and Thrive

October 4, 2013
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Blog
0 Comments

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. I was living the dream. I was floating through my days, moving between the multiple houses and the multiple cars without a care in the world. My husband loved me, my kids thought I was an awesome mom and loved that I could shower them with everything they needed. I had a rockin' wardrobe and one hell of a travel schedule. My body was perfect, my lifestyle was perfect, my family was perfect. My everything was perfect. Until it wasn’t. The marriage dissolved. The cars, houses and flashy clothes were history. I couldn’t provide for my…

3.74 Degrees of Separation – Social Media and the Algorithm of the Human Heart

September 20, 2013
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Blog
0 Comments

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. I'm no Kevin Bacon, but I just found a batch of research that says the degrees of separation between me and the rest of the world are decreasing. And it's no surprise that social media has a lot to do with it. Take Facebook, for instance: Mark Zuckerberg and co. say that I’m only 3.74 degrees away from any other user on the social network. That’s less than 4 connections separating me from President Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian, or even you. Small world, huh? And the numbers get even more mind-blowing the more you think about…

Confessions of a Reformed Trophy Wife + 10 Lessons for Moving Forward

September 6, 2013
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Blog
2 Comments

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Once upon a time, in a not so far away land, there lived a wife. A trophy wife to be exact. She was living the "dream," with every single one of her "wants" more than fulfilled. Loving, affluent husband? Check. Two beautiful children? Check. Vacation homes? Double check. Travel, jewelry, fashion sprees? Check, check, check. Busy social calendar? Check to the nth degree. How do I know all this? Because that trophy wife was me, living my personal Disney fantasy. That is, until the music stopped. The façade fell down. My marriage failed. The economic recession…

Trying Helps, But Doing is What Matters + 5 Tips to “Do” Happiness

We've all heard it a million times: "Actions speak louder than words." Action is dynamic. It moves and morphs with life. And yet at times we fall back onto "trying" to make something happen as opposed to proactively doing something about the trying. Have you been using a lot of “couldas”,” wouldas”, “shouldas”, maybes, tries and mights lately? It’s time to ditch the conditional-speak. Thinking in this frame of mind puts us in a bind. Why try when you could simply do? Why would when you can? By allowing our lives to be framed in maybes, we’re giving away all…

Harvesting Happiness: 7 Keys to Happiness

Here are seven keys to happiness that you can do right now to get yourself on the road to happiness, with some inspirational quotes to help! 1. You make the choice. "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." ~ Abraham Lincoln 2. Focus on today, not yesterday or what is to come. "When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” ~ Helen Keller 3. Be grateful for what you have. “We tend to…

Harvesting Happiness: Bringing Relief to the Insurmountable

Every day when we turn on the news, we see a world that seems filled with sadness, poverty, loss and grief. We ask ourselves, over and over again, how can we live amidst such difficulty and pain? The task of bringing relief to the suffering often seems insurmountable. The truth is that our hearts ache for those who suffer no matter where in the world they are or for what reason the suffering exists. Yet, as much as we want to offer support and assistance, there doesn’t seem to be enough that we can do to create change. However, we…

Harvesting Happiness: 6 Tips To Volunteering

Volunteering can give you an opportunity to recenter and reconnect with your own happiness while at the same making the world a better place. Do you want to help others by giving back? You may be asking yourself, "Where do I start?" Here are some tips to get you started on finding a volunteer opportunity. Research the issue or cause that is most important to you and find a group that works with those issues. Look at the skills you could offer and use them to find the opportunity that suits you. If you enjoy being around children or want…

Harvesting Happiness: Small Steps to Happiness Even When You’re Anxious

April 12, 2013
Lisa Cypers Kamen
Blog
1 Comment

Here is a truth: you can be happy, even if you feel sadness, anger or suffer from anxiety. Happiness is an inner state of being that does not get lost. It stays with you even in dark times. How can you achieve an inner state of happiness? It starts with small steps. Gratitude. Many of us on Inspire Me Today have talked in the past about gratitude journals. Just look for a few things in each day that you are thankful for. It isn’t as hard as it seems. You can be grateful for so many things. Just the fact…

Harvesting Happiness: Taking In Every Moment

Are you trying to take in every moment, however how big or small, every day? Are you finding happiness in those moments? Here are some things you may find joy in: Take and make time every day to play with your kids. Give some extra love and attention to your pet, if you have one or more. Find at least one thing that was wonderful about your day. Take in the sunset and enjoy its beauty. Savor the loving glances from your spouse, whenever they happen. Enjoy the simple things your kids say and do. Sit on your patio or…

Harvesting Happiness: Happiness and Beauty Start With You!

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Accept yourself for who you are! In a world where value is placed on how you look and what you wear, it can be difficult to try and “fit in”. Here’s something to think about and seriously ask yourself, did you know that your beauty and happiness start with you? Think about nature and all the varieties of plants and trees as well as flowers. They come in colors, shapes and sizes. It is the same with humans. So ask yourself, How could we judge nature and say that one flower looks more beautiful than another?…

Harvesting Happiness: Two Quick Tips to Happiness

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Choose A State of Happiness. Remember that happiness is mostly dependent on our state of mind, not on our social standing as a member of society or how much money we make or have. As long as we have the basic necessities in life, things are pretty good. It also depends on what are focus in life happens to be. Is the glass half-full or half-empty? We need to get back to living in the moment and experiencing everything, just like we did when we were young. Make time to treat yourself like you would a…

Harvesting Happiness: Will Beauty Make You Happy?

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. The simple, honest answer is no. You may experience a sense of happiness or temporary happiness but it won’t last. Connected closely with beauty are five things that you think will make you happy, but in the end really won’t. In no particular order, they are: Fame. Studies show nothing is more stressful for a human than when their goals are tied to the approval of others. Particularly when those "others" are an enormous crowd of fickle strangers holding you up to an unrealistic ideal built by publicists, thick makeup and heavily Photoshopped magazine covers. Wealth.…

Harvesting Happiness: 6 Keys to Love

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Here are six keys to achieving more love and happiness in your life. Know the phrase "If you can't say anything nice, don’t say anything at all"? Compliment people on their strengths and where they are succeeding in life. There are plenty of people who are telling someone that they have faults, but how many people are telling them something positive? Be optimistic. The realistic 0optimist is the person who knows that there will be trials to face, but that in the end we will somehow make it through. Remember how to be funny, even silly.…

Harvesting Happiness: Letting Go

By Lisa Cypers Kamen. Let go of what? You need to let go of old baggage - that is, the emotional things we carry around with us for days, weeks, months or even years. Has a co-worker said something in the last day or two that upset you? Did your parents say something five years ago that you can’t seem to let go of? Did your best friend say something last week that you can’t seem to forget? Most stuff we carry with us is negative and has to do with the pain another person caused us, but sometimes it…

Lisa Cypers Kamen