The Happiness Walk Kicks Off The Second Half With Compassion!

On October 4th, lead Happiness Walker Paula Francis was thrilled to walk for the 4th time with veteran Ernest Andrus who, at age 93, finished a run across the country.  Three days later, she had the honor of being joined by Zoë Muntaner, an activist with Compassionate Santa Monica. We at GNHUSA are, of course, big fans of compassion. We are proud to be partners with the Charter for Compassion. After all, as the Dalai Lama has said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” 

During the first half of the walk – 4,480 miles from Vermont to Florida to Los Angeles (with a little jaunt up to Montreal, Canada) – 60 walkers have joined Paula for a few hours, days, or weeks. It was great to welcome Zoë into the club, which – in turn – inspired her to publish an article in Westside Today “Beyond the Index: Walk the Talk”.

“The 8,000-mile Happiness Walk and research project takes place … in Santa Monica with residents encouraged to join the nationwide initiative that circumnavigates the country by linking walking segments together,” Zoë wrote.  “The project has been designed to promote the alignment of public policy with what truly matters in life: happiness and well-being for people, animals, and the planet.”

The Happiness Walkers chronicle stories and collect data through personal interviews – 2,000 of them already in the first half of this project. You can actually participate in this research, too, by taking this quick GNHUSA survey. We also invite you to sign our Charter for Happiness — something you can do right now from the comfort of your own home!

Follow Along – Join Us (virtually)

No matter where you live, there are other ways you can be involved in this exciting project. Follow along, Paula is posting updates from the walk daily, including video reports on Facebook.

Join and follow @HappinessWalkUS on Facebook , Twitter  and Instagram.

Get involved

But that’s not all! If you want to dive in even deeper, the Walk welcomes serious walkers like Zoë, and we are also always on the look-out for generous hosts, helpers to contact local media, and organizers for local speaking engagements – not to mention financial support! Check out our route then drop us a line at info@www.gnhusa.org.

See you on the Walk!