Findings on happiness in Europe – Escape to happiness mobility in Turin, Italy

Escape to happiness- The aim of the Erasmus+ pan-European project has been to gather good practices to support the well-being of working-age adults in leisure and adult education. The project has already produced guides to well-being practices in Finnish and English, as well as a well-being-themed pedagogical escape game room. Now it was the turn of the training package for adults. The purpose of the trip was to pilot the workshops of the ‘Escape to happiness’ training programme and to promote the participants’ knowledge on topics affecting their well-being. But the best part was the opportunity to get to know better our project partners and participants, and ofcourse the beautiful city of Turin.

The course consisted of eight modules:

1. Mental health and well-being, what do they consist of?
2. Means of self-care
3. Apps for well-being
4. Helping in mental health crises
5. Mindfulness skills and practices
6. Communication skills
7. Developing emotional awareness and crisis preparedness (resilience)
8. The Wellbeing Escape room game

The small differences

The most interesting part of the workshops was to get to know the ideas of people from different European countries; what do we have in common, what are the cultural differences between us? It is true that we Finns appear in the groups as rather reserved in comparison with the often outward-looking and broad-minded southern Europeans. But when a Finn speaks, he speaks from the heart of the matter, rather than offering the most obvious thing that comes to mind as an answer. For example, in a workshop focused on communication, crossing one’s arms was, according to the facilitator, a negative ‘not interested’ gesture, whereas in Finnish culture it is quite common for the listener to cross his arms as a sign of thinking, and the gesture is not generally considered dismissive.

In one area that contributes to overall collective well-being, I think it is important for Finland to learn from Central European countries: consideration and courtesy for others makes cooperation smoother and gives people a sense of belonging. Bold eye contact, compliments, friendly smiles and offers of help come from the spinal cord in these old cultures, while Finns are still figuring out how to react. A good example of this was when I myself often sat on the sidelines observing workshops and was soon asked “Is everything OK?”. “Can I bring you something?” An European is a genuine group soul!

Another difference I noticed in the style of facilitating (teaching): in Finnish adult work in general, there is full freedom of expression in creative tasks for the participants, and it is not usual for us to give guidance on the only ‘right’ way to carry out a given task. The teacher or supervisor is not so much an authority here in the same way as in Cyprus or Bosnia, for example. I myself think that the instructor is equally in the process of learning from his or her students, and the best thing is when the learning is built together.

What brings you happiness?

The most common source of happiness among our participants was other people; family, loved ones, friends but also strangers with positive energy and attitude. Helping or caring for others also made people happy. Other common happiness themes include good food and cooking, animals and nature. Finns often mentioned the forest, Mediterranean people mentioned wine and big dinners. For some of us, it is enough to live despite a serious illness.

To sum it up: happiness is when you notice happiness!
And when you pay attention to happiness, it GROWS, DEVELOPS and EXTENDS.

Thank you wonderful Lapinlahti participants Siru, Malla, Karo, Juhana, Saara and Katja for being such great travelling companions! You made me really proud to be a Finn <3

Author Taina Laaksoharju.

See more information about the trip here.