POINT OF VIEW: Editor’s Note

Finding happiness

My husband and I recently rented the movie “13 Conversations About One Thing,” directed by Jill Sprecher.

The film explores the often elusive search for happiness. It intertwines stories of four seemingly unrelated people living in New York. We see how their quest for happiness can lead them down the wrong path. We see how jealousy, dissatisfaction, and despair can impair their ability to be happy. But we also see how small gestures, even in the most mundane circumstances and from complete strangers, can bring hope.

In the stories, characters who have loving family relationships seem better able to bounce back from adversity. A woman who’s hit by a car recovers in her mother’s care. A man who loses his job recasts the loss as a chance to spend more time with his wife and children. That theme struck me, perhaps because I watched the film while we were putting together this issue of REALTOR® Magazine. The issue includes our new “Family Matters ” column (page 48) and a profile of 2005 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® President Al Mansell (page 20), the driving force behind NAR’s involvement in the new “FamilyTime” DVD.

Like the characters in “13 Conversations,” we all have events in our lives that have the potential to sap our happiness. Our reaction to those events is almost certainly affected by the network of friends and family we have around us. That, I believe, gets at one of the key values of “FamilyTime,” a program originated by Million Dollar Roundtable, a Park Ridge, Ill.–based insurance group, and updated with NAR’s input late last year. The $5 DVD’s premise is simple but often overlooked: By making quality time for your family and your community, you get more joy from your life. The program provides a framework for how to get started on a more rewarding family life.

Mansell’s goal is to have REALTORS® not only watch and apply the DVD but also share the “FamilyTime” message with clients and customers. It’s a message of action, reminding us to stop talking about happiness—and start living it.

—Editor Stacey Moncrieff

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

For NAR’s Field Guide to FamilyTime, click here.