Raphael Sbarge and Ed Begley Jr.

It was a true pleasure talking with Raphael Sbarge (Once Upon a Time, The Young and the Restless, Independence Day, Prison Break, The Guardian, Star Trek: Voyager, Risky Business) and Ed Begley Jr. (Family Tree, Rizzoli & Isles, Gary Unmarried, Arrested Development ,Six Feet Under, Kingdom Hospital, 7th Heaven, St. Elsewhere, This Is Spinal Tap) about what happiness means to them, simple steps to help the environment, and what Green Wish is all about and how you can help. This interview took place at the building site for Ed's brand new leed platinum certified home. We hope you enjoy this conversation and please do your part to make our earth a better place.

Follow Raphael Sbarge on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RaphaelSbarge and follow Ed Begley Jr. at www.twitter.com/edbegleyjr

For more information about Green Wish visit www.greenwish.com

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Green Wish is a grassroots, non-profit organization that funds local, green organizations through customers’ small donations at local retailers. Put simply: We’re a charity that helps fund the green projects in your neighborhood!

Green Wish was founded in 2009 by actor/producer Raphael Sbarge, after the birth of his first child, “I was struck by how alive I suddenly felt as a father,” he explained. “Conversely, I also felt remarkably vulnerable and defenseless to protect this little person’s journey in a world as vast and complex as ours. I had to ask, ‘What can we do to contribute in any small way to leave the world a better place than when we found it?’”

The answer: Green Wish – we help people to support a movement – not just one organization, but multiple ones. When you donate to Green Wish, you’re actually helping numerous environmental groups, right in your own community.

Green Wish partners with local retailers, which place our donation cards right at their cash registers. Customers can “buy” and add Green Wish donations on to their purchase at the retailer.

These donations are collected by local Green Wish chapters and distributed regularly to area organizations that have been carefully vetted. The board of directors in each chapter evaluates and selects deserving organizations with track records of good work across the green spectrum, focusing on air, water, earth and environmental education. Ninety cents of every dollar goes to your local green groups.

We started in Los Angeles with a chapter supporting nine organizations in Southern California. We are spreading across the country with the ultimate goal to start Green Wish chapters across the country, all supporting groups in their communities. Join us!

INFORMATION COURTESY OF WWW.GREENWISH.COM

Tom Curren

It was such an honor to chat with surfing legend and musician, Tom Curren, during a recent stop in Portland, OR. He performed two wonderful acoustic songs for us and talked about what happiness means to him, how critical he is of his own songwriting, and music that lifts him up. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Tom Curren.

Follow Tom Curren on Twitter at www.twitter.com/currenspam

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat


Tom Curren (born July 3, 1964, in Santa Barbara, California) is an American surfer. He was born to father Pat (big-wave legend and shaper) and mother Jeanine. His brother Joe is also a professional surfer and popular photographer and he also has a sister named Anna.

Curren grew up raised primarily by his mother, and spent much of his free time in the ocean. Taught to surf by his father, who was a big wave rider, Curren drew on his lineage and had a natural affinity for the ocean and the long sectioning point surf of Rincon Point, near his home in Santa Barbara. He progressed quickly and drew the attention of the surf media.

Curren also was a natural competitor and contrary to his introverted personality, reveled in heated competitions in the NSSA, which at the time was California's premier amateur surfing body. Slowly, he was seeded into professional events and he handily beat all comers. By the time Curren hit the ASP World Tour in 1983, he was taking out veteran pros such as Rabbit Bartholomew, Shaun Tomson, and Cheyne Horan. He really hit his stride in 1985, and took down his first world title.

He was world champion three times - 1985, 1986, 1990, and won 33 championship events in his professional career, a total only bested by Kelly Slater. He achieved near-mythical status both for his competitive drive and for his smooth, powerful surfing style. He made a high-profile decision to retire from competitive surfing in the mid-1990s. He led the surfing revolution in the early '80s and inspired many of the surfers today, showing them how to surf a wave. Curren is a fascinating study in contradictions; he has a surfing style that at combines smooth, rhythmic, seamlesslesly linked maneuvers with blinding speed,raw power, and unique check turns and body English. He seems to relish victory and the spoils that come with it, and yet he is unassuming, publicity shy, and extremely private. It is these compelling characteristics that endear him to global surfing community.
Curren still surfs in contests on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS.) He is also often invited to surf in World Championship Tour (WCT) trials or contests as a wildcard. He has competed in the Annual Switchfoot Bro-Am Surf Contest for 3 years in a row, surfing on the Switchfoot team.

In his five year rise to World Surfing Champion, Curren led the way in cutting edge, perfectly tuned performance. Despite his youth, Curren was acknowledged as one of surfing's true geniuses and a soulful original. He single handedly challenged the surfing community in almost every area of surfing's culture and altered the mindset of hundreds of thousands of surfers around the world. Riding under a contract with surfboard company Channel Islands, Tom Curren developed a memorable surfing career co-producing and riding many pro surfboard models such as the Black Beauty and the Red Beauty.

BIO COURTISEY OF WIKIPEDIA

Tim Matheson

It was a true honor to talk with actor, director and producer, Tim Matheson, on the beach in beautiful Marina del Rey. Tim is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric "Otter" Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and the bitter Vice President John Hoynes in the NBC drama, The West Wing. Currently he plays Dr. Brick Breeland in Hart of Dixie. We hope you enjoy this interview as he shares what makes him happy, what he has learned about himself through his career, the music that lifts him up, his process for playing a villain, and so much more.

Follow Tim Matheson on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Tim_Matheson

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Sonja Lyubomirsky

It was an honor to talk with Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The Myths of Happiness and The How of Happiness. She shares with us what happiness means to her, how her studies have changed lives, and what is next for her. Please enjoy this conversation with Sonja Lyubomirsky.

Follow Sonja Lyubomirsky on Twitter at www.twitter.com/slyubomirsky

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Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. Sonja is author of The Myths of Happiness and The How of Happiness, a book of strategies backed by scientific research that can be used to increase happiness.

Originally from Russia, she received her A.B., summa cum laude, from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Social/Personality Psychology from Stanford University. Lyubomirsky currently teaches courses in social psychology and positive psychology and serves as the Department of Psychology's graduate advisor. Her teaching and mentoring of students have been recognized with the Faculty of the Year and Faculty Mentor of the Year Awards.

Lyubomirsky's research has been awarded a Templeton Positive Psychology Prize, a Science of Generosity grant, a John Templeton Foundation grant, and a million-dollar grant (with Ken Sheldon) from the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness. Her research has been written up in hundreds of magazines and newspapers and she has appeared in multiple TV shows, radio shows, and feature documentaries in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. She has lectured widely to a variety of audiences throughout the world, including business executives, educators, physicians, entrepreneurs, military officers, mental health professionals, life coaches, retirees, students, and scholars. 

BIO COURTISY OF www.sonjalyubomirsky.com

Carmen and Camille

It was a blast to spend an afternoon with the lovely Carmen and Camille, as they talked about what happiness means to them, their happy playlist, and as they performed an acoustic version of their song, Big Love, off their upcoming EP. Hope you enjoy!

Follow Carmen and Camille on Twitter at www.twitter.com/carmencamille

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Carmen and Camille’s meteoric rise in the Canadian music scene, culminating with a Juno nomination for their single Shine 4U, is due in large part to the dedicated fans at the forefront of every stage they step on to. The single shone brightly as hundreds of remixes popped up all over the globe and accolades from fans and industry alike poured in.

The rest is hard work, intuition and dedication but if you asked the pop duo if they ever doubted their career, they said they always had a feeling they’d get there.

As sisters, they have been practicing since childhood, experimenting with what they call “passion pop” – their trademark honesty set to catchy, dance floor hooks – which has seen them breaking into the Top 40 on Canadian radio charts, landing in the top 20 on Billboard’s Emerging Arts chart as well as making appearances at the Much Music Video Awards and Much on Demand (a particularly meaningful milestone for any Canadian). Major press from Toro Mag, Flare, E!Talk, Billboard, Stuff Mag, Elle and songs from their first album being featured on MTV’s The Hills mark how far their infectious melodies have traveled.

It is their ability to appreciate these moments that serves as an endearing contrast to their musical idols, Janis and Stevie – and unlike those inspirations, their life-long bond means they never have to face new territory alone.

It was this ability to lean on each other that saw them through one of the hardest moments in their musical careers. In the midst of recording with Grammy-winning producer and friend, Tal Herzberg, the new project was abruptly halted upon Tal’s unexpected passing. Carmen and Camille took some time to adjust and regrouped, tackling new roles behind the console as co-producers of their upcoming EP. The girls soon hit their stride with an upbeat compilation of songs that truly reflect the journey the girls have been on together.

“Big Love [the anthemic chorus revealing a predicament every girl has been through at one point in her life] started as an instrumental track that we wrote to, which is not as common for us. In the past, we’d usually start on the guitar. It’s been fun to get more creative with sounds and experiment with keyboards and synths,” shares Carmen, the excitement in her voice building. “It was based around a relationship of Camille’s and wanting the best out of someone. It is deeply personal, something that is a recurring theme in our music.”

This is never more evident than in the verses of Haunting Me, evoking a delicate spring rain that collides with a thunderclap of grief, begging “let me go, if it’s over now. Don’t let me love a shadow,” or the poignant, Away, which harkens back to the fearlessness of childhood, declaring “I won’t run away anymore.” The EP is a promise of change and growth, but with Carmen and Camille, the important things have stayed the same.

“Songwriting makes you feel like there is some other, high power,” they reveal. “You get inspiration out of nowhere. A song can just come to you.”

So can a feeling. Underneath the driving beats and catchy synths of the new upcoming album are songs sung from the heart, and the gut.

BIO COURTESY OF www.carmenandcamille.com

Ted Kerasote

It was truly a pleasure to have the opportunity to chat with Ted Kerasote, author of national bestseller Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, Out There: In The Wild in a Wired Age, which won the National Outdoor Book Award, and most recently Pukka's Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs. He shares what happiness means to him, what he learned from Merle and Pukka, stories from readers, and so much more. We hope you enjoy this wonderful conversation.

Follow Ted on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TedKerasote

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Ted Kerasote is the author of many books, including the national bestseller Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog and Out There: In The Wild in a Wired Age, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. Ted began writing professionally as a teenager, his first nationally published story—about surf fishing for striped bass—bought by Outdoor Life when he was seventeen. Since then, Ted's writing has often focused on the interrelationship between people, animals, and the natural environment, and during his four-decades-long career, his essays and photographs have appeared in magazines as wide-ranging in their subject matter as Audubon, Geo, Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Sports Afield, and The New York Times. His book Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and The Hunt is considered by many authorities to be the best and most evenhanded work on how both aboriginal and modern people treat wildlife. In addition, Bloodties offered the first comprehensive analysis of the fossil-fuel costs of our diets, and it continues to be a primary text in many university bioethics courses.
A photographer since childhood, Ted was one of the first people to document the caribou migration across the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and his images of wildlife from around the world, as well as those of indigenous people such as Inuit and San, have been displayed in many publications. Since his meeting with Merle in 1991, Ted has turned to photographically documenting how dogs live when they're free of leashes and fences and have the opportunity to structure their own time.

In his writing, Ted has also tried to bridge the gap between what appears to be seemingly irreconcilable positions, and his awards reflect his success at achieving this goal. His writing has been honored by the animal-rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) as well as the pro-hunting organization, the Izaak Walton League of America.

An inveterate traveler and explorer, Ted has climbed, skied, and run rivers from Hong Kong to Helsinki, from the Arctic Ocean to the Straits of Magellan, and from the Alps to the savannas of Africa. His longtime home is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but he continues to find joy in writing about new places and people, and his most recent trip took him to the Himalaya, where he began to research a book on Tibet.

BIO COURTESY OF WWW.KERASOTE.COM

Jon Huertas

It was a honor to spend a morning with Jon Huertas at his home in Venice Beach. Jon is best known for his role as Sergeant Antonio 'Poke' Espera in HBO's Generation Kill, Joe Negroni in the film Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and currently as homicide detective, Javier Esposito, in Castle. Jon talked with us about his current musical projects, how he was burned by the industry before, what songs he loves to belt out in the car, and what makes him happy, but also what big moment made him cry. We hope you enjoy this wonderful conversation with Jon Huertas. Follow Jon on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Jon_Huertas Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Haley Johnsen

We had a wonderful time with Haley Johnsen as she talked about what happiness means to her, what she wants her music to be, and as she played a couple of her favorite songs. You may remember Haley from season 11 of American Idol.

Follow Haley on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hjohnsenai11

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Haley Johnsen is a 23 year old singer/songwriter from Beaverton, Oregon. She is a 2011 graduate of Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and a minor in music. Throughout her college years she was involved in many different music groups including the OSU Chamber Choir and the OSU Women’s A Cappella group. Haley was also a top 24 semifinalist of American Idol season 11. She began writing music and taught herself guitar around the age of 20, and continues to pursue her love for music. This summer Haley was part of a Military Idol tour consisting of American Idol contestants from this season and last season, where she performed at bases around the world for the military and their families. Her musical influences range from Brandi Carlile, to Florence and the Machine, Eva Cassidy, Adele, and Sia. Haley is currently in the process of making her first solo album and performing around the Portland metro area with hopes of gaining further success in her musical endeavors.

Bio courtesy of Haley Johnsen

Scott Harrison

It was truly a honor to chat with Scott Harrison, founder and CEO of Charity: Water, during his stop in Portland for the World Domination Summit.

In 2004, Scott left his life of promoting nightclubs and fashion events in New York City to volunteer aboard a floating hospital with a group called Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization which offered free medical care in the world's poorest nations, in West Africa. The second he walked aboard that ship, he never went back to his old life, and everything changed.

Charity: Water's mission is very clear...Bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

It's hard not to think about water today. In the western world, we face growing concerns about our stewardship of the world's most precious resource. There's talk of shortages, evidence of reservoirs and aquifers drying up, and of course, plenty of people who simply don't care.

But forget about us.

Most of us have never really been thirsty. We've never had to leave our houses and walk five miles to fetch water. We simply turn on the tap, and water comes out. Clean. Yet there are 800 million people on the planet who don't have clean water.

It's hard to imagine what 800 million people looks like really, but one in nine might be easier. One in nine people in our world doesn't have access to the most basic of human needs. Something we can't imagine going 12 hours without.

For more information about Scott Harrison and Charity: Water please visit www.charitywater.org and follow Scott on Twitter at www.twitter.com/scottharrison.

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.twitter.com/happinesstreat

Bio and information provided by Charity: Water

Yael Cohen

It was an honor to sit down with Yael Cohen, Founder, President, and CCF (Chief Cancer Fucker) of Fuck Cancer, a charity dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of early detection for all cancers. Cohen started the organization in 2009 when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Astounded to learn that over 90% of cancers are curable in stage one, Cohen realized that early detection is our only cure right now and that we should be looking for cancer instead of just finding it. Fuck Cancer targets Generation Y in an effort to engage them in the important dialogue about early detection; with a clear call to action to involve, engage, and educate their parents. The movement aims to create a generation that puts an END to late stage cancer. While we may not see a “cure” for cancer in our lifetimes, early detection is the surest way to prevent a lot of suffering and save a lot of lives. We can only do this through education, which is why raising awareness is just as important as raising funds. For more information on Fuck Cancer, please visit www.letsfcancer.com and follow Yael on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MsFuckCancer.

Stay connected with The Happiness Treatment by following us at www.Twitter.com/happinesstreat

A special thank you to The Burrard hotel (www.theburrard.com) in beautiful Vancouver, BC for allowing us to film this wonderful interview in their courtyard!