Self-proclaimed happiness ambassador, Adam Peters may be familiar to you from a local news segment, or perhaps you’ve crossed paths with him in the community.
He has the engaging and expressive demeanor of a motivational speaker, shaped equally by his genuinely empathetic nature and his “show don’t tell” communications training, which emphasizes energetic gestures, demonstrative facial expressions and reassuring body language. But beyond the training, there’s a true warmth, visible in his kind eyes and a comforting smile. That’s where his real superpower lies—in his authentic ability to connect. This superpower was not activated by a radioactive spider or a rebounded magical spell, but from something he worked to develop: a conscious effort to “build a preference” for positivity in pursuit of happiness. It’s a mindset he now hopes to teach others.
However, like any hero’s tale, his journey is tinged with tragedy. Earlier this year, at the peak of some potent professional success, he suffered a devastating personal loss.
In the wake of that loss, and while his story is still unfolding, he’s made the powerful choice to lean into his mission with a renewed mix of optimism and emotional vulnerability.
HOW IT STARTED
Peters says his first foray into the happiness business began during “COVID-jail” in the form of the Community Happiness Project (CHP), an inviting outdoor community gathering place on his front lawn in the Oakwood Gardens neighborhood. He decorated the yard with colorful seating, whimsical signage, a curiosities cabinet populated with fun trinkets and beautiful hand-painted “happiness rocks,” mostly painted by his sister, Shay, for neighbors to take.
“This became my way of coping with the chaos and uncertainty that was unfolding in front of all of us. I spent a good deal of my COVID hiatus learning about neuroscience, specifically how can we make our minds work for us instead of against us,” he recalls. “The X factor I was trying to solve was this insidious negativity that seemed to have an iron grip on all of us, even before COVID. The reason is because we're programmed to look for danger, avoid danger, confront danger. That's how humans have survived for so long. The problem is that we've evolved. We've eliminated most of the perils that have plagued us throughout human history. Our subconscious minds just have not caught up with this yet. It's up to us to consciously bring our attention to the positivity that exists all around us.”
This was when he realized he had the ability to develop his own superpower.
“Studies have shown that when you put more emphasis on positivity, your ability to withstand hardships is greatly increased,” he asserts. “What's even better is when you focus on positivity, your brain develops a preference for it. You start looking for it rather than looking for the negative.”
He was full of optimism and excitement over this realization and quickly found a way to put it into action.
“That’s why the Community Happiness Project exists,” he explains. “I had an idea to erect a signpost with arrows pointing all around the world. At the top of this signpost, there would be the word ‘happiness’ with an arrow pointing down. The symbolic meaning would be that while you can go to many places searching for it, your happiness is right here.”
The project garnered Peters local media coverage and praise from his neighbors.
“I wanted to spark a sense of unity and togetherness that can endure the challenging times in which we live,” he offers. “The world is big, scary and a little out of control right now. Flip on the national news and it will be easy to feel like the world is on fire and the end is near. However, take a walk around your local neighborhood, stroll downtown, soak up nature at a local park and you will see and experience an entirely different reality.”
His impact can be witnessed through the handwritten love notes left to express gratitude to Peters. An especially potent one reads, “Places like this are a reminder that…there is kindness and wonderful people in this world.”
He also released a book called, The Blueprint to Happy, based on his learnings and which details the evolution of the CHP.
MOVING FORWARD
Tragedy knocks on all doors, even of those who call themselves Happiness Ambassadors.
“I was not prepared for that phone call,” Peters remembers. “‘She finally did it, Adam,’ came the devastated and distraught voice of my father. I didn’t have to ask who, or what. I knew. My sister. Suicide. She struggled daily to feel worthy of love, life and the pursuit of happiness.”
He explains that his sister and her lifelong struggles with mental health, had been a driving force in his effort to understand how to help people turn their thoughts around. And now she was gone.
Peters says Shay was committed to a mental health facility under the Baker Act for the first time when she was 12 years old and that, in the intervening 28 years, she suffered with mental illness. She was 40 at the time of her death in January. He recalls he was overcome with shock, shame, regret, anger, uncertainty and grief. He found it hard to reconcile his own progress and Shay’s descent. “Could I have done more?” he asked himself, but he then determined he should not linger on the past or what could have been.
“I benefited from practicing ‘my positive’ before the hardest day of my life came to knock on my door,” he reveals. “Resilience is not built in a crisis. It is built in the quiet periods in between. Crisis is the time to give ourselves grace for doing our absolute best with what we have to work with. I had to focus on what I wanted my future to look like. It felt more important than ever to have a future, because my sister did not.”
“What comes next for me includes sharing my sister’s story to honor her memory and to open the door for people who struggle, like she did,” he adds, “to know someone cares about them and supports their efforts to build a life they feel is worth living. It is, devastatingly, too late to help my sister. It is not, however, too late to help others. And that is what I would like to spend the rest of my life doing.”
In March, Peters resigned from his corporate career of 16 years to professionally pursue his mission full time.
Peters focuses on giving speeches, leading workshops, one-on-one coaching and online courses. Visit mindmaprenovations.com to learn more or follow The CHP group page on Facebook.
