Action For
Happiness in Brighton
www.actionforhappiness-inbrighton.org.uk
meetup
Archive of past events
this gives details of past speakers; often their slides can be
downloaded
May 31st 2012
|
Launch
of the Brighton Action for Happiness group
Talk by Mark Williamson (director of UK Action for
Happiness) followed by discussion.
sound
on RadioFreeBrighton (including fascinating answers to
questions after the talk)
slides Mark's talk
in Australia
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June 17th 2012
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"Happy" - the
movie
The film features
people living lives of happiness and gives lots of
ideas on how we can all become happier both
personally and as communities.
trailer |
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July 9th 2012
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How
to be happy in the 21st century - a Buddhist
perspective
Mokshini - Brighton
Buddhist Centre more
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Sept 4th 2012
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Measuring
happiness and why it matters
Juliet
Michaelson New Economics
Foundation nef
slides
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Oct 2nd 2012
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Some Strategies
for Well-being: Lessons from Making Slough Happy
Dr Richard Stevens, Open University more
slides
handout
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November 6th 2012
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Values,
Individual Happiness, Planetary Well-being and the
role of our Consumer Culture
Wenceslao Unanue, University of
Sussex slides
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Dec 4th 2012
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Gratitude Event
Anne O'Keife An evening of
developing an attitude of gratitude! |
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Jan 1st 2013
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"Happy" - the movie
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Jan 8th2013
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An introduction
to Positive Psychology Bridget Grenville-Cleave
book
about
Bridget
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Feb 5th 2013
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Willing to be happy: can willpower and
self-control make you happier? Dr Andrew Eagle
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March 12th 2013
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Music
and Singing for Happiness
Philip Milburn
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| April 9th 2013 |
The
neurobiology of happiness - an embodied experience
Dr Harry Witchel |
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| April 30th 2013 |
Embodying
the
Great Dream – Dancing the 10 Keys to
Happiness
Helen Thatcher |
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| June 4th 2013 |
Workshop
- Ten Keys to Happiness
Vanessa King, Action for Happiness
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July 2nd 2013 Happiness, the choice for us all Dr Anthony
Seldon
August 6th 2013 Workshop on strengths Alex Bailey
Sept 3rd 2013 Workshop on Love in Action Lotus Nguyen
October 8th 2013 A playful approach to happiness Joshua French
November 5th 2013 Why isn't everyone happy? Understanding our blocks
to happiness Anne Dale
Dec 3rd 2013Christmas Party
2014
Jan 7th 2014 Happy the movie
Nov 5th 2014 How do you do happiness? Ant Bullock and Ray Richards
from Do Something Different
About a year ago, Action for Happiness teamed up with
Brighton behaviour change specialists Do
Something Different to create 'Do Happiness', a 6-week
online programme designed to help people bring more happiness
into their lives. To date over 2,000 people in over 40 countries
have taken part. How does it work? Are people happier after
doing the programme? Ant and Ray will explain the psychology
behind the programme and share the latest findings.
meetup
DSD slides
December 2014 - Christmas party
2015
Jan 7th 2015 - Towards a happier society Mark Williamson
slides
Feb 4th 2015 - workshop
Wed Mar 4th 2015
Resilience - a key to Happiness
Dr Josh Cameron, School of Health Sciences,University
of Brighton
Resilience is one of the 10 keys to happiness.
In tonight’s talk Josh invites you to: explore
the relationship between resilience and happiness; to consider
what the two ideas may mean to you personally; and what the fields
of happiness and resilience research and practice may learn from
each other. Josh worked as an occupational therapist
in adult mental health services before becoming a senior lecturer
in occupational therapy at the University of Brighton. He
became interested in resilience while researching the
return-to-work experiences of workers with mental health problems
for his PhD. This research found that
resilience arose from a combination of internal and external
factors and found that this understanding of resilience can help
explain how people can be supported to return to work in a
sustainable manner that respects their well-being. Consequently,
he is now collaborating with the ‘Boing Boing’ network to learn
more about resilience and is exploring the relevance of resilience
to adults. As part of the Imagine research project
he is collaborating with mental health service users and
practitioners via the Sussex Recovery College to develop a
building resilience programme. This is currently running in
Crawley. It aims to increase participants’ resilience to respond
on an individual and collective basis to the adversities they
face. It also aims to help participants find ways to
challenge these adversities in line with the emerging concept of
emancipatory resilience.
more on Josh Cameron meetup
SLIDES chart BOING BOING
Wed April 1st
TED talks: Ideas about Happiness worth Spreading
Josh French
TED is an organisation that believes passionately in the power
of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately the world. Many
of TED's past speakers (including founding members of Action for
Happiness) have given fantastic advice about how we can live more
meaningful, satisfying lives. The co-organisers of the
Brighton AFH group have found many TED talks to be enjoyable,
thought-provoking and inspiring. Hence, we have decided to devote
an evening to focusing on two or three relevant talks. We will
watch them together, discuss their message and consider how each
talk could make a lasting difference to our own and others'
happiness.
Joshua French has loved uplifting others since he was little,
making funny faces in his high chair. He is a co-organiser of
Action for Happiness in his spare time and a committed
happiness-spreader at work too. As co-founder and facilitator
with Bailey &
French, he helps organisations understand how focusing on
employees' strengths boosts productivity and engagement.;
more on Josh
and more
meetup
Josh's recommended Ted talks
Wed May 6th "Happy" - the movie
The film features people living lives of happiness and gives
lots of ideas on how we can all become happier both personally
and as communities. Leading academics who have researched
Happiness are interviewed. There will be a discussion after the
film. trailer meetup
see meetup
for more on past and on future events.
Wed June 3rd
Speed relating lead by Josh French. How to relate to someone in
a deep meaningful way in only 3 minutes. Avoid Trivia and get to
the Real Deep Meaningful Stuff!
July 1st
Overcoming Depression with Words
Rachel Kelly
Rachel Kelly is a writer and former journalist on The Times.
Her memoir Black Rainbow was published by Hodder & Stoughton
in April 2014 and won the Spear’s Best First Book Award in October
2014. more
meetup
August
Inspiring examples of strengths from movies, by Josh French
Sept
Can we be Happy at Work?
Dilys
Robinson, Institute of Employment Studies, Brighton
Work
is a Relationship that lets us
practice Giving, Appreciation,
Trying Out, Resilience
and Acceptance,
and may also give us Direction
and Meaning.
There is a lot of evidence that ‘good’ work (well-designed and
meaningful jobs, with progression opportunities and good quality
line management) is beneficial to people’s health and well-being,
whereas ‘bad’ work can be deeply damaging. Since the early 2000s,
employee engagement has been high on the management agenda – to the
extent that it is seen as the panacea for all organisational ills.
What is the link between engagement and happiness? Are engaged
employees also happy employees, and can an excessive focus on
engagement sometimes be harmful? Bring your own experiences of work
to this session, to share in a lively discussion!
Dilys Robinson is a Principal
Research Fellow at the Institute
for Employment Studies (IES)
where she has led IES’s research
into employee engagement since
2002. This has moved from
defining engagement, measuring
it and assessing its drivers, to
a focus on engaging managerial
behaviours and the impact of
engaging (and disengaging)
managers. To find out more about
the work of Dilys and her
colleagues, visit IES’s website:
www.employment-studies.co.uk
more
on Dilys
slides
meetup
Wed October 7th
Exercise and Happiness
Jörg Huber
Exercising is one
the 10 Keys to Happiness.
Professor Huber is at the Centre for Health Research (CHR),
University of Brighton
more on Jörg
CHR
meetup
slides
Wed November 4th
How to Love and be Loved; 10
things to do and stop doing to transform your
relationship.
Lilliana Gibbs
Relating is one the 10 Keys to Happiness, and
being 'in-love' is a powerful way of Relating.
While most of us desire being in love, we face many
hurdles in taking the actions that allow love to
flow freely throughout our lives and relationships.
We have many ways of defending ourselves against
love, and struggle to give and receive love with
ease, openness and vulnerability.
Lilliana is a counsellor at The Red Couch in Lewes
download Love guide from redcouch
meetup
slides
Dec 2nd 2015 Christams Party
2016
January 5th 2016
A Rough Guide to a Smooth Life - Jess Stuart
A practical self improvement guide on surviving modern life.
Rediscover the art of happiness, find meaning and purpose and create
a life you love.
See her Christmas (spoof) video (watch it to the end!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iERhGE4FeAY&feature=youtu.be
and more on her book: http://inspireyourlife.org/book/
and the Art of Self Care: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=earqgoygYN8
meetup
slides
Feb 2nd 2016
Community and Happiness
- David Bramwell
When a long-term girlfriend walked out, citing his ‘selfishness’
as the reason, David Bramwell knew he had to change. He had
read about some extraordinary communities of people who live
outside conventional society. Could they teach him about giving?
Had they found a better way to live in the modern world? He set
out on a year long quest to find out and aimed to spend a month
with the residents, learning about their way of life, whatever it
entailed – free love, time travel, anarchy, naked bathing,
dressing in tie-dye. He didn’t always last but was hugely inspired
by his adventures and returned intent on creating a 'quiet
revolution' in his home town of Brighton...
Dr Bramwell is a Sony-award
winning radio presenter for BBC Radio 3, creator of the Cheeky
Guides book series, host of the Catalyst Club and
co-host of The
Odditorium podcast. He has won 'Best Comedy' and
'Outstanding Theatre' Awards for his one-man shows, given
talks at and hosted TEDx
events in the UK and curates the Odditorium Tent at Wilderness Festival. He
is a doctor by rumour only and should be approached with caution
if he offers to whip out your appendix for a packet of
biscuits.
New series of short films based
on David's travels can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H745eRC0hEw
THE DOINGS OF DR. BRAMWELL
www.drbramwell.com
@drbramwell
David's recent book
The No.9 Bus to Utopia: How one man's
extraordinary journey led to a quiet revolution
Tues Mar 1st
Empathy Workshop with Yehuda Tagar
Yehuda brings practical Empathy tools for
improving relating to people, at home and work.
'Relating' is one of the Ten Keys to Happiness and this empathy
workshop is designed to improve the quality of relating. It will
give an overview on how to see yourself
more objectively while seeing the other person more
subjectively. This approach improves listening and
communication and can transform emotional and physical blocks.
Yehuda is Director of BECOME - British College of Methodical
Empathy. You can follow this on Facebook or Twitter.
see also: http://methodical-empathy.com/
April 5th 2016
Stuffocation - living more with less:
James Wallman
Why we have enough of stuff and need experience
more than ever.
Memories live longer than things.
Does stuff make us more or less happy?
There are many fascinating aspects to possessions. James Wallman
describes himself as 'an author and a futurist'. http://jameswallman.strikingly.com/
His book has received rave reviews
Tuesday May 3rd
Speed relating with Joshua French
"People with strong and broad social relationships are happier,
healthier and live longer. So taking action to strengthen our
relationships and build connections is essential for happiness."
This event at the Latest Music bar will be an opportunity to meet
lots of people, talk about happiness and have fun. The Action for
Happiness meetups are always a great mix of familiar and new
faces, so we thought it would be great to dedicate another evening
to 'Speed Relating' (i.e. 3 minute one-to-one conversations to get
to know each other after which a signal is given and each
participant moves on to meet another person).
The event will be hosted by Joshua French, who has loved
uplifting others since he was little, making funny faces in his high
chair. He is a co-organiser of Action for Happiness in his spare
time and a committed happiness-spreader at work too. As co-founder
and facilitator with Bailey
& French, he helps organisations be happier and more
successful by focusing on employees' strengths. A donation of
£2 is appreciated to cover costs for resources.
Tuesday June 7th
The Brighton Health and Wellbeing centre
Dr Laura Marshall-Andrews.
The Brighton Health and Wellbeing Centre (BHWC) is the first NHS
GP practice in the UK to truly integrate complementary therapies
and healing arts. It was founded in 2013 as a response to the
increasing pressures on the NHS, and in recognition of the fact
that conventional medicine does not always hold all the solutions
to an person's health concerns. BHWC believes that conventional
medicine and other therapies and approaches can work together to
support individulas into good health and wellbeing. More
on BHWC
http://www.wellbeing-centre.org/about
Alongside their standard medical care, they offer a range of
complementary therapies which are integrated into ordinary medical
services, and in some cases funded through the practice. In their
TEDx talk they spoke of the necessity for doctors and
practitioners to relinquish control, and to take the necessary
risks involved to reap the huge gains that an be achieved through
integrating different approaches to health.
http://tedxbrighton.com/speakers/laura-marshall-andrews
Tuesday September 7th
|
Ten Keys
to Happier Living
Vanessa King
The 10 keys to happiness form the basis
of much that we do at Action for Happiness in
Brighton. Vanessa's recent book on these makes her a
star speaker. This will be our chance to hear the
author speaking directly, and to ask her how she
came to chose these particular 10. And maybe she
will sign your copy of the book!
About the book:
'Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from
your own actions' The Dalai Lama, patron of Action for
Happiness. Vanessa King, positive psychology expert for
Action for Happiness has created 10 key evidence-based
actions that have been shown to increase happiness and
wellbeing - at home, at work and in the world around
you. If you have read The Art of Happiness, The
Happiness Project or Sane New World,
this book will be the perfect complement.
We all want to be happy but what does that actually
mean and what can we do in our everyday lives to be
happier? Fortunately, psychologists, neuroscientists and
other experts now have evidence of what really makes a
difference and helps us to be happier and more resilient
to life's ups and downs.
In this book, Vanessa King of Action for Happiness has
drawn on the latest scientific studies to create a set
of evidence-based practical actions. They will help you
connect with people, nurture your relationships and find
purpose. You'll get ideas for taking care of your body,
making the most of what's good and finding new ways to
stimulate your mind.
more on
meetup
|
Tuesday October 4th
|
HAPPINESS
- beyond belief
Mike George
We seek it here, we seek it there, we seek happiness in
almost every place we go, in almost every thing we buy and
from almost everyone in our life! The search for the
‘holy grail’ of happiness has been happening for thousands
of years. So why does it appear so few have found a
lasting and stable happiness in their life? The
deepest reason - belief! It seems our beliefs and
'belief system' around happiness are fatally flawed.
Tonight Mike will explore:
· The true meaning of happiness
· What most people do to sabotage their happiness
· The beliefs that we all inherit and lead us away
from authentic happiness
· The three kinds of natural happiness that we all
know but tend to ignore.
Mike George is an author of 12 books on
self-awareness and spiritual intelligence. He is an
international management tutor, an inspirational speaker
and retreat leader. In a unique blend of
insight, wisdom and humour Mike brings together
the three key strands of the 21st century:
self-awareness, emotional intelligence and continuous
‘unlearning’. His books include: The 7 Myths
About LOVE; Don’t Get MAD Get Wise and his
latest book BEING Beyond Belief.
Mike George: http://www.consciousfrontiers.com/mike-george/
more on meetup
|
2017
Feb 7th 2017
| Tuesday February 7th |
Mindfulness
workshop
Judy Lewis
Judy teaches mindfulness workshops to the NHS.
You cannot prevent the bird of sorrow from flying over
your head
But you can prevent it from nesting in your hair.
Chinese proverb
She teaches at the Sussex beacon: http://www.sussexbeacon.org.uk/
e: jlinterbeing@gmail.com
more on meetup
|
Tuesday March 7th
|
the SMILE project
Louisa Scanlon
Louisa Scanlon will talk about the SMILE project,
which seeks to improve public health in schools in the
Brighton and Hove area.
These are the five ways to happiness.:
Speak Move Imagine Learn Enjoy
What will you do to make you smile today?
Watch the video:
http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/health/public-health-schools-programme/five-ways-smile-way-school
more on meetup
|
| Tuesday April 4th |
Speed Relating
A return of this popular event.
Find out how to feel the essential energy of a person in 2
minutes! No time to be boring or wear your mask. The most
unappealing people turn out to be fascinating when you know
how to run the conversation.
more on meetup |
Tuesday May 2nd
|
Compassion
(provisional) more on meetup |
2019
October 2nd 2019
The Psychology of Play by Josh French
“Play is the stick that stirs the drink. It is the basis of all art,
games, books, sports, movies, fashion, fun, and wonder—in short, the
basis of what we think of as civilization. Play is the vital essence
of life. It is what makes life lively.” ― Dr. Stuart Brown
This workshop will explore the psychology of play and how it
connects to our health and wellbeing. We'll consider the reasons why
its so important for adults to remain playful and learn ways to keep
playing, inside and outside of the workplace.
We'll also find out more about 'infinite games' and 'finite games',
originally defined by James Carse and now championed by Simon Sinek.
See this TED talk for more info on the psychology of play: https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital/
And for info on infinite games see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tye525dkfi8
The workshop will be led by Joshua French from Bailey & French (www.baileyandfrench.com),
a Brighton-based positive psychology consultancy whose wellbeing and
performance workshops impact people in organisations as diverse as
Nando's, the World Health Organisation and the UK Civil Service.
download slides from Josh
www.actionforhappiness-inbrighton.org.uk
updated October 4th
2019 by Paul Tofts