On Saturday I went to the UK’s first ‘Festival of Happiness.’
It was ran, in part, by Dr Andy Cope. I met Andy a few years ago after reading one of his books, and found he not only went to the same school as me, but lives down the road from my parents.
He has a PhD in happiness after 12 years of study at Loughborough uni, but, as I understand it, spent most of his time researching those that are flourishing in life, and not, as is the ‘traditional way’ of studying these kinds of things, those that are struggling.
He’s also the famous childrens story book author of the ‘Spy dog’ series, so he’s managed to combine academic understanding with the mental age of an 8 year old. That’s like the perfect combo. At least for me.
There were also other keynote speakers, motivational people, and music. Some were good, and as I expected, some were a little out there for me (fake belly laughing in front of a 1000 people to prove laughing makes you happy anyone?).
Saying that, everyone was there with genuine intention to spread the happiness vibe and I guess there’s more than one way for that to happen! I thought some of the strongest speakers were the ‘real life people’ who’d faced their own challenges in life, and were sharing back their stories of getting back up, and getting back on, with life.
Anyway, I took away some absolute gold from the day and wanted to share it back. Some of it may be new, some of it not. But here goes:
– You are already enough. But we are subjected to so much media to make us think we are not. Just take a look at the front cover of magazines – 50 ways to lose weight, 75 sex tips, 365 to look younger. Etc etc etc.
– The only place being happy can come from is within you. Actually, from a chemical point of view ‘happiness’ is an endorphin carried by a protein molecule into your brain. Check out this very cool video of that happening. Dragging your way to happiness
– If you live to 80, that’s 4000 weeks of life. At first I was like YES THAT’S SO MANY. Then I remembered I was 40, then I took an educated guess the last 5 years of my life won’t be spent kitesurfing, hiking up mountains, and travelling. So that puts me down to 1750 weeks. BUGGER. I’m actually sweating in panic as I type this. And I’ve not even had kids yet. And to make it worse, my parents have just asked me to help cut the hedge. So that’s 1749…….
– We (generally) follow a herd mentality. Which means we try and fit in. There’s nothing wrong with that but if ‘fitting in’ doesn’t give you the chance to shine / flourish / express yourself / give out your positive energy and bring something to the world…..then is that a good thing.
– The people we spend out time with can alter our state of mind. From the mood hoovers who bring you down, to the over-excited bunny rabbits who annoy the hell out of you but bring you up. I’m sure there is something going on with vibrational frequency and energy here, but it’s too early in the week for all that.
So that’s my start to the week. I hope that’s of some interest. Here is a link to the event, and a few more photos. Now where’s my coffee….
John Alex Clarke 
What a wonderful conference! If only the rest of the world can embrace this concept by having happiness and motivational conferences, things would be a lot different than they are today. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person