Why wouldn’t anyone want to bring more happiness into their life?
We have created an online fellowship of people from around the world interested in increasing happiness and improving mental health and wellbeing in the home, the workplace and the community. We currently have subscribers joining us for our regular monthly meetings on zoom from around the globe. See our map of Ambassadors. Everyone is welcome to join us.
To join our Zoom Global Happy Cafe Meeting, just login at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88302360790?pwd=eWdYd01kSHB4bktZNzN3T1BzZnIrUT09
You are welcome to log in slightly earlier if you wish!
Our next Meeting is on Thursday 1st December at 7pm GMT
As we near the end of a turbulent year we plan to reflect upon happiness, gratitude and thankfulness in our lives. At our meeting on the 1st of December there will be breakout rooms discussing these important issues and we’ll have a presentation by Adisha on Art, happiness and well-being. We look forward to seeing you there.
To join our Zoom Global Happy Cafe Meeting, just login at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88302360790?pwd=eWdYd01kSHB4bktZNzN3T1BzZnIrUT09
You are welcome to log in slightly earlier if you wish!
Synopsis of our previous meetings:-
November
Unfortunately the Buddhist monk, Sonam Tobgye was unable to join us and talk about the Monarchy in Bhutan, so instead we welcomed Donneth Casillan who gave short presentation about Happiness in the Philippines and showed a beautiful short video which he has made.
October
We had a fascinating meeting with Sandra Velazquez talking about compassionate mindfulness. It was a most inspirational presentation and drew a large audience of people interested in the subject of mindfulness, happiness and wellbeing. We were pleased to welcome more potential new global happiness ambassadors from around the world. If you would like to see a recording of our meeting go to: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dx4dpqpuvhi4mjp/Happy%20cafe%20October%202022.mp4?dl=0
September
At our September meeting, we welcomed Hollywood film producer, Peggy Callaghan, who talked about the Big:Joy challenge and the production of her highly acclaimed Mission: Joy film featuring the meeting between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu which was shown on BBC television earlier this year.
Previous Global Happy Cafe Meetings
See a BBC news item about the Global Happy Cafe:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvEC0uO8OPU&t=10s
Our programme of previous meetings:-
| Date | Speaker | Title | Comment |
| 2022 8pm BST Friday 1st July | Belinda O’Neill | To Be Inspired | completed |
| 7pm BST Wed 1st Jun | Chris Croft | 5 biggest Happiness Mistakes | confirmed |
| 2pm BST Sun 1st May | Martyn Underhill Hazel Farrar | Tackling Mental Health in our local Community Mindful – Nature Connection | confirmed |
| 7pm BST Sat 2nd April | John Helliwell | World Happiness Report 2022 | confirmed |
| Tues 1st March | Emily Coxhead Victor Perton | The Happy Newspaper Centre for Optimism and Healthcare. | confirmed |
| Tues 1st Feb | Jon Sloper Tahani Mohammed | Help and Kindness in Dorset – a project for the community Happiness in Libya and North Africa | completed |
| Mon 1st Jan | Happy News from around the world | Join us for an online zoom meeting at 7pm GMT to hear about New Years’ Resolutions from our followers around the world. We will also be sharing what made our global audience happy during the past month and presenting the new Action for Happiness Calendar for January. Happier January | completed |
| 2020 | |||
| Wed 1st July 2020 | Mark Williamson Stan Rosenthal | CEO, Action for Happiness UK Happy Café | completed |
| Mon 3rd Aug 2020 | Vibha Sri John Magee Vanessa King Prof Ruut Veenhoven | Gratitude and Joyshops in India Kindness Matters Author: Ten Keys & Great Dream World Happiness Database launch | completed |
| Tue 1st Sept 2020 | Sian Williams Sylvia Ramirez, | BBC presenter on Resilience Happiness Manifesto in Colombia | completed |
| Thur 1st Oct 2020 | Julia Kim, GNH Bhutan Lesley Lyle Rachel More | Balancing conditions for Happiness Positive Psychology and VIA The Power of Singing | completed |
| Mon 2nd Nov 2020 | Sir Anthony Seldon Prof Isaac Prilleltensky | Finding Happiness Mattering & Wellbeing | completed |
| Tue 1st Dec 2020 | Prof John Helliwell | World Happiness Report | completed |
| 2021 | |||
| Fri 1st Jan 2021 | Jackie Goddard | New Year’s Resolutions and talk on being Creative | completed |
| Mon 1st Feb 2021 | Suzie Pawelski Lord Richard Layard | Happy Together for Valentine Day Can we be happier? | completed |
| Mon 1st Mar 2021 | Julia Seibold Peter Keevil Toshiko Omonishi | Making friends in new environment Finding Happiness after Covid-19 Happiness in France and Japan | completed |
| Thur 1st Apr 2021 | Helen Russell Dr Sonam Tobgye | Atlas of Happiness and How to be sad Happiness in Bhutan | completed |
| Mon 3rd May 2021 | Dulcie Batt and Julia Siebold Sara Odorisio | Happiness Workshop Happiness in Italy | completed |
| Tues 1st June 2021 | Lord Gus O’Donnell | Happiness and Wellbeing in Society | completed |
| Thur 1st July 2021 | Dr Robert Biswas-Diener and Amy Blankson | Discussion on Positive Psychology and the Future of Happiness | completed |
| Mon 2nd Aug 2021 | Ian Maskell Desiree Vanshagen Kerry Pocock | Wall’s Happiness Manifesto Happiness in The Netherlands Book review “How to be Happy” | completed |
| Wed 1st Sept 2021 | Mandy Seligman together with Marty Seligman Adisha Kariyawasam | Seeing Happy – a new photographic project promoting happiness and wellbeing Happiness and Music in Sri Lanka | completed |
| Fri 1st Oct 2021 | Dr Qing Li introduced by Toshiko Omonishi Siva Muthuraman | Forest bathing (Shinrin Yoku) Happiness in India | completed |
| Mon 1st Nov 2021 | Andree-Anne Le Blanc Kerry Pocock Ruth Davey Jeannie An and Sandra Rakovac | Adventure MAP Book review “How people Matter” by Isaac Prilleltensky Look Again – A visual therapy Happiness in Canada | completed |
| Wed 1st Dec 2021 | Dr Emilia Bunea | Happiness in leadership | completed |
Watch our promo video:-
August:
Peter Holloway, Project Leader of BCP Parks in Mind that provides fun, nature and conservation in Bournemouth’s parks and open spaces, talked about delivering health and wellbeing activities for the local community. We were also given a demonstration of Tai Chi style Qi jong by Jenny Newman.
July:
We welcomed Belinda O’Neill, experienced international speaker and Community Ambassador from Northern Ireland and founder of “Be Inspired To Be” with over 170.000 social media followers worldwide to talk about her journey of Inspiration and read some of her poems and happiness tips. Here’s the link to the recording https://www.dropbox.com/s/muom3g32901ajx7/happy%20cafe%20July%202022%20Belinda.mp4?dl=0
June:
At our meeting on 1st June, we were pleased to welcome a number of new subscribers from around the world. The speaker this month was co-founder Chris Croft, who talked about the 5 Biggest Happiness Mistakes. You can view a recording of the meeting at: https://www.dropbox.com/…/June%202022%20Chris%20on…
May:
On Sunday 1st May at 2pm BST we had two guest speakers:- Martyn Underhill, former Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, talking about the importance of tackling mental health in the community and Hazel Farrer, who runs the Mindful-Nature Connection offering mindful nature experiences and mindfulness courses from her home in Portugal.
April:
At our Global Happy Café meeting on Saturday 2nd April we heard from our guest speaker, Professor John Helliwell, Editor of The World Happiness Report talking about this year’s edition summarising the past decade. There was also a report on Ukraine and the series of Happy Cafes that we are launching for the NHS Dorset HealthCare staff wellbeing project. In addition, we discussed what made our audience happy during the past month and presented the Action for Happiness calendar for April.
you can download a recording via the following link:-https://www.dropbox.com/s/3vc74sqq4qebii2/cafe%202%20April%202022.mp4?dl=0
March:
At the latest global happy cafe meeting on 1st March, we welcomed Emily Coxhead, Editor of the popular Happy Newspaper in the UK and talked to Victor Perton about the Centre for Optimism in Melbourne, Australia. We also heard a prayer for the people of Ukraine by Paola Brown our Ambassador in Austria and an inspirational meditation from Julia in Germany. From here in Dorset, Kerry presented the latest Action for Happiness calendar for Mindful March.
To view a recording of the meeting see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxiggsvwjevb627/Happy%20caf%C3%A9%20march%202022.mp4?dl=0
February:
At our global happy cafe meeting on 1st February we heard from Jon Sloper all about Help and Kindness in Dorset – a co-ordinated community response to Covid-19 which was followed by a fascinating presentation from our Happiness Ambassador Tahani Mohammed about happiness in her home country of Libya in North Africa. We also discussed what made us happy during the past month and presented the new Action for Happiness calendar for February.
To view a recording of the meeting see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5psn4me4nxcujtq/Happy%20Cafe%20Feb%20%202022.mp4?dl=0
January:
Our Global Happy Café meeting on 3rd January brought together like minded people from around the world to hear about New Year’s resolutions and what made subscribers happy recently and listen to Vibha, our happiness ambassador in India, talking about her Gratitude Joyshops. For more details visit: http://www.vibhaspace.net/gratitude-joyshop/
2021 Meetings
December 1st meeting with guest speaker Dr. Emilia Bunea, a leadership scholar and educator. She talked about her research into happiness and leadership and introduced her latest movie “Crossroads Life” which was awarded a prize for the best business education film at the Helsinki Education Film Festival. To download a recording of the meeting go to: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5n2jh1bjzgatkeb/Happy%20cafe%20Dec%202021.mp4?dl=0
November 1st Meeting : Guest speaker, Canadian explorer Andree-Anne Le Blanc talked about her Adventure MAP and discovering happiness through her travels in different parts of the world, Ruth Davey explained the benefits of mindful photography and how her Look Again project with the NHS is helping with people’s mental health, wellbeing and resilience and Jeannie An and Sandra Rakovac joined us from Canada to give an illustrated talk on Happiness in Canada. In our monthly book review, Kerry Pocock reviewed the latest book by Professor Isaac Prilleltensky and his wife Ora on “How People Matter.”
To download a recording of our November meeting, just visit:- https://www.dropbox.com/…/happy%20cafe%20Nov%202021.mp4…
October 1st Meeting : Our guest speaker, Dr Xing Li, author of a world renowned book on Forest Bathing talks about the Art and Science of Forest Bathing introduced by Toshiko Omonishi our Happiness Ambassador from Japan. Siva Murthaman also joins us to talk about Happiness in India.
September 2021 Meeting – Mandy Seligman, wife of renowned US Positive Psychologist Dr Martin Seligman, talks about her new photographic project “Seeing Happy”.
August 2021 Meeting – Ian Maskell, CEO Wall’s Ice Cream presents the Walls Happiness Manifesto.
July 2021 Meeting – Dr Robert Biswas-Diener and Amy Blankson discuss Positive Psychology and the Future of Happiness with Chris.
June 2021 Meeting – Lord Gus O’Donnell talks to Chris about Happiness and Society and Building Back Happier.
May 2021 Meeting – Julia Seibold organised a breakout session on Meditation and our Happiness Ambassador Sara Odorisio talked about Happiness in Italy
April 2021 Meeting – UK author Helen Russell talked about the Atlas of Happiness and her latest book “How to be Sad” and our Ambassador for Bhutan, Dr Sonam Tobgye spoke about Happiness in Bhutan
March 2021 Meeting – Peter and Pam Keevil and Julia Seibold
Pam and Peter Keevil talked about their newly written book How to be Happy and Julia Seibold gave some advice on making new friends and connecting with people in her home country of Germany. We also enjoyed hearing about happiness and wellbeing in Japan and France from Toshiko Omonishi, one of our Happiness Ambassadors.
February 2021 Meeting – Lord Richard Layard and Suzie and James Pawelski
A truly inspirational talk by Lord Layard with contributions from Lord Gus O’Donnell and Prof John Helliwell, Co-Editor of the World Happiness Report 2021 followed by interview with Suzie and James Pawelski on living “Happy Together”
January 2021 Meeting – New Year’s Resolutions including Creativity and Happiness
Listen to people from around the world talking about their New Year’s Resolutions during the Corona Virus pandemic.
December meeting with John Helliwell, Editor of the UN World Happiness Report
Listen to John talking about how people around the world value their lives during the Corona Virus pandemic.
November meeting with Sir Anthony Seldon and Professor Isaac Prilleltensky
October meeting with Julia Kim, Lesley Lyle and Rachel More
September meeting with Sian Williams and Sylvia Ramirez
August meeting with Vibha Sri, John Magee, Vanessa King and Prof Ruut Veenhofen
July pilot meeting with Mark Williamson, Stan Rosenthal
GLOBAL HAPPY CAFÉ
Over the past twelve months we have established a highly successful Happy Café in Dorset. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown in the UK, we have moved to a virtual meeting using Zoom and meet online once a month. It provides an opportunity to discuss a number of important issues relating to happiness, mental health and wellbeing in our society. We are now reaching out to a wider audience and have launched a free Global Happy Café.
Concept: Act locally, think globally!
A monthly 90-minute online Zoom meeting that brings together people from around the world to share stories about Happiness and Wellbeing. Our guest speakers include Mark Williamson, CEO of Action for Happiness, Vanessa King on the Ten Keys to happier living, John Magee on Kindness Matters, Vibha Sri on Gratitude, Sian Williams on Resilience, Lord Richard Layard on Can we be Happier?, Sir Anthony Seldon on Finding Happiness, Lesley Lyle on Applied Positive Psychology and various other well known personalities talking about Happiness and Wellbeing.
Objective: How can we be happier?
Our aim is to develop a fellowship of likeminded people from around the world interested in increasing happiness and improving mental health and wellbeing, discovering the Action for Happiness Ten Keys to Happier Living and discussing the future of society following the Corona virus pandemic. It’s free to attend!
Meeting Schedule:
| Welcome and introduction | |
| A moment of meditation | |
| What made you happy recently? | |
| Personal stories of happiness and wellbeing from around the world | |
| Guest Speaker talks about a topic that highlights the Ten keys to happier living | |
| News items from around the world reflecting local traditions & culture. | |
| Health and Fitness, with items on maintaining a healthy body and mind. | |
| Food and Cooking, introducing recipes and ideas for healthy eating. | |
| Creative Corner, highlighting inspirational music and creative arts. | |
| Nature Notes, including items on wildlife and the environment. | |
| Pets Corner, profiling happy moments with pet dogs, cats, birds etc. | |
| Book Club, reviewing latest titles on Happiness, Kindness, Wellbeing | |
| A look at the Action For Happiness Calendar for the month | |
| Happiness tip of the month and reminder of next meeting |
Map showing the location of our subscribers around the world:- https://www.google.com/maps/d/drive?state=%7B%22ids%22%3A%5B%221DFAvnmmKlGalbjgHgS3l1sdV4LKVVbMD%22%5D%2C%22action%22%3A%22open%22%2C%22userId%22%3A%22112349846040401148616%22%7D&usp=sharing
Here’s a selection of photos from our Happy Cafe photo album from the past twelve months. For more details contact Dulcie Batt via email:- dulciebatt1@gmail.com
