Facebook Selects Museum of Happiness amongst their Top 115 Changemakers from 46 Different Countries
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In the past few weeks I’ve struggled to find time to write to you all. I promise I do have good excuses, which I’d like to share.
Number 1 - The Museum of Happiness Moved
We recently had to move our beloved Museum of Happiness out of Camden Town in London, partly due to high running costs, and were searching for a new home. After months of looking and many meetings, we found our new partners - 42 Acres. We plan to run events weekly in East London on Friday nights, starting with about 30 minutes of mindfulness meditation and followed by playful workshops bringing the insights from the science of happiness to life. We also plan to run retreats in Somerset in England to help some of you recharge and renew yourselves.
Our long term plan is to work on fundraising to build a large, permanent Museum of Happiness in London in the next few years, dedicated spreading values like mindfulness, kindness, creativity, community, gratitude and wisdom. And also potentially to offer online training so you can start a Museum of Happiness movement in your area!
Number 2 - We won a major award from Facebook!
The Museum of Happiness was selected as one of the top 100 communities in the world making a meaningful difference. This is the first time Facebook has ever funded such ventures. So last week we were flown to Facebook’s Headquarters in California to meet the other winners from 46 different countries and I’ve started a year-long community leadership training which includes support and some funding to work on a one project to continue to grow and increase the impact of the Museum of Happiness. So exciting and such a privilege - we’re so honored.
I was also asked to guide a Kindfulness Meditation to all the global changemakers and Facebook staff, which they all seemed to love. We got to meet the head of Whatsapp and the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg. She told us that Facebook’s mission changed last year to help communities to flourish, hence this program. Here’s the other winners selected for the program. And Forbes wrote about it here.
I met so many amazing people in the few days I was there. Some new friends of mine include Rami who works in Egypt and has reunited 1003 missing children there, bringing together the help of 700 volunteers. Paige who runs the Better World Museum, working for a more inclusive and equitable community. And Dave from Yes Tribe, an outdoors-loving community of doers with thousands of members globally who also have a ‘YesBus’ to organise community events.
It’s such a privilege to meet people that want to make a better world…I was so touched. If there’s any changemakers you’d like me to interview from the winners, let me know and I’ll do my best to make that happen!
Mindful Insights
Whilst all these both exciting and challenging times having been happening, I’m pleased to share that I have blocked out time to meditate, and those times have been truly joyful.
I had the obvious but powerful insight a few weeks ago that meditation is the art of loving yourself. Meditation is time to be faced with your own thoughts and emotions and worries and dreams and bodily sensations and crazy ideas. The question is not so much what your thoughts and emotions are, but how you relate to them. Can you begin to meet them with a little bit of kindness and love? Can you let go of trying to meditate and let whatever happen, happen? Can you love yourself just as a wise and kind friend would love you?
These are the questions I’m holding right now.
If you’d like to learn more about my approach of combining mindfulness with kindness, consider my free 7 day course. Or my full 8 week program which is currently on sale - includes 60 mini daily videos and over 15 guided kindfulness audio meditations to try.
20 guided Kindful Meditations,
50 High- Definition Videos
200 students have completed the program
5 stars is the average rating!
