Extraordinary Speakers

8/12/2019 Extraordinary Speakers

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EXTRAORDINARY SPEAKERSHAPPINESS & ITS CAUSES 2014

Weve come a long way since we held our f irst Happiness & Its Causesconference back in 2006, following the success of our first

conference, Mind & Its Potentialin 2005. Thinking then it could be a one-off, although hoping it might sustain for another year or

two, were delighted it has become an annual event. Not only that, it has been a huge hit with the literally thousands of delegates

who have attended due to what many have said are its life changing effects.

If youve attended any of our events, youll understand their appeal. For every conference, we work hard putting together a program

designed to facilitate exploration of and discussion about the things that matter most to YOUhow to be happier, how to find

meaning in your life, how to be more creative, how to maximise your potential and how to contribute to the lives of others.

Of course, we couldnt do any of it without the expertise of the great many speakers we invite to present sessions and workshops at

our events about the amazing work thats being done here in Australia and overseas in the fields of psychology, education,

neuroscience, sociology, conservation, anthropology, spirituality and more.

Our speakers are extraordinary individuals in terms of the information they share and the difference they are making to the

wellbeing of society and our planet. Were delighted to be able to share their messages through our Think & Be Happyblog,

e-newsletterand Happiness & Its Causes Facebook pageand Twitter feed.

We often feature articles about upcoming speakers built around an interview or presentation theyve already given. In our latest

eBook offering, we have compiled eight such posts from our blog, all featuring top notch presenters you will hear at Happiness & Its

Causes2014. If you havent registered yet, I guarantee that after reading these, youll be seriously tempted.

www.happinessanditscauses.com.au

Hear from our speakers
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/https://wired.ivvy.com/event/CNEWS/subscribehttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Happiness-Its-Causes/158865482817https://twitter.com/ThinkBeHappyhttp://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/http://www.happinessanditscauses.com.au/https://twitter.com/ThinkBeHappyhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Happiness-Its-Causes/158865482817https://wired.ivvy.com/event/CNEWS/subscribehttps://wired.ivvy.com/event/CNEWS/subscribehttps://wired.ivvy.com/event/CNEWS/subscribehttp://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/


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PROFESSOR MIHALY CZIKSZENTMIHALYI

IN THE FLOW

If to lose oneself is to experience bliss, what can we do to more

easily cultivate this state? The answer lies in research pioneered

by Professor Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, one of the greatest

psychologists of our time.

When Czikszentmihalyi started on his quest 40 years ago to

better cognise the causes of happiness, he began to look at

creative people trying to understand what made them feel that

it was worth essentially spending their life doing things for which

many of them didnt expect either fame or fortune.

One person he interviewed was a composer who described

feeling ecstatic whenever he composed music. Czikszentmihalyi

was intrigued by his use of the word ecstatic, which in Greek

means simply to stand to the side of something.

Or to put it another way, this composer entered an alternative

reality. Not only that, he claimed to lose all sense of himself in

the process. Czikszentimihalyi says this is, in fact, what literally

happens because our nervous system is incapable of

processing more than 110 bits of information. Thats not very

muchespecially when you consider we apparently need 60

bits per second merely to process what someone is saying.

Given creative endeavours use up even more bits, its no

wonder those poets, writers, painters and musicians who

report experiencing total immersion in their craft dont have

enough attention left over for the usual humanpreoccupations, says Czikszentimihalyi adding that their body

disappears from their consciousness because they dont have

enough attention to do well something that requires a lot of

concentration, and at the same time to feel that they exist.

What we now know about these fully absorbing flow states is

that anyone can get in the zone under the right

circumstancesspecifically when we encounter a challenge

that tests our skills, and our skills and capacities are such that

were able to meet this challenge.

Read the full blog here.
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/flow/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/flow/


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Since the first Happiness & Its Causes conference in 2006,

over 15,000 people have been moved and inspired at

what is now one of the worlds largest and most

important forums on human happiness!


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MATTHIEU RICARD

THE HABITS OF HAPPINESSEverything anyone does, dreams about, aspires to, whether its

conscious or not, somehow is related to a deep profound desire

for well-being and happiness.

So says French Buddhist Monk, Matthieu Ricard, co-ordinator of

Karuna-Shechen Humanitarian Projects and best-selling author of

Happiness: A Guide to Developing Lifes Most Important Skill. Yet

Ricard also makes the point that because happiness is a

notoriously difficult mind state to define, many of us look for joy in

all the wrong places.

One big problem is we tend to equate happiness with pleasure.

Wrong says Ricard who explains that pleasure is contingent

upon time, upon its object, upon the place. It is something that

changes by nature.

Happiness, on the other hand, is according to Buddhism, a deep

sense of serenity, fulfilment, a state that actually pervades and

underlies all emotional states, and all the joys and sorrows that

can come ones way, says Ricard.

The mistake many of us make in our quest for contentment is we

look to externals: romantic love, material wealth, a younger face.

If we could just nail these wed be happy.

Ricard says, That very sentence already reveals the doom of

destruction of happiness: to have everything. If we miss something it

collapses.

It also doesnt help that we overestimate our control of the outer world

which is limited, temporary and often illusory, says Ricard. His advice

is we look instead at inner conditions. Arent they stronger? Isnt it the

mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering?

Certainly, we know from experience that when we give in to our anger,

jealousy, pride or greed, we feel lousy and so do the people around us.

We also know that when were exuding love, warmth and generosity,

everyone benefits.

But do we know that we can change our negative emotions, traits andmoods or are we simply resigned to living with them because we think

theyre an inevitable part of being human? Ricard says that if we

investigate the nature of mind or consciousness through practices such

as meditation, well discover its primary quality is awareness and that

because of this there is a possibility for change because all emotions

are fleeting. That is the ground for mind training.


SEE MATTHIEU IN

ACTION. LINK.
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/habits-happiness/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WmKT6oRJpchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WmKT6oRJpchttp://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/habits-happiness/


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PROFESSOR JEAN TWENGE

THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMICTheres a lot of talk about the rise in unhealthy self-love amongst the millennial generation (those born in the 1980s and 1990s). One factor

often cited as proof of this trend is the heavy use by many young adults of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. For the

first time ever in human history, the opportunity exists to post to literally tens of thousands if not millions of complete strangers utterly banal

information about the minutiae of your everyday life.

One person whos concerned about this relationship between digital technology and what she regards as excessive self-focus in todays

youth is Professor Jean Twenge, a psychologist and leading researcher into narcissism and youth mental health. According to Twenge,

American youth (and by extrapolation their Australian counterparts) are in the grip of a narcissism epidemic. We have risingplastic surgery

rates, we have this obsession with fame and celebrity [and] we have more materialistic values than we used to, she says, add ing that

shes been involved in several within-campus studies trying to find out what the generational change [is] in narcissism. To this end,

approximately 50,000 college students between 1982 and 2009 have filled out the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, a commonly used

measure of narcissistic traits in individuals.

What Twenge and her colleagues have found, having analysed this data, is that where previously only about 17 percent of students scored

very high in narcissism, that figure has now leapt to 30 percent bearing in mind that narcissist ic characteristics present in individuals to

varying degrees, with Narcissistic Personality Disorder at one end of the spectrum and good old fashioned vanity at the other. But as

Twenge says, Even if its just at the personality trait level, and not at that clinical [disorder] level, there are a number of problems with it.

And yes, given the increase in narcissism has been most marked since 2005-2006, Twenge has no qualms pointing the finger at what she

regards as the combined effects of Internet technology, in particular social networking sites, with easy credit, celebrity-drenched media and

permissive parenting.

http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/narcissism-epidemic/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/narcissism-epidemic/


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PROFESSOR ROY BAUMEISTER

THE SCIENCE OF WILLPOWERSelf-control is a quality most of us take for granted, without which our lives would very quickly descend into chaos. Yet few really

understand self-control or its active ingredient willpower.

Professor Roy Baumeisteris a respected social psychologist who has worked extensively in the area of self-control and self-

regulation, which he defines as the capacity to change and/or control your thoughts, emotions and impulses.

According to Baumeister, we are using our self-control all day every day to resist lots of desires. To break it down, we spendeight

hours a day actively desiring, three to four of those hours resisting what we want and a glorious guilt ridden half an hoursuccumbing

to a yearning we previously resisted.

But whats really interesting is that studies and real-life observations reveal that the basic energy (willpower) we use in self -control is

finite within a set period of time. In other words, after exerting self-control once, if presented with another demand for self-control soon

after, chances are well cave in.

Not only that, making decisions, showing initiative, taking action all seem to draw on the same energy resource. Which perhapsexplains why people in positions of power and responsibility so often become mired in scandal. Politicians, for example, having to

make big decisions every day tend to deplete their store of willpower.

If theres one take home message in all of this, its that people with impressive self-control dont resist desires more often. They avoid

temptation in the first place.


WATCH ROYS PRESENTATION. LINK.
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/science-willpower-2/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibui4M4eitohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibui4M4eitohttp://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/science-willpower-2/


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DR JANE GOODALL

MAKING A DIFFERENCEIt often seems that despite decades and decades of warnings from

those in the know about the dire consequences we all face if our

abuse of the planet continues, nothing ever changes.

But then one encounters individuals like Dr Jane Goodall, an

internationally acclaimed primatologist, environmentalist and UN

Messenger of Peace whos devoted much of her life to protecting

chimpanzees and their habitat, and is reminded of how important it

is not to lose hope in our potential to co-exist peacefully and

sustainably with all of earths inhabitants by choosing to live with

awareness, compassion and generosity instead of ignorance,

hatred and greed.

These days, Goodall spends a lot of time travelling the world to

raise awareness about the desperate plight of chimpanzees whosenumbers have plummeted from around two million at the turn of the

20th century to about 150,000 across all of Africa today.

If anyone is in a position to advocate on behalf of our closest non-

human relatives, its Goodall whos been studying chimpanzees in

Tanzania since 1960. She says that five decades on, technology

has really transformed the way field biologists do their work so

that now thanks to DNA profiling, satellite navigation systems, brain

imaging techniques and other advances, our knowledge about

chimps and other hominids (gorillas and orang-utans) has

exploded.

What weve learned above all is how trulysimilar these creatures

are to human beings. As Goodall points out, chimps are capable of

performances that would have been thought completely impossible

by science when I began.

Goodall lists many of the characteristics chimps share with us

humans. For example, they can make tools, an activity once

thought to be the sole preserve of man. They develop long-term

affectionate and supportive bonds with their young and each other.

Theyre capable of true compassion and altruism.

Over these 40-odd years that I and others have been studying

chimpanzees and other great apes and other mammals with

complex brains and social systems, we have found that, after all,

there isnt a sharp line dividing humans from the rest of the

kingdom, says Goodall.

http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/jane-goodall-making-difference/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/jane-goodall-making-difference/


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Inspirational, grounding, uplifting.

Coming here is akin to plugging in to the

main power station of love, joy and

happiness and coming away recharged.Catherine Gunn, QLD Health


11/16


HUGH MACKAY

THE GOOD LIFEHaving spent decades researching how Australians think and feel about their lives, leading social researcher Hugh Mackay has written

his latest book, The Good Life: What makes a life worth living?, inwhich he posits that our relentless pursuit of happiness has tended,

paradoxically, to lead to depression and misery. He says wed all be much better off thinking less about our own wellbeing and more

about that of others. Hence his definition of a happy life is a good life, namely a life lived for others.

In the last 10 years especially, Mackay says hes become very conscious of what he calls the deep malaise in Australian society

characterised by this dawning realisation that ever increasing material wealth cannot fill the existential feeling of lack that is the human

condition.

Mackay says the good life can only be about engagement and relationships when you consider the following: that love is the source of

goodness in human society and that you cant love all by yourself.

Not that this is an especially novel insight. When Aristotle coined the word eudaimonia, what he was referring to was something that

almost had nothing to with an emotional state It was to do with being an engaged citizen, doing your civic duty, sacrificing yourself to

the common good. One of his phrases translates as entering into the full richness of human love and friendship, says Mackay.

In order to lead a good life based on the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do to you, Mackay says thereare three

particular disciplines that bring out the best in us and in those around us, what he calls the three great therapies of everyday life.

These are to listen attentively, to apologise sincerely and to forgive generously. He writes in his book, If we were to integrate them into

our way of livingto make them part of who we aremany other manifestations of goodness would naturally flow from them.

http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/good-life/http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/good-life/


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ANDY GRIFFITHS

HOW ONE AUTHOR CAME TOCAPTIVATE YOUNG READERS

For those parents and kids familiar with the vast oeuvre of Andy

Griffiths which includes the Treehousebooks, the Just!series,

the Badbooks and the Bumseries, it will probably come as no

surprise to learn that the childrens author has always loved the

childish imagination the creativity of trying to make something

totally ridiculous like it could be possible. Even as a kid himself,

he liked nothing better than to write his own stories and cartoons

for no other reason than it was fun.

He obviously had a flair for it because his school mates were his

biggest fans, some of whom joined forces with him to form the

greatest rock and roll band in the world singing parodies of the

most popular songs of the day by the likes of Alice Cooper and

David Bowie. Even while at university, Griffiths continued to play

in punk bands despite what he describes as his lack of musicalaptitude. But I loved entertaining, he says, and the crafting of

words and realised thats where I should really be putting my

efforts.

After graduation, Griffiths taught for a few years at a school in

rural Victoria where he was shocked to discover many of the

students thought reading was boring. Reflecting on his own very

different childhood in this regard, Griffiths had the idea to write

little embarrassing stories about when he was a kid

himself that he would then share with the class in order to kick start

them into writing about their own experiences.

In the process of doing this, Griffiths says he began filling up books

full of memories, then dreams and I was soon creating fiction. Andtaking the best of what I wrote and photocopying [the material] into

little self published books. This eventually gave him the confidence to

quit teaching in 1991 in order to pursue writing full time.

During this next phase, Griffiths continued to self-publish little books

which he sold at markets where a growingalbeit smallfan base

convinced him there was an audience for his nutty sense of humour.

In contrast, those publishers he sent his early manuscripts to just sent

him rejection letters.

Griffiths says he received 12 of these before his fortune took a

dramatic turn after illustrator Terry Denton agreed to illustrate Just

Tricking!, the first volume in the much loved Just!Series. The book

came out in 1994 and was the first of many that went on to sell tens of

thousands of copies and earn the author rave reviews and numerous

awards. Hardly surprising that Griffiths today is a household name

especially if that household has children.

Read full blog here.

.

WATCH ANDYS

PRESENTATION. LINK.
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/andy-griffiths-came-captivate-young-readers/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xtFFL0T68Ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xtFFL0T68Ehttp://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/andy-griffiths-came-captivate-young-readers/


13/16


PETREA KING

THE GIFT OF SUFFERINGIt might not feel like it at the time but many of us would agree that after

weve emerged from a period of blackness, theres a sense the

experience has changed us in a positive way.

One person whos all too familiar with this suffering-induced

metamorphosis is Petrea King, well-known cancer survivor and

Founding Director of the Quest for Life Foundation, a centre established

to help those facing (according to the website) any of lifes Ds, whether

its a diagnosis, divorce, death, depression or disaster.

King says that its often only through trauma that people take the time to

consider the bigger existential questions. Certainly many can relate to

that wonderful place where [we] get to in life, where we say, Thats it,

somethings got to change and its me.

Hence King defines recovery as ideally a process during which we

deepen our self-understanding (namely through connecting with what she

describes as our first nature) and re-order our priorities. She says,

Youll often hear people say, Its second nature to me to think, feel, react

like this without ever questioning, well, what is your firstnature?

Admittedly, such revelations are often preceded by a crisis but then thats

usually whats needed to divert us from the worldly and often trite

preoccupations that keep us from turning our attention inward.

King agrees that religious traditions have been a rich source of

wisdom for her, probably ever since she was a child and

experienced what she can only describe as a moment that

occurred quite serendipitously when she was simply running

around the side of the house, and suddenly the whole physical

world seemed to be completely transparent, and there was this

blinding, glorious something that was in everything.

Despite having what sounds very much like a flash of insight

into ultimate reality, King still had her own rocky road to travel

including childhood illness, family suicide and then when she

was in her early 30s, a serious cancer diagnosis that, she says,

brought her face to face with a black hole of painful feelings

shed been resisting to detrimental effecther entire life.

The story she tells of surviving this and other ordeals, how she

was able to explore and discover the heart that can contain

all of the anguish without losing any capacity to love continues

to be an inspiration to all those who flock to Quest seeking out

Kings wisdom and guidance.

Read full blog here.

WATCH PETREA IN

ACTION. LINK.
http://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/gift-suffering/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfsMgoc6s8khttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfsMgoc6s8khttp://www.thinkandbehappy.com.au/gift-suffering/


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Additional speaker information:

PROFESSOR MIHALY CZIKSZENTMIHALYI

Mihaly will present Living in flow the secret of happiness on Day 1 of the conference as well as a half-day post-conference workshop

Flow the psychology of happiness.

MATTHIEU RICARD - THE HABITS OF HAPPINESS

Matthieu will present Cultivating altriusm a path to happiness on Day 1 of the conference as well as the pre-conference workshop

Towards a more altruistic society.

PROFESSOR JEAN TWENGE - THE NARCISSISM EPIDEMIC

Jean will present The narcissism epediemic causes and solutions on Day 1 of the conference as well as a post-conference workshop

on the same topic.

PROFESSOR ROY BAUMEISTER- THE SCIENCE OF WILLPOWER

Roy will present Willpower how to make it work for you on Day 1 of the conference as well as a post-conference workshop

Willpowerrediscovering the greatest human strength.

DR JANE GOODALL MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Jane will present Sowing the seeds of hope on Day 2 of the conference.

HUGH MACKAY

THE GOOD LIFEHugh will present What makes a life worth living on Day 2 of the conference.

ANDY GRIFFITHS - HOW ONE AUTHOR CAME TO CAPTIVATE YOUNG READERS

Andy will present Tour of the treehouse on Day 1 of the conference.

PETREA KING - THE GIFT OF SUFFERING

Petrea will present Peace in practice caring for ourselves and others on Day 1 of the conference.


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Thank you to our partners for assisting us in distributing this eBook:
http://www.langleygroup.com.au/emotional-intelligence.htmlhttp://www.worldhappinessforum.org/index.stmhttp://www.wellbeing.com.au/http://mindgardener.com/http://www.mentalhealth.asn.au/http://www.thehappinessinstitute.com/


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