2014 Happiness & Its Causes Conference (HAICC)

This year at the HAICC, a host of my intellectual role models were there – Professor Roy Baumeister (respected psychologist exploring self-control, self-regulation and willpower), Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (leading researcher on ‘flow’ theory and a father of Positive Psychology; tip for you – the phonetic pronunciation is me hi chick cent me hi), Professor Felecia Huppert (international expert on wellbeing and mindfulness), and other presenters whom provided an abundance of wisdom including:

• Matthieu Ricard – Monk, former student of His Holiness the Dhali Lama and inspiring humanitarian
• Hugh Mackay – Australia’s leading social researcher and author of ‘The Good life: What makes life worth living”
• Professor Jean Twenge – psychologist and leading researcher on narcissism
• Dr Jane Goodall, DBE, UK – legendary primatologist, environmentalist and UN Messenger of Peace
• Dr Tim Sharp – aka Dr ‘Happy’
• Dr Helena Popovic- Medical doctor, specialist on how to improve brain function
• Costa Georgiadis – landscape architect and host of Gardening Australia on ABC TV
• Tim Cope – adventurer, author and filmmaker
• Bernie Bolger – businesswoman, psychotherapist, family mediator, financial planner and mother
• Anna Rose – environmental crusader, founder of Australian Youth Climate Coalition, lecturer in leadership and activism, and author
• James Morrison – acclaimed musician and jazz trumpet player extraordinaire
• David Mitchie – best-selling author and meditation coach
• Petrea King – cancer survivor, naturopath, author, mind-body healing pioneer

This post will provide some insights into their wisdom, and other’s who have gone before, with some of my favourite quotes from the conference. Enjoy!

You can live life as a pawn moved around by outside forces, or you can take your life in your own hands

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 

“Scientists and psychologists can always find an explanation. For example:

• If you are early = you are anxious
• If you are on time = OCD
• If you are late = avoidance”

Matthieu Ricard 

I’ve flipped this to:

• If you are early = excited to be there
• If you are on time = you have good time management skills
• If you are late = you stopped to help someone cross the road

“Did you know you can hire fake paparazzi? – what is this world coming too?!”

Jean Twenge discussing examples of our narcissistic culture

“If you want to change behaviour, the first way is to measure it and then track it. Through this you are providing yourself with motivation and forming habits.”

Roy Baumeister

“You are not your body but you need to nourish your body. Rest it. Exercise your body; it is a system if pumps. Fluff it up and make it feel good. You are not your mind, you have a mind; a beautiful servant and harsh master. The present is full of possibilities. Keep mind in good company – people, music, read, and the environment. Don’t hang out with turkeys. You are not your feelings, you have feelings. Find peace that surpasses understanding.”

Petrea King

“I was giving a performance when I was eight years old. My instructions were from the music teacher ‘what ever happens, keep playing’…. So when the trombone slide flew off into the audience after my over exuberance, I kept on playing. And the audience loved it! Since this day, I have learnt that it doesn’t matter what happens, it’s the choice you make when events happen.”

James Morrison

“The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”

Jane Goodall quoting Mahatma Gandhi

“Self-control is like playing offense rather than defense. Through self-control, you are ingraining good habits. As a result, your pot of willpower will not be diminished by the small day-to-day decisions such as the ritual of exercise everyday, brushing your teeth straight after dinner etc etc.”

Roy Baumeister

“There are more reasons to practicing mindfulness than just stress reduction. It would be like having an internet account just to use Facebook.”

David Michie

“Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud”

Maya Angelou

“Nothing is enough for the person for whom enough is too little.”

 Epicurus 

“The purpose of modern medicine is to keep us alive long enough until our body can heal us. However, modern medicine uses the terminology of war and the warfare approach always leaves collateral damage; we are subconsciously setting ourselves up to be resistant to ‘fighting’ the disease.  We need to view healing through a new paradigm, a paradigm of love not war.”

Helena Popovic

“There was a little girl in a Native American village who kept having nightmares about two wolves fighting. One day she tells her Grandpa. He thinks for a while and says, ‘I think one wolf is good and the other evil’. She replies, ‘I think so too, but which one is going to win?’

‘It depends on which one you feed. “

Jane Goodall quoting a Cherokee parable

“We live in a country where change can happen from the bottom up.”

Anna Rose

“We are sitting in the car driving to a game of golf. My buddy says ‘My game of golf isn’t good at the moment’. I reply with ‘Mate, we are driving in the car’