Action for Happiness

Living a happier life isn't just good for people, it could also hold the key to saving our planet - by encouraging us to focus less on excessive material consumption and more on the things that really make us happy. If we can switch the goal of modern society away from just maximising material prosperity towards maximising all-round human well-being, we not only improve people's lives, we can also help preserve our planet for future generations.

Caring about happiness isn't some luxury just for the privileged few. Happiness is a basic human need and we should take it into account when thinking about the way we support vulnerable people. There are practical ways we can help people make the most of their present circumstances, however challenging. This can help provide energy and motivation for people to address problems, set goals, be resilient to set backs and to progress in life. This focus needs to run alongside the traditional model of support, not follow on afterwards.

20 March 2013 is the very first United Nations International Day of Happiness. To celebrate the day, Action for Happiness is working in partnership a network of amazing, like-minded organisations who share our vision for a flourishing world. We're encouraging people all around the world to ACT and bring happiness to others.

As we begin the new year and people plan their 'resolutions' for 2013, Action for Happiness is encouraging a different approach from the usual, dull self-improvement list. Instead, people are being encouraged to do things to make themselves and others around them happier. Evidence shows that how happy we are has a greater impact on our health and how long we live than stopping smoking or losing weight.

Saturday 10th November 2012 is Scotland's Happiness Day, a unique and inspiring day of activities organised by Action for Happiness supporter Kim Macleod. In this inspiring article she explains what motivated her to put on the event and why she believes we all deserve to be happy - even when things go wrong in life - and how we can all do things to make others around us happier too.

On 2 April 2012, the first ever United Nations conference on happiness and wellbeing is taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York. It builds on a UN General Assembly resolution agreed in July 2011 encouraging countries to promote the happiness of their citizens. To mark the conference, a new World Happiness Report is being released, edited by John Helliwell, Jeffrey Sachs and Action for Happiness co-founder Richard Layard.

In recent decades our lives have become increasingly orientated in the service of the economy, rather than the other way around. Yet economic growth is really just a means to an end; it only matters if it contributes to social progress and human wellbeing. Mark Williamson explains why a happier society requires both requires both policy and social change and responds to the first results of the UK government’s initiative to measure our levels of wellbeing.

Today is World Happy Day and thousands of people are joining together in communities all over the world to watch the film Happy. Screenings are taking place at over 600 locations in 60 countries across all 7 continents. Happy is an inspiring documentary from Academy Award nominated director Roko Belic (Genghis Blues) that aims to discover what really makes us happy.

Professor Lord Richard Layard, co-founder of Action for Happiness, discusses happiness, cultural values, mental health, schools and cognitive behavioural therapy with Richard Holloway in a recent interview on BBC radio.

A mental health campaign launched last October, and supported by Action for Happiness, has led to the creation of student-led advocacy groups at 25 universities. The campaign, led by Mental Wealth UK, was in response to a report highlighting the threats to student wellbeing. The groups will work to promote good mental health and wellbeing on their campuses throughout 2012.

Roko Belic’s Happy is a hugely inspiring film. Its cast of characters is anything but stereotypical. We meet pensioners from Okinawa, Danish co-housing inhabitants, Namibian Bushmen, a disfigured former debutante from America, a surfer from Brazil, an Indian rickshaw driver, an amateur crab fisherman from Louisiana, and some unusually down-to-earth academics. The film reminds us of some simple truths about happiness - which many of us tend to forget amid the distracting sensory bombardment of modern life

As a new year approaches and people plan their 'resolutions' for the year ahead, Action for Happiness is encouraging a different approach from the usual, dull self-improvement list. Instead, people are being asked to take the Action for Happiness pledge and do things to make themselves and others happier. Evidence shows that how happy you are can have a greater impact on your health and how long you live than stopping smoking or losing weight.

Wow, what a year 2011 has been. So many happy memories! This is just the beginning of the journey towards a happier society - and we still need huge changes right across our society - but there has been a lot of encouraging progress during the year. Here are some of the highlights.

People are right to be indignant about the malfunctionings of our economic system. But this only helps if linked to some clear principle to guide our priorities. Action for Happiness believes the aim should be a society in which there is the most happiness and above all the least misery.

This summer the UK was rocked by riots with young people playing the major role in the looting of shops. Mariam Akhtar asks whether the use of positive psychology can connect with disaffected adolescents and help them to be more resilient and find better routes to happiness and positive emotions?

The path to inner joy is simple – do acts of kindness, relax and be thankful for what you've got. According to Action for Happiness, little things like this can really improve our lives. But can they really work? Hannah Booth spent a week putting them to the test.

A fundamental cultural change is underway in Britain: we are beginning to think that the purpose of life and of government might be the well-being of the people rather than the creation of wealth. Similar subversive ideas are growing in other rich countries, but they are more advanced in Britain than elsewhere.

In the aftermath of last night's riots in London and other UK cities people are shocked and angry. Happiness seems almost irrelevant. Yet if we stop to look at what might be the underlying drivers of this behaviour, many of these lead back to important issues at the heart of the happiness agenda.

Practicing positive activities may serve as an effective, low-cost treatment for people suffering from depression, according to researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Duke University Medical Center.

Action for Happiness calls for government action to improve well-being not just measure it. As the government today confirms its plans to measure national well-being, Action for Happiness is calling on the government to start reshaping policy to increase well-being. It is urging much greater priority for mental health, life skills education and support for the most disadvantaged.

In September 2010, an eclectic group was brought together by Martin Seligman, founder of the Positive Psychology movement, to share thoughts on the subject of "flourishing". Attendees included headmasters, a doctor, a psychiatrist, a poet, an economist, a neuroscientist, authors, professors, students, philanthropists, game inventors and a movie producer. Lindsay Doran shares what she learnt.

Happiness is now on the agenda, and about time too. But is this just a trendy fad, or should there be a permanent change in the way we think about the purposes of politics?

Is this the beginning of a big cultural shift? We think it's fantastic that so many people are now talking about happiness. They're starting to recognise that it comes less from money or material things and more from great relationships, peace of mind and being part of something bigger.

Film director David Puttnam considers areas where we can contribute to our collective happiness. He argues that the key is to put our longer-term needs - such as living sustainably and having a deeper commitment to our communities - ahead of our short-term individual desires.

Martin Seligman lays out his vision for 51% of the world's population to be "flourishing" by 2051

Action for Happiness member Dr Chris Johnstone is a specialist in the psychology of resilience, happiness and positive change. In this article he explains why the deepest satisfactions tend not to be those that come most easily. There’s often a journey involved.

It's been an incredible few weeks for our movement. We officially launched on April 12 and created a huge buzz across television, radio, newspapers and online. Over 12,000 of us have now joined from more than 100 countries which is a fantastic start!

If you want to be happy, elect your boss, take a break from your mobile phone and give to charity — that's the advice from a new global movement for happiness whose members include the Dalai Lama.

An exciting thing happened in London, on Tuesday. Action for Happiness, a new charity, celebrated its launch. Action for Happiness' mission is to encourage people to increase the happiness of others. Because doing good feels good. They have already connected with a wide range of charities, companies, and community organizations which promote happiness, and are looking to expand their already global network.

As drivers angrily beeped their horns and cyclists weaved impatiently through London's traffic, Amandeep Hothi stood cheerily on the pavement holding aloft a sign offering, in pink letters, "Free Hugs". Hothi is part of a new group called Action for Happiness, whose members aim to boost the net amount of joy in the world by being kind to others and countering "an epidemic of loneliness and isolation".

The world's first membership organisation dedicated to spreading happiness has been officially launched. Action for Happiness, which claims to have 4,500 members in more than 60 countries, says it prioritises healthy relationships and meaningful activities as a means to happier living. It has ambitions to become what it calls "a global mass movement for fundamental cultural change".

A new mass movement to create a happier society launches today (Tuesday 12 April 2011). Action for Happiness aims at a fundamentally different culture, where people care more for the happiness of others. The initiative is calling for people to pledge to create more happiness in the world and take positive action to promote happiness in whatever way they can - at home, at work or in the community.

Research suggests that despite having much more materially than previous generations, the country is no happier than it was half a century ago. Experts warn that unless we undergo a “radical cultural change”, Britain will slide into unprecedented depths of despair blighted by rising rates of suicide and depression. A group of eminent British thinkers from the worlds of education, economics and politics – backed by the Dalai Lama – yesterday launched a campaign to halt the nation’s psychological decline.

Today sees the launch of Action for Happiness - a new mass movement for social change founded by three pioneering thinkers, Richard Layard, Geoff Mulgan and Anthony Seldon. It is based on one simple idea – that if we want a happier society, we've got to approach our own lives in a way that prioritises the things that really matter, including the happiness of those around us.

Lord Richard Layard discusses what we can do to create a happier society. This lecture was presented on 10 March 2011. Lord Layard, Emeritus Professor of Economics at LSE explores four critical areas of our lives that can be optimised to increase happiness: income, human relationships, altruism and work. He goes on to discuss the Action for Happiness movement, which launches on 12 April 2011 and aims to encourage a mass movement of people pursuing a better way of life.

Do you agree that your life has a sense of purpose? Would you say that, overall, you have a lot to be proud of? Do you wish you lived somewhere else? Coming out of the blue, these are tricky questions to answer. Yet they aren’t aimed at adults. They come from a questionnaire for children aged 11 to 16.

How do people "bounce back" after a period of adversity in their lives? It's a question hundreds of women in community centres across London have been grappling with in recent months. In all, 320 women in 20 boroughs volunteered to take part in a series of eight workshops with the alluring title of "DIY Happiness".

Low taxes, freedom of speech, equality... the government can provide or withhold many of the things that make life better. Now a new organisation called Action for Happiness wants to spread the message of how we can change the world for the better

The idea that happiness matters is very British in its modern origins. In the mid-18th century, the Scottish philosopher Frances Hutcheson was the first to describe the best society as the one that had "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". Similar ideas were held by his friends Adam Smith and David Hume. But the genius who carried the idea much further was Jeremy Bentham, the English lawyer who inspired so many of the legal and social reforms of the early 19th century. Later in the 19th century the idea was powerfully restated by John Stuart Mill.

Whether we are looking at studies of older adults, middle-aged women, or preteens, we see that altruistic behavior casts a halo effect over people’s lives, giving them greater longevity, lower rates of heart disease, and better mental health. This article provides six suggestions for how to expand your habits of helping.

We can all take positive steps to increase our wellbeing, and a new organisation, Action for Happiness, is here to help. Most of us would agree that this vision looks highly admirable and if we embrace it and see where we find ourselves in ten years’ time, it could be an enlightening, and hopefully a happier, decade.

The Institute of Child Education and Psychology, Europe (ICEP Europe) is offering members of Action for Happiness free scholarships for the online course, Teaching Happiness: Positive Psychology for behaviour and learning.

The concept of happiness is universally understood, yet escapes all comprehension. Can someone really be both unhappy everyday and happy over a lifetime? Does the notion of happiness change throughout the world, between communities, between people? Most importantly, do we have any choice in the matter? Recent research in psychology, economics and public policy may help unravel this tangled knot of questions.

Action for Happiness has partnered with BBC Breakfast to run a week-long Happiness Challenge all this week (24-29 Jan). The aim is to get members of the public trying out simple actions to improve their happiness, based on the latest scientific research.

Recently, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, asked two Nobel economists, Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, to come up with a way to measure well-being. Now David Cameron has asked the Office for National Statistics to do the same.

Mark Williamson wrote this article for our friends at Do The Green Thing in support of their campaign for international Buy Nothing day. "Let’s stop aiming for lives filled with riches and focus instead on helping people lead richer lives".

"Don't worry, be happy" may be more than just a wishful mantra. A new study finds that people's happiness levels can change substantially over their lifetimes, suggesting that happiness isn't predetermined by genes or personality.

A growing school of thought believes that we have actually gained something from the last few years of economic gloom; that we are starting to value the things that matter: our friends, homes and the world we live in. Even more remarkably, they suggest that these things are making us happier than the conspicuous consumption and hedonism of the boom years.

What if it really is possible for individuals and whole societies to shape and boost their happiness? This simple but extraordinarily powerful idea lies behind Action for Happiness - a movement for positive social change.