Gross National Happiness 2
Gross National Happiness — the second international conference
I've worked in communications for three decades and over that period I've worked on many wonderful projects.
I was not very far into communicating the scope of the Rethinking Development: Local Pathways to Wellbeing conference, that it dawned on me that this was by far the most magnificent project I had ever worked on in my life!
GNH 2, was large in every respect: the Gross National Happiness - GNH dimension; the global scope; the quality of the presenters and presentations; the range of topics and their relevance to a sustainable future; the sincere altruistic focus; the poignant truth quality; the open space open heart quality that made for moisture in the eyes day in day out; the way everywhere one turned there was another compelling and engaging conversation just waiting to happen...
By the end of the conference, I was convinced I had just experienced the best — most wonderful — week of my life. My eldest son who attended the Rethinking Development Teen Program agreed, "best week of my life."
What happened in Antigonish was monumental, historic, and all the more exceptional in that it all happened with 400 or 500 people on a quiet campus in the middle of nowhere Nova Scotia...
My experience was transformative. I could generalize and say that perhaps most persons attending GNH 2 were shaken at their roots. Speaking with Bhutanese delegates post conference however, I discovered that not much had changed for them — although they did leave the conference with renewed confidence in Gross National Happiness.
Over coming days and weeks more and more conference proceedings and photos will be posted to the conference website. Most recent, Bhutan Home Minister, Jigmi Thinley's keynote speech has been posted both under "Proceedings"
This blog has been created for folks who were at the conference who would like to share their insights and experiences. If you were not there and yet feel a connection somehow, we'd also like to hear from you. May everyone benefit.
Tashi Delek,
Ken Wallace
sealevel.ns.ca
+1 902 820-2233
I've worked in communications for three decades and over that period I've worked on many wonderful projects.
I was not very far into communicating the scope of the Rethinking Development: Local Pathways to Wellbeing conference, that it dawned on me that this was by far the most magnificent project I had ever worked on in my life!
GNH 2, was large in every respect: the Gross National Happiness - GNH dimension; the global scope; the quality of the presenters and presentations; the range of topics and their relevance to a sustainable future; the sincere altruistic focus; the poignant truth quality; the open space open heart quality that made for moisture in the eyes day in day out; the way everywhere one turned there was another compelling and engaging conversation just waiting to happen...
By the end of the conference, I was convinced I had just experienced the best — most wonderful — week of my life. My eldest son who attended the Rethinking Development Teen Program agreed, "best week of my life."
What happened in Antigonish was monumental, historic, and all the more exceptional in that it all happened with 400 or 500 people on a quiet campus in the middle of nowhere Nova Scotia...
My experience was transformative. I could generalize and say that perhaps most persons attending GNH 2 were shaken at their roots. Speaking with Bhutanese delegates post conference however, I discovered that not much had changed for them — although they did leave the conference with renewed confidence in Gross National Happiness.
Over coming days and weeks more and more conference proceedings and photos will be posted to the conference website. Most recent, Bhutan Home Minister, Jigmi Thinley's keynote speech has been posted both under "Proceedings"
This blog has been created for folks who were at the conference who would like to share their insights and experiences. If you were not there and yet feel a connection somehow, we'd also like to hear from you. May everyone benefit.
Tashi Delek,
Ken Wallace
sealevel.ns.ca
+1 902 820-2233
posted by Sealevel at 11:11 PM
3 Comments:
I read the article this week in the NY Times, and while I was not at the conference, I am enormously interested. I've been thinking about this on my own, so I felt an immediate kinship. I'm happy you're including and inviting people who were not at the conference to comment. How does one get involved?
Anonymous did not mean to be anonymous. Pretty lousy way to get started with gnh!
Marian in New York
I too read the NY times article and I thought it was great. I too have been tinkering with this sort of idea in the last few months. The difference is that I'm a computer scientist and I'd be looking for a way to actually measure this stuff day to day. I couldn't find any numbers anywhere, or a graph over time or some such thing. Any hints?
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