Wednesday 28 March 2012

Ticket giveaway - True Peace and Happiness in the Here and Now

Hello lovely readers, I have a bit of a special treat for you today

I have two tickets to a wonderful talk tomorrow night at the Royal Festival Hall with Thich Nhat Hanh, which is now sold out.

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that the conditions we need to be peaceful and happy are already present - in the here and now - and we can connect with these conditions through the practice of mindfulness.  For more info on him and the talk tomorrow (Thursday 29th) please click here

As a big fan of happiness and mindfulness I bought the tickets as a bit of a birthday present to myself (as that is also tomorrow) but am actually not able to use them myself now after all.

So, since one of the fundamental facets of happiness is to give to others, rather than let the tickets go to waste I would like to give them away to somebody else to enjoy.

I don't want any payment in return, but it would be nice if you could instead donate to Action for Happiness.  Here is some info from them:

"Action for Happiness is a movement for positive social change. We're bringing together people from all walks of life who want to play a part in creating a happier society for everyone.
For fifty years we've aimed relentlessly at higher incomes. But despite being much wealthier, we're no happier than we were five decades ago. At the same time we've seen an increase in wider social issues, including a worrying rise in anxiety and depression in young people. It's time for a positive change in what we mean by progress"

here's a video too

Please visit their website for more info or click here to donate.

Now I must confess I don't have the tickets on me today, they are at home so I can't confirm exact seat numbers or anything but they were around the £25 mark each...I can confirm specific details either this evening or tomorrow morning.

Since I physically have the tickets we'll need to arrange either a pick up from my office behind Selfridges/ somewhere nearby or I can courrier them to somewhere...we can sort that later!

So, please let me know either via facebook or the comments bit of this post if you would be interested and I will be happy to let you have them.

8 comments:

  1. What a lovely, generous thing to do Emma and also for suggesting that people donate to Action for Happiness

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    1. thank you! just glad somebody else gets to enjoy it...and Megan below has promised to report back on how it was so I won't miss out entirely:)

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  2. I'm not sure if you've already had any interest, but I would love to see this talk! I didn't manage to get tickets.
    If the offer is still there, you can contact me at meglewis88@hotmail.co.uk.

    I would be more than happy to donate to actionforhappiness!

    Megan Lewis

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  3. aah i've only just seen your tweet and had a chance to come on here, Emma, what an inspired and lovely thing to do, I used to have a martial arts teacher who cited Thich Nhat Hanh as her inspiration. Megan if per chance you couldn't find anyone to go with, drop me an email natalieb@natalieb.co.uk as i'm actually in London this afternoon. Otherwise, enjoy x

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    1. Hi Natalia, thanks for your message, sorry you didn't spot it earlier! I think Megan took a friend with her. I hope they enjoyed it x

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  4. Hi I would like to give a final BIG THANKYOU to Emma for giving me and my friend a chance to see this :-)
    What an amazing man Thich Nhat Hanh is, he is 86 which I would never had believed- he looks 20 years younger!

    It was a lovely mix of mindfulness meditation, singing, and a talk about how mindfulness breathing can bring us back to the present moment, and how we can only ever experience life fully in the present moment, which I think we all sometimes forget.

    He talked a lot about suffering being an important part to happiness, how we must let ourselves suffer and accept it, in order to let go.
    He also stressed the importance of showing 'loving compassion' to those who suffer- recognising the cause of their suffering, and understanding it will itself start to enable that person to heal.

    What struck me was how if we all practiced this way of being, how different our world would be now!

    Natalia- You can watch the whole talk online, you can watch on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/UKMindfulnessRetreats

    And I can't think of a more worthy charity to donate to than Action For Happiness!!

    It's inspired me to learn more about Buddhism :-))

    Next stop a Mindfulness retreat I think.....

    xxxx

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    1. Hi Megan, I'm so glad you had a good time! and thanks for letting us know about the video, excellent news.

      A few tips I've discovered re Buddhism:

      A buddhist podcast is brilliant.

      William Woollard's book "Buddhism and the Science of Happiness" is such a brilliant book, is a great introduction and is just a fantastic and lovely book anyway. It isn't "religious" or anything just makes a whole lot of sense. He has another book called The Reluctant Buddhist" as well. If you find A Buddhist Podcast (either online or on itunes) he has read both of these books chapter by chapter so I've listened to the whole thing as audio and loved it.

      I've also found a weekly Buddhist meditation class in my town which again, isn't all religious, pushy or chanty or anything but is just brilliant and makes so much sense. There may be one near you.

      I would love to go on a mindfulness retreat too!

      xxx

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  5. Thankyou Emma for the tips, I will defo look up those podcasts.
    And yep I am starting a meditation class in my town this week!
    Also, I'm pretty sure I got the link for the tinybuddha blog from your blog, which if this is the case, thankyou so much its such a great site, so full of inspiration!

    xxx

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