{"product_id":"a-culture-of-happiness-isbn-9781952692314","title":"A Culture of Happiness","description":"\u003cb\u003ePractical principles for creating conditions for happiness at scale from the program director of the Gross National Happiness Center of Bhutan, the only country in the world to measure progress by the happiness of its citizens.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite countless happiness programs focused on individual well-being, are we any happier, really? Is it in fact possible to be fully happy within a miserably dysfunctional society built to keep structures of inequity in place? Possible, perhaps, but not easy. While the pursuit of happiness is a much-celebrated ideal, how\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ecan countries and communities design the right environments for people to lead happy lives?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003ePersonal programs for happiness that include mindfulness, empathy, and gratitude are a good start, but without structural changes, they can only go so far. Taking the case of the country of Bhutan as an example, the nation's first Gross National Happiness program director Tho Ha Vinh explains how the principles of happiness can and must apply to people, families, and communities at scale to produce the conditions for a truly satisfying life. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMore and more people feel that we live in a time of transition and that our very survival on this planet depends on renewing the way we live together in society. Gross National Happiness is an innovative development paradigm that puts the interconnected happiness of all people and the well-being of all life forms at the center of progress. Based on real-life experiences, this book shows a multitude of practical methods for strategic thinkers and change makers to apply the framework of Gross National Happiness to bring about positive change in schools, businesses, and communities.\"I greatly admired and closely followed the initiatives developed by Tho Ha Vinh based on the teachings of mindfulness that we all learned from 'Thay,' Thich Nhat Hanh.… This book is a guide to practicing generosity in one's thoughts, words, and deeds and to understanding that the happiness and suffering of others is closely linked to one's own happiness and suffering. It is based on the conviction that transformation begins within each and every one, but must also contribute to creating a fairer society and a better world.\"—\u003cb\u003eSister Chan Khong\u003c\/b\u003e, cofounder of Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism and author of \u003ci\u003eLearning True Love\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No one could fail to recognize 'the real Dr. Tho.' Unique among happiness experts, he speaks from an incomparable wealth of experience. If you want to read just one book on the subject, this is it.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBrother David Steindl-Rast\u003c\/b\u003e, Benedictine monk and cofounder of www.gratefulness.org\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A close student of the great Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh who brought mindfulness to the West, there cannot be a better person to explore mindfulness as a source of wellness and happiness than Tho Ha Vinh.… In accessible language, he shows how individuals and organizations can become mindful and thus obtain higher accomplishments not only for themselves and their organization, but also for humanity as a whole. This book will enable everyone to transform themselves for a saner and happier world.\"—\u003cb\u003eSaamdu Chetri, PhD\u003c\/b\u003e, former executive director of the GNH Centre, Bhutan, and Head of Good Governance, PMO, Bhutan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This remarkable book unfolds Bhutan’s brave and powerful vision and explores what true and compassionate national and personal development could mean for our world today and in the future.… A powerful call to humankind to wake up to its full potential before it is too late and to commit to an ethos of cooperation and care. This book is a must-read at this moment in our history.”—\u003cb\u003eRoshi Joan Halifax\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eStanding at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Nourishing and uplifting, Dr. Tho Ha Vinh’s personal stories and experiences illuminate the philosophy and framework of Gross National Happiness as a foundation for well being at all levels of society. Dr. Tho correlates inner transformation and small acts of kindness with pragmatic societal development. With this book, you are not only learning a framework of mindful governance, you are perhaps including yourself in a new level of reverence for humanity and all of life.”—\u003cb\u003eNipun Mehta\u003c\/b\u003e, founder of ServiceSpace\u003cb\u003eTho Ha Vinh, PhD,\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1951, the son of a Vietnamese father and a French mother. He was the program director of the Gross National Happiness Center (GNH) of the country of Bhutan from 2012 to 2018. Serving as the Head of Training, Learning, and Development at the International Committee of the Red Cross, he trained humanitarian professionals working in war zones and emergency response in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and Darfur. He holds a PhD in psychology and education from Geneva University, Switzerland.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThakur S. Powdyel \u003c\/b\u003eserved as Bhutan's first democratically elected government's Minister of Education from 2008 through 2013 and is the recipient of the Global Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education.For tens of thousands of years, the place of\u003cbr\u003ehumankind on the planet was a relatively\u003cbr\u003einsignificant one. Natural forces of all sorts—\u003cbr\u003eweather, disease, food sources, predatory animals\u003cbr\u003e—were so much more powerful than the limited\u003cbr\u003eabilities of our ancestors. All ancient cultures felt\u003cbr\u003ethis domination of these forces, visible or invisible,\u003cbr\u003eand initially submitted to them. But later, humans\u003cbr\u003ebegan working to control them—cultivating food\u003cbr\u003esources rather than hunting and gathering, forging\u003cbr\u003eincreasingly lethal weapons and building\u003cbr\u003eincreasingly strong shelters and then cities.\u003cbr\u003eThe effort to gain the upper hand over these\u003cbr\u003enatural forces took millennia to bear fruit, but in\u003cbr\u003erecent centuries, this situation has begun\u003cbr\u003echanging rapidly. Today, it is the planet and all its\u003cbr\u003especies that are dependent on humans for their\u003cbr\u003esurvival and well-being. Despite this, we humans\u003cbr\u003eare still behaving as our ancestors did, not realizing\u003cbr\u003ethat the responsibility has shifted and that we are\u003cbr\u003enow accountable for the well-being—and possibly\u003cbr\u003eeven the survival—of life on earth. In past eras our\u003cbr\u003emain concern was the well-being of our species,\u003cbr\u003ewhich was constantly threatened by natural forces\u003cbr\u003efar greater than us. Today, it is the reverse: our\u003cbr\u003eplanet and all living beings are dependent on us,\u003cbr\u003ebut we have not yet been able to fully grasp the\u003cbr\u003eresponsibility that has been bestowed upon us, or\u003cbr\u003ewhich we have bestowed upon ourselves. Our\u003cbr\u003ehuman-centric world view has become destructive\u003cbr\u003efor the environment and all living beings. Furthermore,\u003cbr\u003eit will ultimately threaten our own future, if\u003cbr\u003ewe do not wake up to our sacred duty: the need to\u003cbr\u003ecare for the well-being of all life forms.\u003cbr\u003eBy and large, all our social systems and\u003cbr\u003estructures are remnants of a time when we were\u003cbr\u003efocused on our own needs, disregarding those\u003cbr\u003eof other species and nature. But if we don’t take\u003cbr\u003einto consideration the reality of the Anthropocene\u003cbr\u003e—that we have assumed stewardship over our\u003cbr\u003eplanet—these structures and systems will become\u003cbr\u003eself-destroying. [...]Life Lessons from Bhutan, the Original Country of Gross National Happiness","brand":"Parallax Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301369204965,"sku":"NP9781952692314","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781952692314.jpg?v=1767720396","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-culture-of-happiness-isbn-9781952692314","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}