Today, The Independent on Sunday publishes its sixth annual Happy List, naming 100 outstanding people whose volunteering, caring, fundraising, mentoring, charity founding or selflessness makes Britain a more contented, supportive, better-adjusted and happier place.
From the dawn of our creation, our ultimate desire has been to find happiness. This desire is in the nature of things; it is common to all of us, at all times, and in all places. Nature, the material of the universe, is modified by us to create wealth so that this desire may be satisfied.
Today, at the dawn of the Third Millennium, our civilisation has scored its greatest successes in the material sciences. Our glory is the willing application of these achievements to daily life: they have brought us enormous benefits. However, in our understanding of the forces governing the relations between people in society we have shown little aptitude. So tragic is this failure that we have turned the masterpieces of the material sciences into engines of destruction which threaten to annihilate the civilisation which produced them.
This is the challenge of our time: we must either find the way of truth in the government of our relations one with another, or succumb to the results of our ignorance.
Now let us see how so many people have discovered the path to a true and lasting happiness by looking at the Happy List.
“The Happy List began six years ago as an antidote to all those rich lists that worship the super-wealthy, the financially successful, inheritors of millions, and the over-bonused. This list celebrates a different set of values, honouring those who give back, rather than take, those who help others without thought of enriching themselves, and, in many cases, at considerable personal cost. The list has grown in influence and has now become a stand-alone idea in its own right, inspiring Bristol to become the first city to create a “Happy List” of its own. A campaign will launch soon to get other cities to follow Bristol’s example.
As last year, the list is made up exclusively of the unsung, people whose extraordinary efforts have gone unrecognised outside their own circles and communities. Many of them do their good work in a town, village, or limited area. They have been selected not only because what they do is inspiring, but because they are representative of the hundreds of thousands of people who make Britain a happier place by volunteering, fundraising or caring.
The final list is the result of weeks of research, appeals across social media, and scores of nominations from individuals and organisations.”
Read more:
The Independent on Sunday Happy List 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/the-independent-on-sunday-happy-list-2013-8591000.html
*At the GCGI we are delighted and honoured to support this vision of happiness and well-being. Yes, it is true, by being for the common good and acting as volunteers, we too, feel happier, more content and more at ease with ourselves and others.
Please see more below:
The Story of the GCGI: Why Love, Trust, Respect and Gratitude Trumps Economics: Together for the Common Good
http://www.gcgi.info/news/338-the-story-of-the-gcgi
Opening Remarks: In Gratitude for your Friendship and Support