TWO-DAY CONFERENCE PROGRAM

WHAT IS HAPPINESS?
Dr. Paul Ekman, acknowledged as one of the 100 most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century, WILL TALK ABOUT the difference between happiness as a trait, a state and a perspective, and the twelve different happy emotional states.

THE HISTORY OF HAPPINESS
Professor Darrin McMahon, Professor of History at Florida State University, author of the recent bestselling Happiness: A History, WILL TALK ABOUT the extraordinary revolution in the expectations of the Western world since the eighteenth century when happiness was conceived as a natural human right.

IS HAPPINESS POSSIBLE? THE EAST
Dr. Thupten Jinpa, highest graduate of the Tibetan monastic university system, a PhD in Religious Studies from Cambridge University, Principal Translator to the Dalai Lama, and Visiting Scholar at Stanford Neuroscience Institute’s Project Compassion WILL TALK ABOUT how, according to Buddhism, happiness is achievable and that our own mind plays a central role: changing our perceptions of ourselves and the world and, paradoxically, moving away from self-centeredness to an other-centered openness of heart.

IS HAPPINESS POSSIBLE? THE WEST
Professor Owen Flanagan, Professor of Philosophy and of Neurobiology, Duke University, WILL TALK ABOUT the findings of the past few years on neuroplasticity and consciousness and what they say about the capacity of human beings to become happier.

IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION
Ekman, Jinpa, McMahon and Flanagan moderated by Dr. B. Alan Wallace, President of the Santa Barbara Institute of Consciousness Studies, author of Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness and Genuine Happiness: Meditation as a Path to Fulfillment.

ARE HAPPY PEOPLE HEALTHIER?
Professor Anne Harrington, Chair, Professor for History of Science at Harvard University, Harvard College Professor, WILL TALK ABOUT the history, controversy and legacy of positive thinking, as well as community and tranquility, and their health benefits.

WHY ZEBRAS DON’T GET ULCERS: STRESS, DISEASE AND COPING
Professor Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biological Sciences and of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, WILL TALK ABOUT stress and where stress-related diseases come from, based on his book of the same name.

SUPPRESSING SADNESS PREVENTS HAPPINESS
Professor David Spiegel, Associate Chair, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford School of Medicine; Director of Stanford Center on Stress and Health, WILL TALK ABOUT the importance of emotional expression, how repression is bad for our health, and how learning to be open to negative emotions actually reduces anxiety and depression.

TREATING THE WHOLE PERSON
Dr. William Andereck, MD, Director of California Pacific Medical Center’s Program in Medicine and Human Values, San Francisco, WILL TALK ABOUT the necessity and benefits of treating the whole person, not just the illness.

IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION
Harrington, Sapolsky, Spiegel and Andereck, moderated by Dr. David S. Sobel, Medical Director of Patient Education and Health Promotion for The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. and Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

WORK
IS GOOGLE THE BEST EMPLOYER?
Chade-Meng Tan, Google’s Jolly Good Fellow (which nobody can deny) WILL TALK to Monika Broecker, independent leadership development and personal growth consultant and former head of Google University's School of Personal Growth, ABOUT the amazing environment that Google provides for the wellbeing of its thousands employees.

SOCIETY
MANAGING A CITY
Ross Mirkarimi, a member of San Francisco city’s Board of Supervisors and co-founder of the California Green Party WILL TALK ABOUT what it takes to provide the appropriate conditions for the wellbeing of millions of citizens in a modern metropolis while respecting the harmony of the natural environment.

INDIVIDUALS
HELPING THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS
Lawrence Rose, President, Sussex Publishing, publisher of Psychology Today, whose online Therapy Directory of 20,000+ therapists receives 700,000 visitors every month; and Ben Eiland, Program Director of Substance Abuse Treatment Services for Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics in San Francisco, which provide free cutting-edge medical treatment for the uninsured and underinsured of San Francisco, WILL TALK ABOUT how they provide the means for alleviating the suffering of human beings, whether the depression, anxiety and loneliness of those who can afford to pay for help or the mental and physical illness of those who cannot.

SPORTS
Sayaka Matsumoto, seven-time senior national judo champion, a member of the 2008 USA Olympic team, who has practiced judo since the age of 5, WILL TALK ABOUT how a disciplined physical activity can help a human being develop their potential for happiness and wellbeing.

DANCE
Gina Gibney, Artistic Director of Gina Gibney Dance, WILL TALK ABOUT her company’s projects that offer dance and creative expression to women survivors of domestic abuse, people affected by HIV/AIDS, and youth at risk.

MUSIC
Urs Leonhardt Steiner, Founder and Director of San Francisco Sinfonietta, WILL TALK ABOUT how singing can improve our mental health [and will prove it by asking the audience to sing a simple song!].

Melissa Mathison, award-winning screenwriter of ET and Kundun, WILL TALK to Buddhist nun Robina Courtin, about the joy of working closely with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the script for Kundun, the film about his life.

BEYOND HAPPINESS: A SCIENCE OF A MEANINGFUL LIFE
Professor Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at University of California at Berkeley and Director of Greater Good Science Center WILL TALK ABOUT the biological and evolutionary origins of human goodness, in particular compassion, and how emotions such as this are essential to happiness.

MECHANISM OF HAPPINESS: IS EMOTION REGULATION THE KEY TO WELL-BEING?
Dr. Philippe Goldin, clinical research scientist at Stanford University, WILL TALK ABOUT recent brain-behavioral evidence highlighting how happiness may be a complex interaction of emotional awareness, emotion regulation and self-view that function to support well-being or psychopathology and interpersonal dysfunction.

THE POWER OF HOPE
Professor David Feldman, Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University, WILL TALK ABOUT the substantial benefits of hope: how high-hope individuals accomplish their goals more frequently than their low-hope counterparts, report lower levels of depression and anxiety, and experience more meaning in life.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS: CORRELATES WITH COMPASSION
Dr. James Doty, Clinical Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University and the Founder and Director of Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, WILL TALK ABOUT the neuroanatomic correlates of compassion, its cultivation and its relationship to happiness. Why being compassionate is important to being happy and how we might cultivate it.

IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION
Keltner, Keyes, Feldman and Doty, moderated by Professor David Matsumoto, Professor of Psychology and Director of Culture and Emotion Research Laboratory, San Francisco State University

THE ART OF FORGIVENESS
Andre Smith, mentor for minority youth and teacher of anger management in North Carolina prisons, and Linda White, PhD, and Ami White WILL TALK to KRON 4’s Pam Moore about the process each had to go through to come to forgiveness of the young men who murdered their loved ones: Andre’s son and Linda’s daughter who is the mother of Ami.

GOING BEYOND THE INNER PRISON
Robina Courtin, Buddhist nun, Executive Director of Liberation Prison Project, which supports the spiritual practice of thousands of people in American and Australian prisons, WILL TALK ABOUT the amazing resilience of human beings in the face of adversity.

HELPING PEOPLE DIE HAPPILY
Andrew Lasher, MD, Director of Palliative Medicine at San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center, and Yeshe Khadro, Executive Director of Karuna Hospice, a community-based palliative care service in Brisbane, Australia, WILL TALK to Carlyle Coash, Hospice Chaplain with Kaiser San Jose Medical Center and Zen Hospice Project, ABOUT the work they do to help thousands of people incorporate the reality of death into their lives,instead of denying or fearing it.

WE CAN LEARN TO BE HAPPY!
Randy Taran, Founder and Executive Director of Project Happiness in Palo Alto, California WILL TALK ABOUT empowering youth to create greater happiness within themselves and the world. Through her documentary and curriculum, Project Happiness uncovers the potential for happiness in us all.

HOW TO RAISE HAPPY KIDS
Christine Carter, PhD, Executive Director of Greater Good Science Center in Berkeley, California WILL TALK ABOUT the science of raising happy kids.

TEACHING THE WHOLE CHILD
Pamela Cayton, founder of Tara Redwood School, in Santa Cruz, California, WILL TALK ABOUT the Seven Steps to Knowledge, Strength and Compassion, a curriculum developed over 18 years that blends the best of East and West.

IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION
Taran, Carter and Cayton moderated by Dr. Patricia Jennings, MEd, PhD, Director of Garrison Institute's Initiative on Contemplation & Education.