The Pursuit of Happiness - Panel Session

Tuesday 19 September 06

It’s the buzzword of the decade, the ever-evasive goal - happiness. We’ve been ransacking self-help bookstores for the key to finding the true source of happiness. In our minds, the goal is urgent. We’re building material empires, creating fulfilling careers and raising a family to boot.

We've barely got time to have a meaningful conversation. Why is it that, in the last 50 years, Western society has learnt how to grow in wealth, in health and in technological brilliance - yet not in happiness?

Rarely are we presented with an opportunity to explore with the experts how happiness weaves its way into our hectic lifestyles. Lynn Ralph facilitated this highly focused discussion drawing on the wisdom of our panellists to ask: What is the true source of happiness?

We were delighted to have so many people new to Catalyst attend and enjoy the spirit of the event. Passionate conversations on the topic continued well into the evening.


There were two terrific member prizes. Congratulations to Monica Carroll for winning the Red Balloon Day Voucher and Mark Holden for winning The Happiness Institute coaching session.


The Panel:

Dr Timothy Sharp
Timothy is the founder of The Happiness Institute and is a highly regarded clinical and coaching psychologist and public speaker. He is a lecturer at the universities of Sydney and NSW, and is a best selling author (‘The Happiness Handbook’ and ‘The Good Sleep Guide’). Timothy has featured regularly on TV and in print, and is passionate about helping people achieve work/life balance, productivity and happiness.

www.drhappy.com.au

Dr Caroline West
A lecturer in philosophy at the University of Sydney, Caroline’s areas of teaching and research are wide ranging and include metaphysics (especially issues of identity, persistence and personal identity), moral philosophy (meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics), political philosophy and feminist philosophy.

www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/philos/staff/west.html

Rami Sivan
Rami is a registered nurse, yoga teacher, indological scholar and astrological counsellor. He specialises in Sanskrit literature and Indian Philosophy. He teaches the philosophy and theory of Yoga in Australia and the USA, is a regular contributor of articles on Hindu philosophy to yoga magazines and is a guest lecturer in Iconography at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Lynn Ralph (Facilitator)
Lynn is a master facilitator who has worked with a wide range of Australian organisations to improve the performance of their board of directors. She has 15 years funds management experience and 25 cumulative years of board experience. Lynn is a former Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securities Commission and is currently Managing Director of CameronRalph Pty Ltd.

Click on the thumbnails to view the photos from the event.