Mark Williamson - Confessions of a recovering people pleaser

We've known Mark and Action for Happiness for many years but this conversation was different. Here we learned about Mark's sometimes painful journey into the world of social entrepreneurship. It was a real pleasure to talk about:  Big questions such as "What really matters in life?"What happens when you climb the ladder of success only to find you're climbing the wrong ladderWhat it takes to help people experience and create a happier worldHow our leaders have forgotten to focus on the greatest happiness for the greatest numberWhy measuring GDP at a national level and personal wealth at an individual level does not measure successHow Coca Cola have cheapened happinessWhy the feeling of happiness is so universal but what makes us happy can be so differentThe benefits of the Stoic philosophy of choosing how we react to situations  Changing ourselves when we are no longer able to change the situationThe importance of 'meta cognition' aka 'noticing how you feel' as the first step to doing something about itThe role of the Dalai Lama in the Action for Happiness movement What it means to live a good life and care about each otherThe Dalai Lama's secularism and his sense that we need to create a new way of being Consumerism and why it's such a poor substitute for purpose and a shared humanityThe trials and tribulations of growing up in a loving Malvern familyNoticing a depressed peer in the year above and using it as the motivation to studyHis ten years as a management consultant where he focused on the money but wasn't proud of what he didHow he had neglected the emotional side of life The power of the 'good life crisis' and how it can help provide directionHow Mark's increasing emotional discomfort with his work turned into a constant physical pain Mark's low point when he was diagnosed with a degenerative hereditary spinal disorder and faced the prospect of a wheelchair in his 40's'Back Sense', his wife's gifted book that prompted him to think himself free of painHis interest in the placebo effectHow his MBA allowed him to slowly understand himself and the human condition The importance of Kate, Mark's then girlfriend and now wife, in helping him do something differentThe struggle of bringing oneself to work versus knowing when to stop when you doThe options that come with a frugal lifeThe difficulty and the power of listening to your gutMeeting Neil Crofts and answering his three questions:What are you really good at? What are you passionate about?What makes you angry?  The angst of leaving The Carbon Trust and a job he loved for the challenge of Action for Happiness Life as a recovering people pleaserFollowing the energy when deciding where to put your own energyThe future of Action for Happiness  Why personal success and community success is not a zero sum gain / why me and we are the same thinghttps://www.actionforhappiness.org/www.neilcrofts.comwww.backsense.org