To celebrate World Kindness Day on 13 November, we will be hosting our very first kindness conference with three fantastic guest speakers as part of a range of wellbeing activity throughout November.
Join us on Friday 12 November to hear from Jaime Thurston, Founder and CEO of 52 Lives Charity, Gill Hasson, award winning author of Kindness: Change your life and make the world a kinder place, and philosopher Anja Steinbauer who is the president of Philosophy For All, with an audience Q&A to finish. This event will be chaired by Morley’s Waterloo Centre Principal Gerald Jones.
Gill Hasson
What’s so difficult about kindness?
Are you aware of how you relate to others throughout the day? Is it with kindness? Kindness can create an instant bond, whether fleeting or lasting, that makes a situation easier for someone, assists them or lifts their spirit.
Certainly, it’s not always easy to be kind. It’s not easy but it’s not impossible!
Gill Hasson – author of Kindness: Change your life and make the world a kinder place – explains how to be more aware of opportunities to show kindness and consideration towards others. She explains that even when others are behaving badly towards you – are inconsiderate or deliberately rude – you can respond with kindness.
Kindness can turn a negative situation into a positive one; a kindness from you can make you both feel better. You can be kind more easily and more often!
Jaime Thurston
The Power of Kindness
It’s been an incredibly tough year but, in times of crisis, there is always kindness. Hear how the 52 Lives charity has been changing lives with kindness, and understand more about the science of kindness and the impact it has on our physical and mental health…and hopefully come away feeling like the world is a lovely place!
Jaime is the CEO and founder of 52 Lives, a charity that helps to change someone’s life every week with a community of almost 100,000 supporters. She is also author of ‘Kindness – the little thing that matters most’ and ‘The Kindness Journal.’Jaime was named Clarins Woman of the Year 2016 and has also received a Points of Light Award from the UK Prime Minister and a Richmond Community Award for her work. She was named in The Independent’s Happy 50 Listin 2018, an alternative Rich List that celebrates people who make life better for others. Jaime’s work has also been promoted by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in celebration of organisations that create a sense of togetherness and community. She lives in Berkshire with her partner Greig and her three children, Abbey, Max and Joseph.
Anja Steinbauer
Virtue of Kindness
Philosophers have been thinking of kindness as a virtue for over two thousand years, since Aristotle’s work on Ethics and the reemergence of this Virtue approach in the 20th Century, But is thinking of kindness a virtue a helpful approach for us to take? How can we develop kindness as a virtue? And what is the role of luck in our efforts to become kind?
Anja Steinbauer is the author of Philosophy Made Easy and co-founder of Philosophy Now. She is also the President of Philosophy For All, the association for everyone interested in philosophy, running fortnightly and monthly events (including Midnight Philosophy). Anja has taught and studied philosophy across the world for 30 years and is committed to making the concepts of philosophy accessible to all. Take a look at Anja and Gerald Jones’ book ‘Super Smart Thinking’ here.
Gerald Jones
Chair and host
The centre principal for the Waterloo centre of Morley College is also a philosopher with an interest in kindness (both personally and philosophically!)
Gerald is the author of 16 philosophy books, and has taught philosophy across London including at Morley College in the 1990s. He will be chairing the panel discussion and hosting the question and answer session at this event.
