What makes you optimistic?

Imagine Your Best Possible Self - we gather to imagine our future, write about it and share what we look forward to.

Join us via Zoom: Led by Victor Perton and other Presenters from The Centre for Optimism, this workshop is designed to help you answer the question "What makes you Optimistic?" and to pick up some tips, tricks and habits to make you more infectiously optimistic. We will cover: What is Optimism? The Benefits of Optimism in Health, Relationships, Leadership, Strategy, Innovation and Resilience Tips and Tricks to Help you be More Infectiously Optimistic We'll leave laughing or singing or both.

The best way to maintain your optimism and expand your horizons is to surround yourself with optimists!

We had delicious breakfasts through the Summer and Autumn of 2023, starting with a celebration of the Year of Joy and the Centre for Optimism's Week of Optimism and Joy. We danced, and we sang. We laughed a lot.

We're taking a break over winter and resuming in Spring

 Victor Perton,  Chief Optimism Officer of  The Centre for Optimism joined Men with Spirit's Peter Anthony and Steve Angel on Radio Carrum  to talk about optimism, spirituality and life!  

"Men with Spirit is for men who want to feel more ... less from their head, and more from their heart."

Mathias Sundin, Editor-in-chief & CEO of Warp News, joined us in conversation.

Warp News is an action and impact-based newsletter and community that tells stories and shares insights to give people "The Optimists Edge." Mathias began his career as a changemaker and Swedish Member of Parliament. In 2018, he choose not to run for reelection because he had a vision for a much bigger opportunity to have a more positive impact on the future. 

What's an angry optimist?

Lawrence W. Reed will be joining us in conversation at the Optimism Café in The Centre for Optimism via Zoom.

We’ll be asking him about his optimism, what makes him optimistic, his optimism for liberty and the world and the leaders who have inspired him.

In the often dismal science of optimism, it is uplifting to find optimists and optimism.

In “Liberty as a Life Philosophy”, Larry Reed advocated for “a bubbly optimism and exuberance about making a difference in the world."

Larry cites the 1968 "Prague Spring", as the genesis of his passion for liberty and has referred to the Czech cause as a "flowering of liberty".

Larry became President of the Foundation for Economic Education after serving as chairman of its board of trustees. He previously served for 21 years as President of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, Michigan and taught economics at Northwood University in Michigan. In 2019, he retired to the role of President Emeritus at FEE, working as the Humphreys Family Senior Fellow and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty.

Join Ros Ben-Moshe in Conversation via Zoom at The Centre for Optimism to celebrate the release of Ros's new book. The Laughter Effect - How to Build Joy, Positivity and Resilience in Your Life 

We usually end our workshops and speeches with a dose of laughter yoga. Ros is our muse and inspiration for our belief in the power of laughter to enhance optimism. The Laughter Effect is a practical guide to turbocharge humour, laughter and joy, providing a roadmap to awakening positive wellbeing and optimism. 

A positive psychology academic and laughter wellness expert, Ros will explain how The Laughter Effect offers a new dimension to self-care, elevating mindfulness, gratitude and self-compassion.

We will explore Ros's motivation for writing the book and highlight essential wisdom, research and practice that encapsulates this powerful body-mind philosophy.

We will ask Ros what makes her optimistic.

We look forward to sharing laughter and optimism (with you).

The Nelson Mandela Youth Leadership Summit 2023 on 28 July (Nelson Mandela Day) was an exciting and engaging event. The Summit brought together a diverse youth population from Shepparton, Regional Australia, urban Australia and Asia-Pacific to create a group of connected future leaders of the region and Australia. 

Born in Shepparton, the COVID lockdowns took the Summit online and allowed us to share the 2020 and 2021 summit experiences with young people and leaders spreading from New York to Africa.  Young people chose the topics, and they were designed to assist them in growing into leading community players and act on the immediate most pressing challenges. 

In 2022 and 2023, the historic Legislative Assembly Chamber of the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne allowed the young leaders to experience speaking in the chamber used by the Australian Parliament before the construction of Canberra's Houses of Parliament and still in use by the Victorian Parliament. 

Our 2023 speakers were the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp AO, the Leader of the Opposition, John Pesutto MP, and representing the Premier, Daniela De Martino MP with Nazer Nazir of the Afghan Australia Initiative and Tané Hunter, Cofounder Future Crunch.

My favourite meditation voice is that of Sister Jayanti.

When I asked her what makes her optimistic, Sister Jayanti told me, “Just as nature goes through its cycles, and day will definitely follow the darkest night, although there are many things that feel very dark at the moment, there is a conviction that light will not only penetrate the darkness but banish it - so that the day will begin. Legends and myths of every civilisation have remembered that the power of good ultimately conquers evil. This is the optimism with which I hold a vision for a better world.”

Sister Jayanti is a spiritual teacher for precisely these times. For more than 50 years, hers has been a life of daily spiritual practice woven into a life that seeks to support and uplift others. In these unstable times, her presence is one of deep peace and the kind of hope that can move us forward. She is relevant, soothing, and practical and understands the serious challenges that people face.  She connects authentically.