The Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness RETHINKING DEVELOPMENT Local Pathways to Global Wellbeing St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada June 20 to June 24, 2005
	Judy Johnson The Living Values Education Program in the Maritimes and around the World: A powerful, practical starting point for creating national happiness
The implications of the programs are clear: by focusing on developing a strong core of living values, sustainable happiness will be achieved for individuals, families, communities and nations.	Abstract: Since 2001, the Living Values Education Program (LVEP) has facilitated the experience of peace and happiness through the creation of a values-based approach with 250 educators and 30 schools and childcare centers in the Maritime region. The program is reaching and inspiring teachers, students and families locally and is a small part of a global initiative to create values-based atmospheres for children in formal and informal educational settings. Internationally, this innovative program is being offered in 74 countries in over 7000 sites. Living Values is a comprehensive values education program that offers a wide variety of experiential values activities and practical methodologies. It enables children, youth and adults to explore and rediscover twelve universal values.† In addition to programs for†classrooms and parent groups, LVEP offers special materials for street children, children affected by war, and children affected by earthquakes.† The LVEP assumes that non-material universal values, of which happiness is but one, cannot be taught, but can be explored and enlivened. The starting point is the experience of these values embodied within the participants themselves. Through reflection on these values, teachers and students begin to create a 'values-based' learning atmosphere in their classroom by embodying the values they are exploring. The Living Values Program has demonstrated that the creation of happiness begins with the simple personal experience of identifying and living our values. In this way, happiness is built from the inside out as the individual discovers and lives their values. This awakening of core values creates a ripple effect within the community enlivening and sustaining the cultural fabric of the whole. Efforts for systemic reform will be most sustainable when the values on which the reforms are based are also lived by the people who make up the systems. This session will profile, in a practical way, how the starting point for true sustainability, economic development, environmental conservation, cultural promotion and good government is within the individual. This workshop will highlight the practical personal experience of those involved in creating and running the LVEP initiative in the maritime region. We will experience a sample of the practical activities offered through the LVEP, reflect on the relevance of the experience and consider how this model (and the underlying principles of the LVEP approach) might be replicated or applied elsewhere. The implications of the programs are clear: by focusing on developing a strong core of living values, sustainable happiness will be achieved for individuals, families, communities and nations. Ms Judy Johnson, Educational Consultant Living Values Educational Program 5636 Morris St, Apt#1 Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada B3J 1C2 (902) 422-3700 bkhalifax@ns.sympatico.ca
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