Simple mission." And what I did was I pulled together my ideas of sort of a cross-disciplinary - which is teaching kids about their brain and how their brains work. And I thought, "Well, let me figure out a way to do something, maybe in the schools, to simply bring kids a little bit more resilience and a little bit more happiness. And realizing that, I thought, "What can I do? What can I do to help these children?" And I was in Vancouver at the time - I was actually there with Wyatt, because we had moved up there for his hockey and I had a lot of time to sit and ruminate and think and feel. And I was really focused on the kids, because there was a lot of stress and a lot of uncertainty. I realized at that point that our world was probably never going to be the same again.
In this in-depth interview, Goldie shares her passionate vision for this project (which she says has "got her by the belly button"), her own personal experience and definition of happiness, and why she believes that nurturing optimism and resilience in our children can ultimately help build a better society and a more peaceful world. It is a revolutionary undertaking that seeks to dramatically transform the way we view education, using methods that are backed up by the latest research about the brain - and they are already achieving impressive results in children who are learning in the MindUp classroom. The cutting-edge curriculum features 15 carefully-thought out lessons designed to help children reduce stress and anxiety improve concentration and academic performance understand the brain science linking emotions, thoughts and behaviors manage their emotions and behavior more effectively develop greater empathy for others and the world and learn to be optimistic and happy. and they are receiving requests to bring their program to many other regions around the world such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Motivated by events like 9/11 and the alarming jump in stress, depression, and violence in children, Goldie created The Hawn Foundation in 2005, an organization whose mission is to "equip children with the social and emotional skills they need to navigate the challenges of the contemporary world in order to lead smarter, healthier, and happier lives." Working with leading neuroscientists, educators and researchers, The Hawn Foundation has developed the MindUP program, a curriculum that has already been implemented in classrooms by over 1,000 educators throughout the United States, Canada and the U.K. Yet as she reveals in this interview (and in her best-selling autobiography "A Lotus Grows in the Mud") this was not always the case, and she went through some very dark times, especially in her early days of stardom, when she says she suffered from panic attacks and depression and "literally lost my smile." Hawn says it took nine years of intense inner work and therapy to fully recover from that crisis point in her life, and in doing so she became "dedicated to learning more about my psyche, about my brain." That personal journey, which she calls "the beginning of her discovery," laid the first seeds for what has now become a "life-changing" quest and mission for Hawn: using our growing understanding about the human brain to create innovative programs in schools to foster happier and more resilient children - not only to promote better learning and well-being in the classroom but to "give them life tools that will go with them forever." With her bubbly personality and sunny smile, Oscar-winning actress Goldie Hawn has always seemed to be the epitome of happiness.