The Fulfillment Project - Social Contribution - Highlights From The World Happiness Summit
From Hope to Happiness: Lessons on Social Contribution from the World Happiness Summit
Let me ask you the question that simmered in my mind during my time in Miami two weeks ago:
How do you hold hope for a better future while being fully satisfied with your life right now?
That tension—between gratitude for the present and desire for something greater—was the deep question that surfaced for me throughout the World Happiness Summit. It’s the thread that weaves together the reflections I’m sharing in this blog, as I unpack what it really means to hold space for both: the fullness of now, and the pull toward what could be.
The World Happiness Summit: I’d been wanting to attend this summit for years. It’s the global stage where the ideals of happiness, purpose, and well-being are explored with serious minds and open hearts. And this year, I attended! The theme? Hope and Community. Perfect timing, because this month’s Life Fulfillment theme is Social Contribution. Below I share some of my highlights as well as my version of the answer to the question I posed above.
Dr. Dan Tomasulo: Hope Is Teachability + Transformational
Dr. Dan, a positive psychologist and Director at Columbia’s Spirituality Mind Body MA Program, opened the summit with a powerful reminder: Hope is the only emotion tied to our relationship with the uncertainty of the future.
Here’s what stood out:
- Hope is teachable. It’s not a trait—it’s a practice.
- The end of something is usually the beginning of something else.
- Beware of over-questing. Too many goals can become a source of discontent.
- And like many speakers, he returned to this essential truth: Gratitude for what we have right now is an essential element to our moment to moment happiness.
I pulled Dr. Dan aside for a live interview using a completely new interview style where I had him close his eyes, move into a meditative state, and answer from his heart. You can watch my live interview with Dr. Dan here: CLICK TO LISTEN ON YOUTUBE
Dr. Arthur Brooks: The Equation for Happiness
Harvard professor and best-selling author Dr. Brooks gave a definition that had me pause to unpack:
Happiness = Enjoyment + Satisfaction + Meaning
To truly understand this, I had to break it down, and this was my interpretation:
- Enjoyment: The capacity to recognize and feel the positive emotions in your experience
- Satisfaction: The ability to say, "This is enough, I am full and content."
- Meaning: Connection to something greater than yourself—and that I matter as a part of it.
But then came the internal wrestling match.
How can I strive for a better future (Hope!) while also being satisfied right now? Isn’t hope a sign that something’s still missing? I would grapple with this question all day and into the night. Keep reading to see where I ended up.
Jim Clifton (Gallup): Hope + Leadership
Jim introduced a beautiful distinction in Gallup’s research:
Ask someone:
- On a scale from 0–10, while imagining your best life possible, how close are you to your ideal life?
- Where do you think you’ll be 5 years from now?
That second question? It measures hope.
He connected it directly to leadership:
Great leaders don’t just create a vision. They cultivate shared hope for the future.
Dr. Sood: The 30-Day Human Connection Reset
Dr. Sood shared a simple daily practice I’ve already started using:
Pick one person each day and greet them like you haven’t seen them in a month.
Try it—with your partner, your kids, the barista. That surge of authentic presence? It changes the whole dynamic.
He also taught us to smile with our eyes. He explained how our body’s physiology can lift our emotional state. In the somatic meditation teacher training that I just completed we refer to as the reciprocal response of the body-mind connection.
Dr. Fred Luskin (Stanford Forgiveness Project)
What a gift to end Day One with Dr. Luskin, who felt like a wise wizard dropped into the room. No slides, no tech—just truth:
"Happiness is wanting what you already have, and letting go of the rest."
Letting go isn’t about giving up. It’s about loosening our grip on expectations, timelines, and outcomes.
His work around forgiveness made it clear: our emotional suffering often comes from clinging—not just to pain, but even to desires. He plainly stated, suffering is an integral part of our human experience, our way through, is to lessen the grip of our expectations.
Aldo Cicchini: The Music of Life
You might remember the story and the videos of the violinist who performed from his balcony in Italy during the pandemic — that was Aldo, and here he was telling his story. He spoke about how he intimately experiences the world through sounds, and of course, he played so beautifully. I also pulled Aldo to the side for an exceptional interview where I ask him questions about life fulfillment, and he answers with his music. Stay tuned for that interview being released very soon!
The Duality Untangled - How can I be satisfied with now, if I still hope for more?
I still didn't have an answer when I went to bed that evening.
The next morning though, I woke up, and journaled nonstop for about 20-minutes —poetic, messy, honest. Here's picture of my notebook:
The insight? I don’t have to choose. I can be grateful now and still create what’s next.
Hope and satisfaction aren’t rivals—they’re roommates. Gratitude holds the moment. Hope builds the bridge.
I can hold both. I can be deeply grateful and still desire more.
I can be satisfied in this moment, and hopeful for the next.
Like holding a full glass of beer, totally satisfied, yet still excited to explore the next pour (especially when my buddy is paying for the round :).
This new formation opened something in me—and it led to me trusting more. I felt like my capacity for gratitude grew with this deeper understanding of how it could live without having to sacrifice my visions for what's next or even for what could have been.
It you are truly curious, and you want to hear what I wrote in the pages of my personal journal that morning, and if you are willing to give me grace on the poetic license I gave myself while coming to it, you can listen to it in here: Listen To Maurice's Journal Entry.
Final Thought
Social contribution doesn’t always mean saving the world—it means showing up in it. It means letting our gratitude meet our hope. It means looking someone in the eye like they matter, because they do; and that includes you. My happy challenge for you is this: the next time you look in the mirror, look back at that unique human and smile with your eyes.
To your full life,
Maurice
P.S. It's really important for me to know that there were several amazing speakers that I didn't summarize in this blog which was only for consideration of the length of this post. Loads of gratitude to the founder Karen Guggenheim and the whole WOHASU event team, special shout out to the incredible job by MC's and DJ.
Tools Of The Month
🎯 Tool: The Health & Happiness Study
This global research initiative is gathering real-time data on happiness using smartphones, wearables, and surveys. Led by Harvard, Oxford, and more, it’s aiming to create better policies, products, and personal practices to improve well-being. They also presented at the summit and they are at the cutting edge of wellbeing research. You can participate; details below.
Learn more or participate: https://www.healthandhappinessstudy.com/
Behind the Scenes
Listen to my journal observations from the Sunday after the World Happiness Summit 2025 WARNING - this is coming from the poet in me, in case you haven't met him yet.
🎥 First Interview now available: Dr. Dan Tomasulo on Life Fulfillment
Above: Right to Left: Maurice Thibodeau, Dr. Renee Pizarro, Aldo Cicchini - WOHASU 2025