London’s first Happiness Museum opens

To celebrate the launch, workshops on mindfulness, improvisation, discovering your strengths, dance and massages are taking place. Register here for a free ticket.

The Museum of Happiness (Sunday 29 May, 12pm) will offer a cheerful environment for you to explore and share what happiness means to you. Upcoming events include laughter yoga, mindfulness, yoga nidra, singing and positive psychology classes. Register on their website for details of upcoming events.

Vicky Johnson, co-founder of the Museum of Happiness said: ‘We hope the museum will inspire people to prioritise the things that make them happy. I’m so excited to finally open the doors to a space designed to lift people’s spirits, find some calm and meet other positive, friendly visitors.’

The museum is hosted in the new Canvas Café, London’s first Happy Café, opened in partnership with Action for Happiness. The café and creative venue supports innovation in emotional health and wellbeing through creative events. Customers are invited to share their thoughts, ideas, secrets and stories on the walls of the café. 

Ruth Rogers, owner of the Canvas Café, said: ‘By offering people a sense of belonging, partnered with a warm welcome and the opportunity to express yourself creatively, The Canvas Café nurtures a powerful sense of community. We’re delighted to add the Museum of Happiness and the Gratitude Garden to our Happiness Hub here in Shoreditch.’

Enjoy a free coffee at The Canvas Café this weekend when you download the new Gratitude Garden app.

The Gratitude Garden app helps focus your mind on positivity, by listing three good things which have happened in the past day. The app aims to correct our natural negativity bias. For example: You can have a great day with one argument, and at the end of the day it’s the argument that pops into your mind.  

Izzy McRae, founder of the Gratitude Garden, says: ‘I found keeping a record of the moments of joy in my life made a real difference to my happiness. But it was hard to remember to record them every day. I created this app to make it easier and more fun to keep a gratitude journal.’

The Canvas Café is based at 42 Hanbury St, London, E1 5JL.

Photograph: iStock