Dream of the Good (Norway)
Aiming to inspire young students to reflect on and access their potential to be good human beings. In 1996, more than 8 000 young students age 16-18 were given the opportunity to listen to His Holiness Dalai Lama speak in Stockholm, an event that gave birth to the Dream of the Good. The Dream of the Good was initiated by Anna Bornstein and has been active for more than 25 years in schools and kindergartens in Sweden. The successes in Sweden have been replicated in Norway in recent years.
The Dream of the Good provides training in simple and secular mindfulness-based methods for teachers and kindergarten employees, who in turn practice with their students in classroom settings. The methodology is based on four types of methods – stillness, peaceful touch, contemplative movement and reflection. These are different doorways to access calm and peacefulness. Stillness strengthens the contact with oneself, peaceful touch connects oneself with others, reflection allows communication at a deeper level, and contemplative movement connects oneself with nature.
These methods have been researched and tested through a number of studies in Sweden, and also in Norway by Centre for Peace Studies at University of Tromsø, which was then chaired by Ole Danbolt Mjøs, previous leader of The Norwegian Nobel Committee and also long-time Advisory Board member of The Dream of the Good. In 2019 the Dream of the Good was chosen by Alta Municipality in the north of Norway to implement its methodology through a publicly funded R&D project on life-mastery skills. More than 300 hundred teachers and supporting staff in Norway have received training in the methodology of the Dream of the Good.
