“I think,” Goldie Hawn says, “I was born with a seed of joy.” Anyone might agree that her laugh alone could transform the world, but she herself knew that seed needed to be maintained by other means. “You can lose it. It’s not that it’s gone, but you just have to remember and practice. I started learning about aspects of neurobiology, and I realized that certain behaviors are manageable. And I learned that my fear, depression, and anxiety were manageable, because I took charge.”
Her studies became the foundation of MindUP (mindup.org), a preventive, evidence-based mental health program that has equipped students, educators, and families with tools for greater emotional literacy and resilience to face challenges with optimism, strength, and compassion. “Over the past 20 years, Hawn says, people have often asked, ‘What’s your charity?’ But I never talked about it because I didn’t want anyone to consider it a celebrity charity. I consider it the best script I’ve ever written. I did everything I could do, because I knew that the brain could change.”
Studies have proven that the MindUP program, which has been adopted by many school districts, improves the mindsets of students. “The chil...