ABOUT

Founder

Debasish Mridha, M.D., is a physician, philosopher, writer, and philanthropist whose enduring interest in peace, harmony, and happiness has influenced his professional career and illuminated his personal life. Born in Bangladesh, Dr. Mridha spent three years of his childhood in a refugee camp in India during and after the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. Years later, he would complete his medical studies at the Kiev Medical institute in Ukraine before migrating to the United States for his residency and fellowship at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Dedicated to promoting peace and happiness through tolerance, empathy, and inclusivity among people and cultures throughout the world.

The mission of the Mridha International Institute of Peace & Happiness is to harness education to address the interpersonal inequities of the world, focusing on cooperation, compromise, and empathy between all peoples and cultures to identify common ground, create solutions, and promote peace and happiness throughout the world.

To provide resources for people in every part of the world to learn practical tools for achieving and maintaining inner and outer peace through community building and education.

Dr. Mridha founded MIIPH because he believes passionately that the lessons of peace, harmony, and happiness are renewable resources in education and employing these principles is essential to solving the world’s most challenging social problems and minimizing human suffering.

While good intentions are a key ingredient to bringing about positive change, no sustainable forward progress is possible without a clear understanding of others, including their circumstances, motivations, and deeply held beliefs. Informed by personal experience, Dr. Mridha embraces the drama of daily life—replete with ample challenges and great rewards–with heartfelt optimism and determination to leave the world in better condition than when he arrived.

The desire to live in peace is a basic value shared by people all around the world. No matter where you live, the goal of every civilized society is to reduce the threat of violence for its people. Peace is not an “all or nothing” condition. In fact, the complete elimination of violence, while an admirable vison, is not required to reach a level of stability that qualifies as “peaceful.” What is required is the willingness to have a dialogue and discuss conflict – which is inevitable – before it turns hostile. Peace is a process. It requires multiple steps to bring two opposing sides together.

One simple act of kindness can inspire a series of positive reactions. When one act influences another, then another, in a series of related events and consequences, it’s called the domino effect. In a similar way, when someone takes the initiative and acts in the name of the overall good rather than self-interests alone, peace has a chance to take hold and spread.

Happiness, on the other hand, is different. While peacebuilding requires focused, consistent communication regarding goals and priorities, happiness can happen, just like that. To be happy, all we need is to focus on something that brings us joy or contentment. When we are happy, we naturally see the world as good, giving, authentic, and just. Conversely, when we allow anger to guide our emotions, the world becomes a place where distrust, resentment, and injustice can be found in every situation.

As citizens, we have a responsibility to coexist with others. The feeling that peace is good and war is bad is a universal truth accepted by society, and there are measures we use to mark progress and identify degrees of peacefulness. Unless you are comparing it to war, however, peace is not an either-or proposition. What may qualify as “peace” in one part of the world could also be seen as unsafe or dangerous elsewhere, depending on the history and expectations of the local population. When we embrace happiness fully, we find that happiness leads to joy.

We rely on facts to shape our opinions of the world. Facts are verifiable truths that are not expected to change from one time or place to the next. If facts do change, it is because new, reliable information has been uncovered that requires a shift in perspective. Think of facts as the climate of truth. They add predictability to daily life, akin to how the seasons indicate the coming of warmer or colder days ahead. Knowledge, on the other hand, is more fluid. Knowledge can inspire new realities in the context of a bigger picture. Think of knowledge as the “weather” of truth. It defines and shapes the season, without contradicting it. Because of the nature of corporate ideology, social media and the variety of news sources available, new knowledge can inspire either trust or skepticism. MIIPH is committed to educating and inspiring for positive change and understanding.

Since the advent of social media, the definition of community has expanded to become less dependent on geography and more inclusive of common goals, interests, and passions. However, in the pursuit of peace and happiness, proximity will always be a factor. After all, we are social beings who thrive on interaction. A wild card in the decision-making process is freewill, the human ability to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. Add it all up, and there are lots of areas for agreement – and other areas ripe for deep discussion! MIIPH is your source for content to help you process the human experience through the lens of peace and happiness!

Our goal is to encourage kids to share and grow their talents and eventually contribute to a better tomorrow. Every child has talent that deserves to be appreciated. Nurturing young creativity helps it blossom into game-changing inspiration. And that has the power to change the world.