“We live in a transactional world – giving in order to get - where talk is often about metrics, measurements and statistics: what’s in it for me, what do I get out of it? 'A Billion Hugs’ is the total opposite to that; the effects of it can’t be measured, nor monitored: we don’t know how many lives it will touch, we can’t measure the impact of how it will make someone feel or the ripple effect that will create. That’s what lights me up; that’s what I believe unconditional love is all about...” Lisa Sharpe.
Launched in July 2023, for the second year in a row, "A Billion Hugs" was live for 4 months last year! Using a fleet of Routemaster buses as my canvas, the public art installation focusing on unconditional love, happiness & mental wellness was on 25 buses all around London from July to November 2023: coming from Lewisham, New Cross, Hammersmith, Camberwell and Waterloo many meeting together in central London at Trafalgar Square, Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus & Sloane Square and also in the City!
Video by Milo Sharpe
In 2005 I was struggling mentally and physically with heart palpitations, panic attacks and hair loss: I was pretending everything was ok when it wasn’t... Eventually I was signed off work and as I stepped out of the building for the last time, I saw a bus advertising a horror movie and as I felt that low, dark, negative energy, I thought: “How depressing! Wouldn’t it be so much nicer to see something more uplifting, something to remind people to believe in themselves – something that might just stop someone from taking their life today...."
In that moment, I vowed to one day, send out a happier, more uplifting form of energy into the world: I had no idea how I'd make it happen, however I held that dream in my heart for nearly 17 years and finally made it a reality in the summer of 2022 and then again in 2023. Our dreams are unique to us, keep your dream close to your heart, feed it love & courage and always remember your dream chose you...
The side of the bus that reads "We Believe in You" was co-created with the movement OneBillionHappy, founded by Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer of Google [X] whose mission is to help one billion people become happier. We are both totally aligned with the desire to add more happiness into the world and to see one billion people happy.
“Our mission is to make one billion people happy because we believe it is everybody’s birthright. We aim to inspire and educate as many people as possible so that they achieve happiness in their lives, and in the lives of those around them,” Sonja Dippel, CEO, OneBillionHappy
“There is a nice alignment between what Lisa is trying to do and our mission at OneBillionHappy.” Mo Gawdat, founder OneBillionHappy
You can find great tools for feeling happy at OneBillionHappy
And Mo Gawdat's podcast Slo Mo: A Podcast with Mo Gawdat
Unconditional love is the theme of this public art installation, each side of the bus has an uplifting message and embedded within the artwork "You Matter You are Loved" are the names of people who have sponsored their names or loved ones’ names in the artwork.
Many people have put in names of children, grandchildren, partners and friends as a fun surprise to make someone smile and some have also added in names of loved ones passed on, which has been very moving, it has been co-created with a lot of love from people all over the world.
* denotes required fields
We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.
This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.