I Can Lead You To Your Bliss & You Don’t Even Have To Join A Cult

Fun fact: Tech Open Air is based in Berlin. We like this city so much that we hold our flagship festival here every year. And sure, that’s probably not unrelated to TOA’s founder being German, but all the same — this is a long-term relationship, not a fling. As such, our inaugural events listing is focused on Berlin, but as an international festival, we’d love to cover other places, too. Want us to list events in your city? Drop us a line and tell us where you’re based: hello@toaberlin.com.

But for now, please let the happiness-themed events below act as a treasure map to your joy.

Saturday 3rd March — Sunday 4th March — DESTILLE Berlin’s 7th Craft Spirits Festival @Heeresbäckerei

Raise your spirits by…drinking spirits. This festival offers a wide array of sustainably-produced gin, rum, whisky, mezcal, vodka, aquavit, fruit brandies, cognac, and absinthe with “only natural ingredients” from independent producers. Yes, you have to pay 11 euros for a day pass, but that’s a measly price to pay for the knowledge that those 1900 people who clicked “interested” probably won’t be there. Space to tipple! IDK, sounds good to me.

Tuesday 6th March, 8pm — Screening ‘Free Lunch Society: Come Come Basic Income’ @Kino Casablanca

Sometimes I get sad because I’m a freelancer under capitalism. Also because it’s only a matter of time before a robot takes my job. Maybe you feel the same? Hope springs anew: people have moved on from talking about the universal basic income and have started making films about it. This is one of the first documentaries on the topic and it’s in English with German subtitles. Here’s a trailer.

Thursday 8th March, 6:30–9:30pm — Digital Nomad 101: How To Run A Company From Anywhere @betahaus

Whether you hate Berlin, bureaucracy or just your job, there’s something for everybody here. Prep for that pre-winter move to a tropical island! The government of Estonia are hosting the event which should brief attendees on how e-residency can solve the migraines of running a business somewhere far, far away.

“As an e-resident you can live a truly flexible, international life as a digital nomad — run a business from anywhere in the world, deal with bureaucratic processes fully digitally, and retain access to the EU market at the same time.” Hmm.

Also: free drinks. Also: free.

Thursday 8th March 6:40pm-9:30pm- Wie man das Leben genießt @ The School of Life

Or skip the e-residency talk and locate your bliss at The School of Life’s class on how to enjoy life (in German, btw). Yes, it costs 33 euros, which is not nothing. But, in the grand scale of things, that is a drop in the ocean if you *actually* learn, as promised in the blurb, how to:

• “properly perceive what is beautiful and precious in life”
• “become aware of the beauty and value of things, people and ideas that surround you”
• “enjoy happiness without being sentimental or fooling yourself — a skill we call Merry Despair”

Wow.

This does sound pretty cool though, you have to admit.

Saturday 17th March, 1pm-6pm — March Against Racism 2018 Berlin, starting point: Linkstraße 2 at Potsdamer Platz

Why not focus on making the world a happier place for everyone, not just white people born in the right place at the right time? While the event is just one of multiple marches taking place in Europe and the United States ahead of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Wednesday 21st March, the Berlin march has a local focus. Namely, protesting the AfD (the far right anti-immigration party who were voted into Bundestag for the first time in September; whose members have expressed anti-semitic, anti-refugee and racist sentiments and whose political campaign was Islamophobic). That’s why the march ends with a rally in front of the AfD’s headquarters at Schillstraße 9, Tiergarten.

Saturday 31st March — Swingtanzen macht froh! @Tangotanzen Macht Schön

Does swing dancing make people happy? There’s only one way to settle this debate, though anecdotally, every friend I have who does swing dancing seems to have their life in order. They’re the sort of people who find time to clean their fridge at least once a fortnight and who feel joy, just because. This could be you! No sweat if you’ve never swung, there’s a very coherent timetable in place. 7pm-8pm is the beginners’ crash course, while the “social dance floor opens with DJ” for non-beginners at 8–9. At 9pm, there’s live music.

Written by Sophie Atkinson/image by Rosalba Porpora

This month’s theme is HAPPINESS, because March = spring and with it, the knowledge that you’ve made it through the waking nightmare that was winter 2017–8 (RIP).