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International Day of Happiness, March 20
The International Day of Happiness was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 28 June 2012. Assembly Resolution A/RES/66/281 basically states that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal. They invite the world to observe the International Day of Happiness in an appropriate manner, including through education and public awareness-raising activities.
What is Happiness?
In 1964 Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, when judging if a specific movie was obscene stated that he didn’t know the definition of pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. That’s how I feel about happiness. You might not be able to define it, but everyone knows it when you see it. Each of us finds happiness in a way that is unique to ourselves.
What happiness is to me.
I am a happy person. If you graded happiness on a scale starting at 0 for constant depression and ending at 10 for constant bliss, I probably average around 8. I truly embrace life and its blessings, and it keeps me elated. Here are areas that I incorporate into my life that makes me happy.
1. I make sure my life has meaning. For me, it’s my mission of Bringing Hope and Happiness through my website and my relationships. I begin each day with a goal to bring hope and happiness to others.
2. I constantly practice a Positive Mental Attitude. I always look at the glass as half full, and then I spend my time trying to overflow it. I love sunrises. I make sure I start my mornings positively by greeting the sunrise with a “Gee, it’s going to be a beautiful day.” (to see why, go to www.BringingHopeAndHappiness.com/gee-its-going-to-be-a-beautiful-day ) I then stretch, meditating while doing my own form of Tai Chi. I follow with my prayers and devotions. I finish by reviewing my goals and planning my day.
3. I always have direction to my life. I do this by having constant goals that I add or update each year, then regularly work on meeting these goals.
4. I stay fresh. As Zig Ziglar said, “if you’re ripe, you’re a’rottnin’, but if you’re green, you’re a’growin’. I do this with a constant thirst for learning new things, traveling to new places, experiencing new opportunities, and going to beach festivals.
5. I keep an Abundance mentality, instead of a Scarcity mentality. This doesn’t mean that I am wealthy, but rather that I accept that I have more than I need, and it allows me to give resources to others. I appreciate and give thanks for what I have. It is amazing how much fun it can be, and how much joy it can bring you, to give to others. (see http://bringinghopeandhappiness.com/make-a-difference/ )
6. I stay resilient. I accept that worrying never helps. (think you’ll enjoy this http://bringinghopeandhappiness.com/dont-worry-be-happy/ ) I don’t let adversity get me down, but rather spend my time trying to overcome them.
7. I have relationships. I do this through my faith, through meeting new people at social events, and perhaps with my greatest happiness, through my travel.
8. I exercise. OK, this is the one step that I fall way short of doing sufficiently. And I regret that, because exercise truly does make me happy.
What would it take to make you happy?
What I’m getting at is that you can’t buy happiness. To me, the true purpose of the International Day of Happiness is for each individual to just slow down from their lives and identify what makes them happy, why it makes them happy, and the value happiness brings to their life.
Research has conclusively shown that happiness is much more valuable than just a warm, fuzzy feeling. Positive thoughts generate chemicals (adrenalin & endorphins) that give our brains biological advantages over negative thoughts. Happiness can prevent both physical and mental illness. The great news is, it has been proven that happiness is the natural state of a human. We ourselves must introduce external stressors (anger, drugs, worry) to make ourselves unhappy.
I hope you will reply here or email me at handh_services@hotmail.com and tell me what makes you happy. I have started it off with what makes me happy.
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