Every Day Is Special: happiness

Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts

August 8 – Create / Happiness

Posted on August 8, 2017

Today would be an excellent date to create happiness...

...Given that it is The Date to Create and Happiness Happens Day!

In 1999, the Secret Society of Happy People created "Admit You're Happy Day" as a day to recognize and express happiness. They selected the anniversary of their first membership, August 8, to be the day to celebrate.

People often say that they "just want to be happy." Well...that's kind of a problem, because almost everybody is happy some of the time, and absolutely nobody is happy all of the time.

So if everlasting and continuous happiness is the goal, we all fail.

It might be better to have a goal like overall contentment and increasing the number of happy moments. One way to increase your happy moments is to try to increase someone else's happy moments. It feels good to make someone else happy, and that can make you a bit more happy...right?

So do a good turn, send a card, help a stranger, smile a lot, call a friend.

Of course, being good to yourself is also pretty cool. Today might be a good day to treat yourself to a favorite meal or dessert, or to take time off normal responsibilities to read a fun book or play an online game.

Another way to gain more happy moments is to create something. Which is perfect, since today is also The Date to Create.

What can you create?

What can't you create?

Play music, invent a new tune, sing karaoke.

Whip up a gorgeous and yummy meal, invent a new cookie recipe.

Build a gate, craft a bird feeder, invent your own LEGO castle.

Draw a picture, make a painting, shoot some great photos.

Enroll in a ceramics class, make a kite, explore the world to Do It Yourself.

Sew a grocery bag, embroider a pillow, learn to knit.

Learn to code, invent an app, build a website.

Write a poem, start a blog, work on that novel you've been meaning to write.

Choreograph a dance to a popular radio hit, express emotions through movement, experiment with combining drumming and dance.

Fiddle around with batteries and wires, invent a new gadget, build a better ______ [fill in the blank].

Also on this date:

Independence Day for Bhutan

Anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of Uraniborg

Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night

Peasants' Day in Tanzania

Physicist Ernest Lawrence's birthday

Universal and International Infinity Day

Plan ahead:

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September holidays
September birthdays
Historical anniversaries in September

January 8 – Joy Germ Day

Posted on January 8, 2017

This holiday sounds a little crazy to me. I mean, Joy Germ? What-oh-what is that?

It turns out to be a very nice idea -- that joy and happiness and laughter, like illness, is contagious! These positive things can spread from person to person.

We are encouraged, today (and every day) to spread the joy bug by doing simple things like smiling more, greeting people happily, just being nice. We can spread the joy bug by taking some time to call friends or relatives who are living in new places, or going through deaths or divorces of loved ones -- people who might be lonely or struggling. We can spread the joy bug by visiting strangers at an old folk's home or volunteering at a soup kitchen or making and refurbishing toys for a homeless shelter.

How else can we spread joy germs?

The woman who started this holiday in 1981, Joan White of Syracuse, New York, created a seasonal newsletter called Infectionately Yours and created cards that said things like, "May a giant jar of jaunty joy germs rest gently on you and yours!"

Here's another idea: Do what brings YOU joy, and then see if you can spread that joy to others. Blow bubbles, the bigger the better. Then take your bubble-blowing to an outdoor public spot and spread the joy! Dance! Play in the snow!

Also, as long as you aren't spreading germ-germs (in other words, don't do this if you are sick!), it might be easier to spread joy through human touch. Don't just visit your great-grandma, give her a hug!

Also on this date:

Earth's Rotation Day

Physicist Stephen Hawking's birthday

Commonwealth Day in the Northern Marianas

Anniversary of the death of Galileo

Elvis Presley's birthday

Bubble Bath Day

Argyle Day

Plan ahead:

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February holidays
February birthdays
Historical anniversaries in February

December 17 – Bhutan's National Day

Posted on December 17, 2014

Wishing a happy national day to the people of Bhutan—the happiest people in Asia.

Wh-h-h-a-a-t-t-t?

The “happiest people in Asia”??? Says who?

Says the results of a 2006 survey published by Business Week.

I am pretty sure Bhutan SHOULD have some pretty happy people. How many nations do you know that have a Gross National Happiness Commission in charge of reviewing policy decisions to increase the well-being of its people? No other nation does this—other than today's celebrating country, the Kingdom of Bhutan.

What are they celebrating?

On this date in 1907, Ugyen Wangchuck was elected the hereditary king of Bhutan.

I know that electing a king seems weird—and, trust me, not everyone in Bhutan got to vote! But back when Bhutan wasn't so happy, in the 1700s and 1800s, the people were embroiled in a war with British India and later a civil war between two rival valleys in Bhutan. Finally, in the late 1800s, a powerful governor defeated his political enemies and united the country. You guessed it: it was Ugyen Wangchuck who won control of the country. And it was he who, a few years later, was unanimously chosen to be the king. The people who chose him were monks, government officials, and the heads of important families.

Since this “election” was for a king, there weren't yearly elections—because Ugyen passed down the crown to one of his sons, and so on and on.

On 1999, the Bhutanese government lifted a ban on television and the Internet. It was one of the last countries in the world to introduce television. The king told his people that television was an important step to modernizing the nation and could contribute to the nation's Gross National Happiness. But he also warned that the “misuse” of television could dismantle some of the things that make Bhutan a pretty happy place.

Since 2007, the country became a constitutional monarchy (like the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and many other countries in the world), and so now there are general elections for lawmakers.

Learn about Bhutan

Bhutan is a small, landlocked nation squished between China and India. It is near Nepal and Bangladesh, but certain Indian states lie between these nations.

Bhutan's national animal is the takin, otherwise known as a gnu goat.

Buddhism is the most common religion—and is also the state religion. Like other religions, Buddhism has split several times and has evolved in belief and practice.

The particular flavor of Buddhism that is Bhutan's state religion is Vajrayana Buddhism.

Buddhist temples and monasteries seem to be everywhere in Bhutan: