Oh Happy Day!

What an exciting week we have coming up! On Thursday March 20th, it’s International Day of Happiness. Its goal is to bring happiness (and its pursuit) as a fundamental human right into awareness.

When you think about it at the root of just about anything we want is the happiness that thing will bring us.

Why do we want the new car, the new shoes, the new bike, the new haircut, the new beau? Because in the end we think any one of those things will make us happy. Yes? Happiness is that sense of contentment we get when we are pleased, satisfied or maybe even thrilled with what we have right here, right now. It’s contentment and joy in the present moment. It’s the sense of ease and “all’s right with the world” feeling.

Since I began my study and active pursuit of happiness almost ten years ago my life has changed in beautiful ways. [By the way – did you know that back in Thomas Jefferson’s day the word pursuit, as in the right of  “pursuit of happiness” really meant “practice”?]

I have discovered that happiness is a choice, a decision we make over and over, often moment to moment. I’ve discovered that happiness is habit, a practice, a work ethic, a way of life.

Of course when I talk about happiness – I am really talking about the creation of Positive Emotion. Positive Emotions do good things for your body and soul. While negative emotions have real purpose (they move and motivate us to change) too many of them can make you sick.

So this Thursday there’s lots of ways to celebrate International Day of Happiness.

Start by going to some of these websites for inspiration! That’s where I’m heading.

http://www.un.org/en/events/happinessday/

http://24hoursofhappiness.com/

http://www.dayofhappiness.net/#context

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/

Get the whole team together at work and at home and choose how you will celebrate the right to pursue and practice happiness!