The search for happiness is a quest as old as humankind itself.
Ancient philosophers, thinkers and religious figures - such as Buddha, Socrates, Epicurus, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Jesus, Moses or the prophet Muhammad - already highlighted its importance and debated the best ways to achieve it. And the kingdom of Bhutan was the first to introduced the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) back 1972.
But it was only a few years ago, in June 2012, that the United Nations General Assembly adopted by unanimous consensus a resolution (UN resolution 66/281) recognizing the "International Day of Happiness": 20 March.
The first International Happiness Day was celebrated on 20 March 2013.
This year, its theme and challenge is #TENSTEPSTOGLOBALHAPPINESS. So, I really invite you to learn more about these steps and spread some happiness around the world.
Being a coach is one of my ways to promote happiness: my ultimate goal is always to support people in their journey to discover what happiness means to them. But it is also a confirmation that the more you give, the more you get: helping others also makes me happy!
So celebrate this special day. And it is still perfectly fine if it's technically no longer happiness day. Make it like Christmas (it's whenever a wo/man wants, right?) and just do it ;) Every day can be a Happiness Day: share the word, share the power of happiness, be happy!
[Find out more this topic in its Wikipedia page and in the International Day of Happiness official website.]
(First published: 18 March 2019)