Category Archives: Inspiration

Thursday Inspiration: Bright Side of the Road

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artwalk

Imagine our surprise when we stumbled upon this amazing public art installation right around the corner from Happier Headquarters. Our CEO Nataly happened to be on a photo shoot when she passed by this new garden space.

Titled Bright Side of the Road this “guerrilla gardening” is a part of Fort Point’s Art Walk and was created by artists Michael Moss and Claudia Ravaschiere. It brings a burst of color (and happiness) to a previously unused space. They chose to use the color orange because it represents enthusiasm, creativity and vitality – some of the same reasons why we chose Happier orange to represent us! I think this side yard is the perfect addition to our neighborhood. You can find it between buildings on 345 Congress Street. Feel free to stop by to see us too around the corner at 319 A Street.

Learn more about Art Walk here and see more sources of inspiration on my design blog!

Help us support Boston and The One Fund

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BostonStrong_blog

Dear Happier and Boston community,

Happier is a Boston-based happiness company, so when our beloved city was torn apart by the Marathon tragedy our hearts were broken. But we were uplifted by the countless acts of courage, kindness and the outpouring of support for Boston we saw from our community in Happier. (We shared a few of these moments on our blog a few days later.)

We believe that moments of beauty and goodness and yes, even happiness, can be found in even the bleakest of situations. Help us help those who need our support by telling us how Boston makes you happier.

For every happy moment you share in Happier during the week of May 13th about how living in Boston or working in Boston or just thinking about Boston makes you happier, we’ll donate $1 to The One Fund.

The Boston moments you share will become part of a Traveling Wall Of Happy Moments that we hope to share with the hospitals that helped the injured and are continuing to help the healing. Life is made up of moments. Share yours with us. Together we can make Boston stronger — and happier — again.

Please share your happy moments from the Happier app. To download it, please click here.

Thank you,

Nataly & the Happier Team

Thursday Inspiration: Sky Art

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skyart

French artist Thomas Lamadieu said, “My artistic aim is to show a different perception of urban architecture and the everyday environment around us, what we can construct with a boundless imagination”​.

Lamadieu photographs architectural cityscapes and imagines characters within the space of the open sky. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we were told to look up the sky to see the characters appearing in the shapes of the clouds. Remember how happy we’d be spotting a whale, a rabbit, a dinosaur! I was delighted to find that there is a Cloud Appreciation Society that continues to document these findings! Take a minute to look up to discover something in the sky or the clouds. Perception and imagination can completely affect our happiness.

See more sources of inspiration on my design blog!

What makes you happier, Matthew Stanford?

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Today we chat (via email) with Matthew Stanford, one of our awesome Happier users from Columbus, Ohio. To learn more about Matthew, check out his About.me page.

mtstanford_HappierSo, what makes you happier, Matthew?
Beautiful skies, non-fiction literature, children, relaxing music, intellectual discourse, design, bright colors, laughter, my niece and nephew, being outside, seeing my own progress, seeing my family and friends happy and healthy.

Have you realized something about being happier that maybe you didn’t when, well, you were younger?
I certainly have! Just as there is always a reason to complain, there is also always a reason to smile. Happiness relies heavily on how we direct our attention.

Happiness can not depend on other people, possessions or circumstances. Things change; I want happiness to be a constant in my life.

Say you’re having a rough day. What are your go-to ways to feel better?
Some days all it takes is a shower, some meditation, hot tea, and a chat with my grandmother about nothing in particular. Other days it takes a long walk through the park during the daytime until sunset, observing and appreciating nature at its finest.

Favorite happy food of all time?
Northstar (veggie) Burger!

What do you dig about using Happier?
The community! While none of our lives are perfect (nor do any of us try and pretend they are), we make sure to focus on the good aspects and maintain healthy attitudes. Happiness is definitely contagious so I can read a few happy moments and they automatically lift my spirits.

If you’d like to take part in our ‘What makes you happier?” interview series, just shoot an email to team@happier.com :)

How to be happier: Love more.

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howtobehappier2A 75-year study that followed 268 male Harvard graduates since 1938 has found a powerful connection between the warmth of your relationships and your happiness as you age.

Warm childhood relations with fathers correlated with lower rates of adult anxiety, greater enjoyment of vacations, and increased “life satisfaction” at age 75.

(The study’s data also showed that men who had warm relationships with their parents early on in their lives made more money and did better at work when they were older than those who had poor relationships.)

The lead researcher of the study is quoted as saying: “The Grant Study points … to a straightforward five-word conclusion: ‘Happiness is love. Full stop.”

So here’s a happier challenge for your Monday: Find a way, however small or big, to tell someone important in your life you love them. Leave a sweet note for your spouse. Send a thank you text or email to your friend. Find a card that will make your mom or dad smile and send it to them without an occasion. Surprise your kids with a Monday night fun activity (that can be as simple as playing a game together or going out for ice cream). What you do doesn’t matter as much as letting the people you love know that in some way.

Thursday Inspiration: Neighbors

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“I would like to reveal the meaning of who we are and what we are as neighbors to each other.”

Artist Bohyun Yoon’s project entitled “Neighbors” started with portraits he took of the members of his community in Philadelphia. Yoon photographed of all the diverse people he saw when moving to this city and transferred the prints in monotone color to glass plates. These glass plates, hung along a metal structure, were projected onto the wall using lamps.

Happier recently launched a new Discover tab. Here you can browse happy moments from the Happier community from “neighbors” near or far. It is through this window that we are able to see the commonality in what makes people happy. Bohyun Yoon said, “I am inspired to make work about multi-race populations demonstrating that even if skin, hair, or eye color are different—people are the same inside.” We all want to get happier and through our “neighbors” we can encourage and inspire each other to do so.

Learn more about the artist here and see more sources of inspiration on my design blog!

How to be happier: Catch the happiness virus.

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howtobehappier2Did you know that when your friends feel happier your chances of feeling more cheerful go up by 25%? Researchers have shown that on average, every happy person in your social network increases your positive outlook by about 9% – and the effects last up to one year!

The researchers used the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Index — a standard set of questions psychologists use to measure happiness — to analyze the cheeriness of the study participants. They found that when someone gets happy, that person’s friend experiences a 25 percent increased chance of becoming happy. A friend of that friend experiences a nearly 10 percent chance of increased happiness, and a friend of that friend has a 5.6 percent increased chance of happiness.

If you need a pick-me-up or your day is going sideways getting in touch with a friend or two who are more positive can help. You can even shoot them a “need happy!” SOS text or email or ask them to tell you something awesome going on in their lives.

Thursday Inspiration: Roadsworth

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Roadsworth“Where Wordsworth is a poet of words, Roadsworth is a poet of roads.” Street artist Roadsworth takes to the streets of Montreal to fight against the “mundaneness of the urban landscape” and he does so with his creative conversions of city streets and infrastructures. What I love about his work is that he uses existing lines and structures to create new visuals, even shadows are used (see the caged tiger image bottom left). Roadsworth proves that so much can be done with so little and that there is an opportunity for creative expression everywhere you look.

Learn more about this artist here and see more sources of inspiration on my design blog!