International Happiness Day is July 10 – Five Ways to Celebrate

Tomorrow, July 10, 2009 marks the first ever International Happiness Day.  Organized by a diverse group of faculty, practitioners, and enthusiasts, the effort’s goal is to get people focused on happiness.

Why is it in important to focus on happiness?

• Intentionality matters.  David Pollay writes that “it’s up to us” to pursue happiness.
• Happiness is contagious.  Research shows that knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself.
• The science of happiness is evolving.  The recent World Congress on Positive Psychology was the springboard for the 51% challenge.  Enable flourishing.

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Five ways to celebrate international happiness day:

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Brag.  No, seriously…. participating in the Your Happiest Moment contest by sharing a picture of you at your best.

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Do something for yourself. Is an old grudge dragging you down?  Still caught up in something from months, or even years ago?  Confront the past grudge with accuracy and honesty with the Letting Go of Grudges exercise developed by Dr. Martin Seligman.

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Do something with others.  Meetup groups about the science of happiness are growing quickly.  HappierPhilly gets together in two weeks.  HappierDC has 80 members.  Emiliya Zhivotovskaya leads the the 400-person strong Happiness Club NY.  Lionel Ketchian’s HappinessClubs.com lists opportunities for seniors, teens, and everyone else to get involved on a local level.

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Discover your strengths through the free VIA Strengths Assessment on happier.com or through other groundbreaking tools like the Realise2

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Have a happiness party.  For instructions, visit the 5,000 person+ happiness day group on facebook.

Any other suggestions for how to celebrate International Happiness Day?  Feel free to leave comments!

happier.com is a personal trainer for your happiness. With more than a dozen tools and tests to help you measure, track and improve your happiness, you can trust the happier.com experts to help you reach your goals. Exclusive videos and a popular blog mean there’s something new to learn every day. Download the free iPhone application or find what you’re looking for with the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory. happier.com is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter and has meetup groups in Washington, Philadelphia, and Portland, with more planned. Click here for a social media press release from our launch.

Pictures Posted from happier.com Party in Philadelphia

The pictures are up from our happier.com party in Philadelphia!  Apologies for just now posting these.  The facebook group has been tagging and promoting the pics for two weeks now, and I just realized that we never shared them with the blog!

Click here to view the full album.

happier.com is a personal trainer for your happiness. With more than a dozen tools and tests to help you measure, track and improve your happiness, you can trust the happier.com experts to help you reach your goals. Exclusive videos and a popular blog mean there’s something new to learn every day. Download the free iPhone application or find what you’re looking for with the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory. happier.com is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter and has meetup groups in Washington, Philadelphia, and Portland, with more planned. Click here for a social media press release from our launch.

Meet Other Users of happier.com – on Facebook

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Are you a big fan of happier.com?  Want to meet more people like YOU?  If so, become a fan on facebook to join more people who are interested in positive psychology and the pursuit of happiness!

The facebook page is a place to post comments and questions and interact with other users.  And if you are passionate about positive psychology, the happier.com facebook page will help you learn about other facebook groups dedicated to the science of happiness.

I hope to see you on the facebook page,

-Brooke

A member of the team at happier.com

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Note:  Brooke, studying psychology at Boston College, has joined the happier.com team for the summer.

happier.com is a personal trainer for your happiness. With more than a dozen tools and tests to help you measure, track and improve your happiness, you can trust the happier.com experts to help you reach your goals. Exclusive videos and a popular blog mean there’s something new to learn every day. Download the free iPhone application or find what you’re looking for with the Positive Psychology Practitioner Directory. happier.com is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter and has meetup groups in Washington, Philadelphia, and Portland, with more planned. Click here for a social media press release from our launch.