Today is International Happiness Day. What does happiness look like in 2020? As we face a global crisis together, happiness might come in a different shape then we’re used to. Overall happiness includes so many different factors: passion, drive, sense of meaning and connection; your everyday positive emotions and experiences; sense of satisfaction in the major areas of your life; how we feel in our jobs; and whether we feel like we have a sense of meaning and purpose. Health and relationships play a huge part in our happiness. And humor.
All of these different factors go into whether or not we’re happy, though happiness can’t be measured and can be a bit vague. I think it’s important to give our happiness love and attention. In today’s climate everyone is being challenged. What made us happy before might not feel right anymore, including certain luxuries. Not saying that our happiness meter is measured by how much toilet paper we have, but things have certainly shifted - whether it’s a permanent change or not. My hope is that we’ll be stronger and more united than before and therefore happier.
We’re being asked to take a deeper look inside and see how we are humans in our communities. But how do we do that? What does it look like? To give and reach a helping hand increases our happiness. We can assist elderly and vulnerable neighbours by shopping for them and running errands. We can donate to crisis funds and other in-need entities.
This is a great time to give our happiness some self love and care as in, make projects during this social distancing. For example, create a spa-like environment in your bathroom. Create DIY spa rituals and take long baths. Find fun streaming workouts that keep us inspired and healthy. Meditate. Make a new bucket list that includes a list of books to read. I’d say buy what you need out there, but resist the urge to panic and overload your pantry. And breathe!
Find out how happy you are by taking the happiness test - it’s both fun and eye opening.
https://apps.bluezones.com/en/happiness?_ga=2.29637687.92996638.1520272093-400647082.1506447080
Be well and safe and keep washing your hands!
