{"id":8307,"date":"2016-03-20T22:02:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T02:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=8307"},"modified":"2016-03-20T22:02:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T02:02:29","slug":"international-happiness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html","title":{"rendered":"International Happiness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”.-His Holiness the Dalai Lama<\/p>\n

Today is International Happiness Day<\/a>, which is set aside with the intention of making the planet a happier place to live, on which kindness reigns supreme, nature is championed and people feel treasured. As far as I can see, every day should fall into that category.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a\u00a0resolution<\/a> which recognized happiness as a \u201cfundamental human goal\u201d and called for \u201ca more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the\u00a0happiness and well-being of all peoples\u201d.<\/p>\n

To that end, the sponsoring organization called Action For Happiness, has numerous suggestions, that include gathering with kindred spirits at Happiness Cafes, committing acts of kindness, exercising your body, having awareness of what is going on around us, doing new things, as well as reading the Happiness Guidebook, that you can download<\/a> from their site.<\/p>\n

In my life, although I tend to be unreasonably happy\/happy for no reason, I do encounter\u00a0experiences and people that\u00a0plaster a big old smile on my face. Over the weekend, I taught a workshop, had dinner with friends, had overnight guests, spoke at my interfaith community this morning on the topic of Spring Awakening, went to a Spring Equinox event and then met with another friend who is designing a logo for me. Feeling pleasantly tired and all loved up. Most certainly happy.<\/p>\n

It is my contention that happiness is contagious. Think of what it feels like to walk into a room where people are in celebratory mode. How does your mood shift by being there?It’s hard to stay sad, fearful or angry when immersed in that energy. It\u00a0is portable. You can carry it, like a bee pollinates a flower, from one to the next. It is flexible and not one size fits all. What contributes to the happiness of one, may differ for another.<\/p>\n

Ideas for increasing your HQ (Happiness Quotient)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dancing<\/p>\n

Playing with a child<\/p>\n

Petting an animal<\/p>\n

Being of service<\/p>\n

Hugging<\/p>\n

Saying and hearing the words: I love you<\/p>\n

Planting a garden<\/p>\n

Writing ‘I appreciate you’\/love notes to family or friends<\/p>\n

Listening to music that tickles your soul<\/p>\n

Mending a rift between yourself and another<\/p>\n

Immersing in creative endeavors<\/p>\n

Being in nature<\/p>\n

Taking\u00a0powerful leaps<\/p>\n

Looking up old friends and if possible, reconnect<\/p>\n

Traveling to new locales and drinking in the experience<\/p>\n

Watching The Happy Movie<\/a>\u00a0and be inspired by the ideas in it<\/p>\n

Happiness is a choice. Regardless of external circumstance, I know that I am the engineer, running the train and no one ultimately has the ability to get it where it needs to go, except me. There have been times in which I would normally engineer circumstances to my liking, even though something, from somewhere, spoke with\u00a0me and let me\u00a0know I need not micromanage and can simply let go and giggle with delight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”.-His Holiness the Dalai Lama Today is International Happiness Day, which is set aside with the intention of making the planet a happier place to live, on which kindness reigns supreme, nature is championed and people feel treasured. As far as I can see,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,8,70,33,27,3532,19,94,49,3,22,1176,14,4,54,15,30,16,10],"tags":[4774,4772,1556,2938,4773],"class_list":["post-8307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-communication","category-community","category-creativity","category-dance","category-edie-weinstein","category-empowerment","category-family","category-friendship","category-gratitude","category-healing","category-holidays","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-interfaith","category-living-their-bliss","category-love","category-my-personal-bliss","category-spirituality","tag-dalai-lama","tag-international-day-of-happiness","tag-spring-equinox","tag-the-happy-movie","tag-un-generally-assembly"],"yoast_head":"\nInternational Happiness Day - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International Happiness Day - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”.-His Holiness the Dalai Lama Today is International Happiness Day, which is set aside with the intention of making the planet a happier place to live, on which kindness reigns supreme, nature is championed and people feel treasured. As far as I can see,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-21T02:02:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"International Happiness Day - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"International Happiness Day - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions”.-His Holiness the Dalai Lama Today is International Happiness Day, which is set aside with the intention of making the planet a happier place to live, on which kindness reigns supreme, nature is championed and people feel treasured. As far as I can see,…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2016-03-21T02:02:29+00:00","author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html","name":"International Happiness Day - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-21T02:02:29+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-21T02:02:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2016\/03\/international-happiness-day.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"International Happiness Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8307"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8309,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8307\/revisions\/8309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}