International World Happiness Day – 20th March
The International World Day of Happiness is on 20th March every year, and was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012
Why
Because if we continue to believe that we can only be happy through consuming more, we are going to run out of things to consume very quickly – and we still won’t be happy!
“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do”.
Freya Stark[i]
Happiness is a state of being.[ii]
Studied for decades, the question “what makes us happy?” has been posed all around the world, over time, and in different ways. Happiness is an important emotion, and has a role in the survival of the species.[iii]
Feeling good is an overall motivational state that keeps us alive. The avoidance of loss and pain and the search for good feelings is the mechanism that has preserved and multiplied the human race.[iv] The impact of happiness has been demonstrated in different studies to improve health, life expectancy,[v] recovery from setbacks and much more.[vi]
Dr Ross McDonald describes most as wanting love, acceptance, respect and esteem from others. They want romance, happiness, success and a sense of positive purpose. And given the fundamental nature of these needs, people will give huge attention to anything that suggests it will satisfy them.[vii]
Happiness consists of positive emotion (hedonic pleasure), and assessments of flourishing, meaning and purpose (eudaimonic well-being) – both are important in evaluations of life satisfaction.[viii]
Happiness is not only an individual quest, but is something organizations are keen to enhance among employees because there are organizational benefits to a positive, engaged, and energized workforce.
Well-being is part of the measure of human capital, which is finding its way into the annual reports of listed companies. There is little doubt that management of health and well-being in the workplace reduces healthcare expenditure and yields a significant return on investment.[ix]
If we look at happiness and unhappiness as two ends of a health dimension – the cost savings of reducing unhappiness (both in direct financial terms and down-time resulting from unhealthy employees) alone should raise the priority of the “happiness” agenda in the workplace. At the other end of the dimension, optimal health is a factor in optimal productivity;[x] engaged employees are associated with innovation, described as moving the organization forward[xi] and with putting their discretionary effort into driving growth and performance.[xii]
And the quest doesn’t stop at organizations. Nations too are keen to enhance the overall “happiness” of their populations. With an ageing population and the growing health challenges across the age spectrum combined with the benefits that happiness can bring, happiness is a vital economic issue.
The 2012 World Happiness report argued: “if we continue along the current economic trajectory, we risk undermining the Earth’s life support system….necessary for human health and even survival in some places”. There is hope: “if we act wisely, we can protect the Earth” and at the same time “raise quality of life broadly around the world…..by adopting lifestyles and technologies that improve happiness while reducing human damage to the environment.”
Last Updated Thursday, March 19, 2015 2:34PM EDT
Canada’s summers may be mild and its winters cold, but its people are still happier than 90 per cent of rest of the world.
Canada tied 10 other countries for 15th on a list of the world’s happiest populations, putting it ahead of most European nations. The Great White North trails several of its South American neighbours on the internationally-ranked list, but it finished dead even with the United States and several Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway.
The website Gallup polled 1,000 residents from 143 countries worldwide to produce the list, which ranks each nation by the percentage of positive answers its citizens provided to a series of questions about sleep, respect, laughter, education and happiness.
Paraguay dominated the list with 89 per cent positive responses, followed by a three-way tie between Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala at 84 per cent. Several Central and South American countries fill out the top 10 with scores in the low eighties, while Canada tied 10 other countries at 79 per cent.
Canada’s neighbours on the list included its neighbour to the south and a good mix of countries from different parts of the world. The United States, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Argentina, Bhutan, Chile, Dominican Republic and Rwanda all racked up scores of 79 per cent.
War-torn, poor and bitterly-divided countries filled out the bottom of the list, with Sudan placing last at 47 per cent. Tunisia was next-lowest at 52 per cent, followed by a tie between Bangladesh, Serbia and Turkey.
The list found an obvious discrepancy between national wealth and individual happiness, with poorer countries like Guatemala far outranking wealthy nations like the United Kingdom.
Well today was a true Pearson hay sunny day!!!!
My first stop was to go into town for 10am to watch the children’s welcome to Spring parade I have seen this before and if you cannot be happy after seeing hundreds of kids dressed up well then I am sorry..the only problem was that when I arrived in town everyone was leaving unbeknown to me and many more the parade started this year at 9am so all I have for shots are a few of the kids leaving…
A shame I missed the event.
Came home and got packed up and on the road and 80 minutes later I was entering this city
Why are you asking….
well this is why!!!!
You know how I feel about this sport and to be able to see some of the up and coming stars and some of the women ranked between 150 and 300 in the world was not an opportunity to pass up.
I treated myself to a VIp pass and I knew the ropes here because Carolyn and I came to this event last year……the complex is just wonderful
The above section is the one I have a ticket for and this is the best way to see tennis behind the base line and I had the best seat in the stadium…
The first game was between the number one seed from Germany playing an unseeded American girl…..it was so interesting for me to take in the action before on and off the courts….the No.1 seed I saw behind the stadium before the game holding her baby daughter!!!!!! Then she leaves the baby with her husband and goes out on the court…
The No.1 seed
Her US opponent..
Dad and the lovely daughter watching…
It was a great three set game and lasted over three hours with the No 1 seed being knocked out…but what happens after the game….
Off the court and changing the diaper!!!!!
I then went to Number 2 court
and watched a doubles game involving a Mexican girl and the crowd were so funny cheering so loud after every point won…
Another great game which the local girl and her partner won……I think I managed to get some tips for my own doubles game tomorrow!!!!
I then went back to the stadium court and my seat and watched another wonderful singles game…..these women are so strong and they hit the ball so hard…lots of swallows returning home over the court…
It was a fantastic day and the game finished by 8 o clock and I was home by 9.30pm….the only thing I did not care for was driving home in the dark but they were main roads and I took it easy….
Now relaxing watching guess what…..yes tennis from Indian Wells!!!!!
Yashi Kochi!!!!
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