About the Secret Society of Happy People
The Secret Society of Happy People started with a simple question by the founder Pamela Gail Johnson, “Where are all of the happy people?”
Her imagination kicked in and she saw people standing around talking about their happy moments. No one used their real names and they wore Mardi Gras masks to keep their identities a secrets. Why? A parade-rainer, someone who dislikes happy people, might crash their gathering. Then she saw the banner: The Secret Society of Happy People.
By August 1998, she’d started the Society with a simple purpose:
- Recognize your happy moments with the same enthusiasm as you recognize your unhappy moments.
- Encourage others to talk about their happy moments too.
- Don’t unnecessarily rain on other people’s parades.
If you think you’ve heard of the Society, you probably have. We have thousands of members from around the world thanks to continuous international publicity that initially started when Ann Landers discouraged people from sending happy holiday newsletters in her November 29th, 1998 column and the Society responded.
The Society has been featured in People Magazine, Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, Prevention, Ladies Home Journal, Harpers, Yoga Journal, SELF, Redbook and Glamour.
Hundreds of print, broadcast, and Internet outlets throughout the world have covered the Society, including CNN, The Associated Press, USA Today, Good Morning America (ABC), The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Los Angeles Times. Parade named the Happiest Events, Inventions and Social Changes of the Century as the “Best List of the Century.”
The Society has been included in Think You’re the Only One?, 365 Health and Happiness Boosters, Voices of Truth, Every Day’s a Holiday Calendar, and Trivial Pursuit’s 1990’s Edition includes a question about the Society.
Society Founder Pamela Gail Johnson has been an InspireMeToday.com luminary in 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 and was on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.
Since then the Society has:
Announce the annual Happiest Events and Moments
Identified the Thirty-One Types of Happiness
Declared August 8th as Happiness Happens Day and August as Happiness Happens Month
Organized Voting for the Happiest Events, Inventions, and Social Changes of the Century
Declared 3rd week in January as Hunt for Happiness Week
The Secret Society of Happy People is possible because of the following not-so-secretly happy people:
Founder: Pamela Gail Johnson
Original Logo Designer: David C. Perry
Updated Logo Designer: Diane Schwartz
