It’s the 18th Hunt for Happiness Week!
We’ve always hunted for happiness, and sometimes it’s sitting in our laps, or in some cases right under our nose.
The third Monday in January was coined, Blue Monday, by Dr. Cliff Arnall, a U.K. based psychologist, fourteen years ago. Although the exact Blue Monday date is marred in a bit of controversy, since it was selected for an ad campaign, the month of January can be a blue time for many.
The Secret Society of Happy People declared the third full week of January as Hunt for Happiness Week even a few years before an official Blue Monday was declared. I must have been a bit intuitive before the Blue Monday scientific date was discovered.
Why did the Secret Society of Happy People pick the third week of January? Well, after all of the fall holiday hoopla, there can be a bit of a holiday happy letdown. In the northern Hemisphere, the weather can be a little gloomy, and people get stuck indoors more. If you’re in school, spring break seems far away. Vacations are typically a few months off. Even our culturally beloved football season ends and winds down.
Every year, the Society shares 7 Happiness Hunts to help you find a little happy despite Blue Monday or winter doldrums.
We pick a different theme each year based on our member feedback and current happenings. A study of 2.5 million Americans was released this past spring, showing despite a robust economy, more people are unhappy than they’ve been since 2009 – the year that unemployment hit an all-time high during the Great Recession.
This year, we’re focusing the hunts around my personal secrets to happiness or what I call the Practical Happiness Principles:
- Happiness Zappers Zap Everyone
- Happiness Is Personal
- Happiness Changes as We Change
- Happiness is Bigger Than You Think
We want to focus on helping people realistically increase their happiness.
We’ve created 7 Happiness Hunt FunSheets to help you find a little more Practical Happiness this week.
To get you started, here’s The Day One FunSheet. If you’d like to get the other Hunt for Happiness Week FunSheets just sign up here.
Happiness happens, even in January. Sometimes we may need to proactively do things or spend time with people whom we know make us happy. Sometimes finding more happiness takes more effort.
If you haven’t become an Amused Member, sign up today – you’ll get our 31 Types of Happiness Desk poster to help you identify a few more Types of Happiness.
Even mostly happy people – that’s how most of our membership rates their happiness – can have days when they need to put a little more effort into creating or finding happiness. Although you probably don’t have to look inside of your toilet (see the video in case you missed it).
Happiness isn’t an all-of-the-time, linear moment – it’s complex, and it ebbs and flows. Sometimes everyone has to hunt for happiness – even when it’s not Hunt for Happiness Week.
To help in your hunt for happiness, check out a few of Pamela’s Inspirations and Motivations for 2019.
Written by Pamela Gail
Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Society of Happy People in 1998.
The Society is grounded on Pamela’s four key Practical Happiness Principles:
Pamela identified 31 Types of Happiness that are on the SOHP App Happiness Counter to make it easier to recognize moments of happiness.
Pamela also plans and organizes the Society of Happy People's annual happiness celebrations:
She's also a speaker, trainer, and author.
A few of her personal smile starters include her monthly book club, yoga, traveling and meeting new happy people.