Cheers!!! Happiness Happens Day is officially 21 years old, so we can legally have adult beverages

Or you can toast with our traditional pink lemonade or any beverage that makes you smile. That’s the theme this year — smiles — and recognizing those people who start your smiles — or as we call them, Smile Starters.

This year, Happiness Happens Month and Day are about kicking off our new smiley mission: Recognizing One Million Smile Starters.

You can see our progress here, and while you’re visiting the page, make sure you sign up to be a Smile Starter Award Presenter!

It’s easy, fun and we even have free Smile Starter Awards — as well as some that are a little fancier which you can buy.

This is my favorite response from a Smile Starter Awardee that I’ve seen so far:

I can’t think of a better compliment than someone wanting this award name on his or her headstone. And I can’t think of a better way to be remembered after we leave earth than someone thinking you were a Smile Starter.

This will be a long-term project, unless we trend in social media, to get to one million smile starter recognitions. But worth it to make the world a little happier.

Who thinks there are at least one million people start smiles? They can be anywhere in the world. So, please join us, and become a Smile Starter Award Presenter. You’ll have a fun and start a few smiles.

Oh, and have you checked out the official Smile Starter Awardees yet?

Each day we recognize one of our awardees on our social media accounts — Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. If you see these posts and it’s someone who makes you smile, please like, comment, RT and share them. It will help us trend.

One of my Smile Starters is when I think of all of the past Happiness Happens Days. Some of our nostalgic celebration themes have included:

• Passing out chocolate kisses because happy people have a way to see the silver lining in even the darkest clouds
• Doing daily happiness challenges during the month of August
• Toasting with Pink Lemonade — we even have a recipe in the Happiness Handbook that you get with your memberships, including the FUN one (it’s free)
• Sharing our happy quote filled Pass-It-On Cards

Basically, we always try to start a few smiles for you and the people you love.

I get that if you live in America right now, happiness feels a little different today than it did a week ago. However, that’s one of the reasons it’s so important to notice and value your happy moments when you feel them.

 Happiness isn’t the absence of unhappiness.

The amount of happiness you experience is, in part, about how you manage your happiness zappers — those moments that take away your happiness.

Now, some moments, like grief, which appear when we lose people, health, security or other things, may take some time to work through — contributing to increased anxiety and stress. You may experience less happiness.

However, even in these difficult times, there are still moments of happiness that can lift us even if it’s only for a few moments.

[Tweet “Happiness happens when we notice it — often you’ll discover you’re happy when you find your lips curving upward to your eyes and creating a smile.”]

There are even benefits to smiling —so sometimes it’s okay to “pretend-smile” until you’re naturally smiling.

So, today, to celebrate Happiness Happens Day, share a toast with someone who makes you smile and give them one of our Smile Starter Awards.

Then at least two people will share a smile-starting moment.

Here’s to celebrating the smile starters and the happiness they bring — today and every day!