Happiness Happens Month — Let’s Recognize One Million Smile Starters
Happiness is worth celebrating everyday — but when you declared the first happiness holiday, and it reaches a big milestone, say, 20 years later — you have got to do something special to celebrate!
I may need to have a party or at least a cake with candles 
—maybe we should have a virtual party and all smile together on August 1 — let me know what you think of that idea.
Smiles Are Universal
Since smiling is the universal sign of happiness, smiles are our 20th Happiness Happens Month theme. We want to recognize all of the people who start smiles.
Smiles are contagious, so the person who smiles first kind of makes the world smile, or creates what I think of as smile-chain: It happens when you smile at someone, then they smile at someone, who then smiles at someone else…
There are many scientific reasons that smiling makes us happier, healthier and even more approachable. Therefore, putting a little effort into smiling, and smiling more, benefits us. The average adult only smiles 20 times a day compared to the 400 times a day that the average child smiles, so we’d like to increase that number for a few people.
There are many situations, people and circumstances that make us smile less. Unfortunately, they often get the majority of our attention. These happiness zappers might be a story we see on the news, something in our social media feed, or dealing with a personal situation, friend or family member. These situations may or may not be within our control.
Although happiness zappers are part of everyone’s lives how we manage them probably controls how much we smile. If you want to be a little happier check out our 5 Days to a Happier You — however, more about this on a different day.
Help Us Recognize 1 Million Smile Starters 🙂
When happiness happens, we naturally smile or at least grin a bit.
When someone starts these smiles, let’s take a little time in the next few weeks to recognize them.
You can do this by becoming a Smile Starter Award Presenter.
It’s easier than being a red carpet presenter because you can do it in your comfy clothes.
The Society has created free Smile Starter Awards that you can give to someone who starts your smiles.
We have certificates and social media graphics that you can post, text or email.
If you aren’t sure who your Smile Starters are, we even created a little Smile Starter Award List to help you identify them.
We even have special Smile Starter Awards that you can give to those extra special smile starters in your life
So, here’s the crazy, or maybe fun part of this year’s Happiness Happens Month.
I set a really big goal in honor of our 20th Happiness Happens Month: Recognizing One Million Smile Starters 
Now, can you imagine a world filled with one million people who’ve been told they make the world better because they made you smile? Do you think every time they smile for the foreseeable future, they might smile a little bigger knowing it started your smile?
How uplifting would it be if more people spent time focusing on starting smiles for others?
The Society is even giving some of the people who made thousands and millions of people smile a Smile Starter Award!
You Are A Smile Starter
While we celebrate Happiness Happens Month this year, remember that your smile can start smiles for others. You may be making their moment or day a little happier. It’ll even make you happier if you need a little happiness boost.
Become A Smile Starter Presenter
Imagine being part of making the world One Million smiles happier. Imagine knowing you created that world by being a Smile Starter Presenter.
Thank you for helping us make the world happier one Smile Starter at a time 
Help Us Recognize 1 Million Smile Starters 🙂
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.
Pamela Gail, Thank you so much for allowing us to participate in this year’s promotion! I am a Red Hat Society chapter queen in Colorado Springs and find it is so easy to smile and have people smile back at me. This is a wonderful campaign that I will use a lot during August! I look forward to capturing a w-h-o-l-e bunch of smilers! Thanks and Love in a Red Hat, Queen Betty, Grand Duchess of Willingness.