Hunt For Happiness Week 2020

How many times have you heard happiness is a choice?

Too many times to count, right?

And, if happiness is a choice, why do even the happiest people find themselves in a happiness slump sometimes?

Even though there is an abundance of happiness in everyone’s life — if we chose to acknowledge it — more often than not, the experiences that get the majority of our attention are chaos, stress, annoyances and even life-changing unhappiness.

Unfortunately, our brains are just hard-wired to do that…

The cold, cloudy, dark, dank winter weather can also contribute to our discontentment this time of year.

And, in January, a lot of people experience what I think of as a “Holiday Hoopla Hangover” from the end of all of the holidays that started in the fall. Now, everyone is waiting for spring break vacation, which feels pretty far away right now.

So, what can you do when you find yourself in a happiness slump?

Put a little more effort into hunting for happiness.

That’s why the Society of Happy People started Hunt for Happiness Week in January 2001 — to encourage people to actively look for more happiness.

And if you’re blessed and aren’t in a winter happiness slump, the question is, “Can you experience too much happiness?” I don’t think so…

So, you should join the happiness hunt too.

How are we celebrating Hunt for Happiness Week?

During Happiness Happens Month we kicked off our quest to recognize 1 Million Smile Starters.

Who are Smile Starters?

They are the people who make us smile.

So, during this year’s Hunt for Happiness Week we’ll continue our efforts to recognize 1 Million Smile Starters by hunting for, then recognizing the people who make us smile. We’re even going to add some smile starting experiences to this hunt too.

Why are smiles important?

They are contagious, make us healthier, and even happier.

Think of it this way…

When you smile at someone you are a smile starter for them — meaning every smile starts a smile chain.

You may be the person that starts the smiles for hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people by simply giving out a few Smile Starter Awards.

Imagine a world where more people are smiling because of you.

By participating in Hunt for Happiness Week you can have fun, start smile chains, and make the world happier.

If you want to know the science of why you should smile more and start more smiles, check out our smile stats.

How do you recognize your Smile Starters?

You’ll receive a daily Smile Starter Hunt — to help you identify the people you’re looking to give your Smile Starter Awards to, and the free Smile Starter Award graphics — you can print, text, or share on social media.

We also have pre-printed Smile Starter Award certificates, Smile Starter Award bookmarks that can be donated to schools or community organizations, plus Smile Starter Wristbands available for purchase.

Join Us January 19th - 25th Hunt For Happiness 2020

Bonus Benefit

Social media needs a few more smile starters because so many people feel that their social media feeds are filled with unhappy and negative posts.

Hunt for Happiness Week is a great way to increase the smile starters in social media feeds.

You can help because each day you’ll be challenged to tag a social media post that made you smile because it was funny, motivating, or inspiring with #SmileStarter.

This will make it easy for people to find more social media smiles when they search #SmileStarter.