Celebrating the shinier things in life: International Day of Happiness 2023

Clap your hands and stomp your feet because today is the International Day of Happiness! This annual celebration was arranged by the United Nations (UN), along with its nonprofit partner group Action for Happiness, to commemorate all the shinier things in life.

In 2011, the General Assembly of the UN adopted a resolution that made happiness have the same amount of importance as economic opportunity, making it a "fundamental human goal." The first-ever UN conference on Happiness was held on July 12, 2012, and the holiday was established with the help of the United Nations special advisor at the time, Jayme Illien.

A year after that, all 193 state members of the UN celebrated the world's first International Day of Happiness. The event was launched by Ndaba Mandela and Chelsea Clinton at the TedXTeen conference in New York City. In honour of the event, Pharell released his 24-hour-long music video for his song "Happy" on March 20, 2014.

Statistics released by National Today reveal the different numbers it would take for a person to achieve high levels of satisfaction. For example, it would take a minimum of 10 friends for an individual to have a better state of mind. An annual salary of $75,000 is also the average amount it would take for a person to feel contented with their career. The average human also needs to spend six to seven hours of socialisation each day in order to achieve the "highest levels of happiness."

Reaching 33 years old is especially exciting, as it has been reported to be the general age where people feel the happiest. Couples, too, are in luck because, for every negative interaction, five positive ones take place. It has also been shown that wearing bright colours can increase a person's mood by 37 per cent. Surprisingly, happiness is affected by genetics at 50 per cent, but it has also been proved that everyone has their control over their happiness at approximately 40 per cent.

Constantly having a smile on your face has benefits, aside from having a better emotional state, like being less likely to develop the common cold. On that note, scientists have reported that there are 18 common types of smiles. Dr. Paul Ekman, a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), categorised the different kinds of smiles using standard facial recognition tools.

Some of the 18 types are worried smiles, exaggerated smiles, and diplomatic smiles. While others are more common, such as the fake polite smile and embarrassed smile, some kinds of smiles are more surprising. For example, despite its unique name, the sadistic smile is commonly used by people whenever they are feeling jealous.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 300 million people are currently living with depression. This makes celebrating International Day of Happiness more important, especially since humans have the tendency to get caught up in this fast-paced and ever-changing world. Though institutionalised problems such as poverty are not so easily changed, finding the simpler joys in life and smiling about them can greatly improve one's physical and mental health.

Success in one's career does not also equate to feeling happy since money cannot buy happiness, a Harvard study shows. The world's longest study had been tracking people from 1938 "to find out what really makes for a satisfying life and what does not." It found out that relationships are the true key to happiness and contentment.

Previously, International Women's Day was also celebrated on March 8 by countries all around the globe. Focused on the Women's Rights Movement, the holiday became a "platform for women to speak out and promote change over the years."