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National I Want You to be Happy Day is celebrated annually on March 3rd to encourage spreading joy, positivity, and kindness to others. It focuses on selfless acts to lift someone's mood, improve their day, and foster connections, reminding everyone to prioritize happiness in a busy world.
Here are some ways to celebrate on March 3rd:
- Perform Small Acts of Kindness: Leave a encouraging note, buy coffee for a stranger, or send a thoughtful text to a friend.
- Recognize Others: Compliment a coworker, thank someone who has helped you, or tell a loved one you love them.
- Brighten Someone's Day: Bring flowers to a neighbor or do a favor for someone struggling.
- Shift Perspective: Focus on making someone else smile, which research suggests also boosts your own happiness.
- This day is not just about personal joy but about actively creating a more joyful environment for those around you.
Perhaps you’ve heard the Chinese Proverb: “If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.”
Numerous studies have shown one key factor to finding and maintaining our own happiness is to do something to make others happy. In fact, one study revealed physiological effects when subjects donated to a charity. It’s known as the “helper’s high” with the brain releasing feelings of happiness and reward, prompting people to do even more kind acts.
Monk and bestselling author, Om Swami, wrote “The Book of Kindness: How to Make Others Happy and Be Happy Yourself” in 2019. He details many stories of acts of kindness and helps you to understand, practice, and master kindness.
Genuine efforts to make others happy result in our own feelings of empowerment; feelings that we can take on the world.
So, take advantage of today and this opportunity to show others you want them to be happy by understanding what makes them personally happy and thoughtfully following through. It usually doesn’t take much effort; simple acts of kindness go a long way to making others happy and you will find your own reward in return!
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