Did you know that on March 20th of each year, the world celebrates World Happiness Day ? It was established in 2012 by the UN which, " aware of how the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental purpose of humanity ", wanted to promote " sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, happiness and well-being of all people ". And the pursuit of happiness as a purpose of human life is not an intuition of the UN but a great classic by Aristotle ! It was the Greek philosopher who wrote as early as the fourth century BC that the purpose of every action is happiness .

Do we have to be happy?

Well, no. Happiness is a nice feeling but we can't expect it to be constant and we shouldn't search for it spasmodically, psychology tells us: to maintain good mental health you have to search for balance, not the peak of joy or sadness. So it's fine to feel happy but also sad, bored, serene, worried, melancholic, angry . It means that we are living fully. It's like with flavors: if you only taste one, maybe there's something wrong with you and eating isn't so nice anymore.

Happiness as an imperative is an evil of our time and this article by The Vision explains it well. On social media there is a constant call for “ good vibes ” and perhaps you have heard of “ toxic positivity ”: by dint of feeling called to happiness and optimism we end up believing that sadness is an exception, that everything that is not happy is a-normal. By reading and listening to content that asks you to be happy you will end up thinking that if you feel sad there is something wrong with you , that you should have done something different to feel happy at all times, and instead no. If we make positivity an obsession we end up blaming ourselves for non-existent guilt and distancing ourselves from reality, which is made up of different emotions and not necessarily happy ones.

A similar mechanism was activated not only with happiness but also with resilience : a word that if overused leads us to believe that all situations can be solved with the resources of the individual. Can the individual, with his personal resources, solve global conflicts or pandemic crises? The answer is obvious: no. We reflected on this after watching this video on toxic resilience filmed by La stanza blu . We recommend you watch it!

Little things that make us feel good

We don't have recipes for happiness to share, but in the last few months we've discovered some little things that make us feel good. Like: growing basil on the balcony, planting a flower bulb, whipping up a cappuccino, learning to meditate , reading the books you promised yourself you'd read months ago, and re-listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It was nice to learn how to take care of a scented plant, to do things calmly, to listen to the music of the heart again. It makes you appreciate what you have and what you are. Learning to manage the rhythm of breathing helped us fall asleep on the most difficult evenings. Maybe you like different things but we hope we have given you a little inspiration to look for what makes you feel good… And happy world happiness day ! 😊