The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 20th March as International Day of Happiness (IDH) in order to recognize, “the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world”.
To celebrate IDH this year, we’d like to help to inspire you to create more happiness in your life and the lives of others!
To help support you in this, we will:
- Invite you to share your #HappyHaiku ideas (see below for details)
- Share a series of blog posts and videos on happiness
- Join in a series of Facebook Live presentations on the day
- Promote examples of how others are marking IDH (such as dayofhappiness.net and Live Happy’s #HappyActs)
#HappyHaiku Competition
A haiku is a Japanese poem of 17 syllables in total, in three lines of 5 syllables, then 7 syllables, and then 5 syllables again. For IDH 2016 we ran a #HappyHaiku competition, and received some brilliant entries.
This year we are again inviting you to share your own #HappyHaiku ideas – this time you’ll be in with a chance of winning a 10% discount off our exciting Building Wellbeing Together Weekend. You can base your #HappyHaiku on anything happiness related, ideally focusing around the theme of creating happiness.
To enter your haiku(s), you simply need to share it in one of the following ways:
- On Twitter, share a photo of your happiness haiku or make it short enough to write it in a tweet. Please make sure to include the hash tag #HappyHaiku and tag @NetwrkWellbeing.
- On Facebook, write out or share a photo of your happiness haiku. Please make sure to include the hash tag #HappyHaiku and tag @Network of Wellbeing – NOW.
- On Instagram, share a photo of your happiness haiku and make sure to include the hash tag #HappyHaiku and @NetworkofWellbeing.
- Email entries to florence@networkofwellbeing.org
The competition deadline for entries is Monday 20th March at 11.59pm GMT, though you can continue sharing your #HappyHaiku ideas after the deadline simply for the joy of it!
All happy haikus entered will be shared on NOW’s social media channels, and a few of the most inspiring may be shared on our website, plus a few of the best entrants will be awarded a 10% discount off our Building Wellbeing Together Weekend.
Creating Happiness
Happiness is an important aspect of a broader sense of wellbeing. At NOW we believe that people’s happiness depends in part on the health of the communities in which they live and work. This, in turn, depends on the fairness of society as a whole, and the long-term health of the natural world on which we all depend.
NOW has decided to focus on creating happiness as one theme for our activities this IDH, because we see happiness as something we can all help to create in our own lives and the lives of others. We’re aware that things don’t always go right in life, and that happiness is not a given; but putting actions in place that can help support yours and others’ happiness is well worth the effort.
There are many ways of creating happiness; if we ensure we take time to respect ourselves, be kind to others, and connect with the natural world then we’ll certainly be off to a strong start. Why not share your own suggestions and experiences of creating happiness in the form of a #HappyHaiku!
Help spread the word
We really look forward to seeing all of your #HappyHaiku entries! Please share this post (easily done via the social media buttons below) to help spread the word about International Day of Happiness.
If you are marking International Day of Happiness, and you’d like us to help share your activities please get in touch.
