20th March is International Happiness Day. Did you know that? I definitely didn’t.

Surprised ?

Well, to be quite honest, I didn’t think happiness needed to be recognised and acknowledged as something special by having a special day designated for it.

I firmly believe that happiness is something that happens naturally and organically. I don’t wake up in the morning saying that today I will be happy . In fact , just doing things I like doing make me happy.And I also believe that everybody can be happy without making any special effort to be happy.

But it seems that Jayme Illean, a Special Advisor to the UN who had spent his early childhood years in Mother Theresa’s Orphanage in Kolkata before being adopted by an American family , felt that feeling happy is the right of every human being and not many people are aware of the part happiness plays in Mental Health. Thus , he campaigned for many years and finally got the UN to adopt 20th March as the International Day of Happiness. The first one ever was celebrated in 2003 so celebrating happiness day is a pretty recent phenomenon.

What is the purpose of observing this day? Happiness isn’t a right that you can enforce . Nor is it an exclusive privilege of a few . So why is it necessary to have a day for happiness?

Illean felt that everyone should become aware of the part positivity plays and observing this day as such will go a long way in creating awareness. Hence , UN member nations are encouraged to celebrate this day .

Being happy is not something one consciously seeks in one’s daily life . So engrossed are we in the pursuit of success that the pursuit of happiness is relegated to another box to tick.

But it would seem that in the pursuit of other things in life, happiness is often elusive . We tend to forget that happiness is not constant nor is it guaranteed. There are moments when even normally happy people face ‘down’ times .

2020 was a particularly hard year for everyone . It was hard to stay cheerful when faced with uncertainties of employment, food supplies , health and even life itself . With everything changing everyday became a new challenge .

Even one year on when vaccination programs are being conducted world wide , when we know slightly more about the virus, it still looms large in our lives. Everyone is worried who will be next. The second wave is rearing its ugly head once more with more CoVid cases coming to light every day.

Hence, happiness is even more important in our lives because it is a well known fact that feeling down or depressed can make you more susceptible to illness .

“The theme for this year’s International Day of Happiness is ‘Keep Calm. Stay Wise. Be Kind’ and is, of course, in response to the COVID pandemic.”

So however difficult it may be to stay calm, be wise and be kind , it is definitely worth giving them a try . If nothing else , by being calm and helping someone will definitely make someone happier . And above all , I feel that if one is wise enough to observe social distancing , mask wearing and regular hand sanitising , one will at least be happy in knowing that one tried one’s best to keep CoVid away.

Last but not least , one should heed advice that is logical and scientific and have enough wisdom to know what is fake news and what is not .

So if you consciously decide to be happy , you will improve your general well being and increase your immunity .

I’m off now to meditate and be calm .

Smile and Ciao