When is Happiness Day?

This weekend, there are many things to celebrate: the leisure days and Oil Expropriation Day, the arrival of spring, and Happiness Day. Yes, there is a day to be happy as you hear it.

March 20th is Happiness Day

International Happiness Day is celebrated on March 20^th, as established by the United Nations Organization (UN) in 2013 as a way to recognize the importance of this feeling in the lives of people around the world and the need to broaden economic growth so that the equality and well-being of all peoples are considered.

“The path to happiness requires fundamental values such as kindness and compassion, especially in times of crisis due to armed conflicts, pandemics such as the coronavirus, or famine. Individual happiness passes through global happiness with the collaboration of all. Let’s not leave anyone behind”.

UN

What is happiness?

Have you ever wondered if you are happy? What do you need to be happy? The answer is usually not simple. Happiness is a state associated with positive emotion, according to psychology. For many philosophers, it constitutes the ultimate goal of the human being, related more to a way of walking through life than to the place at which one arrives.

For Hugo Sánchez, an academic from the Faculty of Psychology at UNAM, happiness is given by events and things that satisfy our needs.

“We have to accept that it is a concept that we must build to try to enjoy it when it appears”.

Happiness, explains the researcher, is the feeling of believing and having hope in the future, that “things” will be fine, in a situation in which relationships seem to be progressing positively.

“The problem appears when we believe that happiness should permeate our lives. The reality is that we must go through every emotion that exists: sadness, anger, anxiety, fear, etc. that allows us to adapt correctly to the environment”.

How do you teach children to be happy?

Sometimes adults associate happiness with material things, such as having a car of the year or earning a lot of money. Still, it can be in small details for children, says the Educo organization. Here are some tips to encourage this feeling in children.

• .Play with your children: Playing is an important part of their development; make a space for them to enjoy this time together.
• Be positive parents: Remember that your children will follow your example, so you must teach them the positive side of all situations.
• Give autonomy: Although you will always want to care for your children, you must give them space to make their decisions.
• Recognize their achievements: Let your children know that you are proud so that they feel appreciated and valued.
• Help them express their emotions: Children must learn to understand their feelings and the situations that cause them from an early age.
• Teach them what empathy is: Putting yourself in the place of others will help them understand what others feel and help when necessary.
• Do not label them: Adjectives such as “bad” or “disobedient” will make your children act that way to adapt to the profile you are imposing on them unconsciously. To avoid this, give them positive teachings instead. Avoid labels.
• Never fall for insults or even spankings: This type of act leaves traces forever. Remember that your little ones learn from you. If they see that you solve things with aggression, they will likely become violent.

Being happy is constant work. Talk to your little ones about when Happiness Day is.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version: Here