Ready for a break from today’s depressing news, partisan divides, and culture wars? Tomorrow — the International Day of Happiness — may be the break for which you have been looking. The International Day of Happiness has been celebrated since 2013 following a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 12 July 2012. According to the UN staff, “The resolution was initiated by Bhutan, a country which recognized the value of national happiness over national income since the early 1970s and famously adopted the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product.”[1] If you are wondering, “what exactly is the International Day of Happiness,” the UN Staff has a simple answer, “It’s a day to be happy, of course!” They add, “Happiness is a fundamental human goal. … The United Nations invites each person of any age, plus every classroom, business and government to join in celebration of the International Day of Happiness.”

The Value of Happiness

Journalist Jessica Grose is like most of us; she often finds she isn’t happy. She writes, “Much of my life consists of things that I don’t particularly want to do. … Being reminded that most of my life is obligatory does not exactly spark joy.”[2] On the other hand, Grose believes that obsessively seeking happiness can be detrimental to one’s mental health. She concludes, “The frenzied, overstuffed marketplace of happiness optimization will never be able to fix the fundamentals of the human condition or bring a lasting kind of purpose to a new generation.” I agree that constantly asking yourself “am I happy yet” probably won’t make you any happier.

Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies that demonstrate that having an optimistic outlook and expressing a gratitude attitude have physical, emotional, and mental benefits. One reason for this is that the right attitude helps get you through rough times and the drudgeries of life. Counting only material blessings or wishing you never suffered hardship or pain will never make you happy. Robert A. Emmons, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and one of the world’s leading scientific experts on gratitude, wrote the following during the midst of the Great Recession back in the 2013:

"A decade’s worth of research on gratitude has shown me that when life is going well, gratitude allows us to celebrate and magnify the goodness. But what about when life goes badly? ... My response is that not only will a grateful attitude help — it is essential. In fact, it is precisely under crisis conditions when we have the most to gain by a grateful perspective on life. In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal. In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope. In other words, gratitude can help us cope with hard times."[3]

Abraham Lincoln put it this way, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

How to Become Happier

Tracy Brower, a sociologist, suggests that experiencing “micro joy” is one way to experience more happiness. She writes, “In a world of hustle culture and stressors of all kinds, joy can seem both illusive and impossible. But despite barriers, you can create the conditions for happiness.”[4] What is “micro joy”? Brower explains, “Micro joy is made up of the small moments of happiness, presence, and mindfulness that we can find in the midst of challenge or difficulty. It is about embracing the power of little delights in the everyday.” Tali Sharot, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, agrees that more awareness of the good things that life offers is one of the keys to happiness. Too often, she writes, “We stop noticing what was always there.”[5]

According to Sharot, our brains tend to “habituate” to life’s constants (i.e., the things that are always around us). She writes, “The challenge then is to regain sensitivity, both to the great things in life, so we can feel the joy, and to the terrible things we stopped noticing that we could potentially change if we try.” She then rhetorically asks, “So, how do we dishabituate?” Her response, “The answer lies in this wonderful quote by the economist Tibor Scitovsky: ‘Pleasure results from incomplete and intermittent satisfaction of desires.’ … To combat habituation and maximize pleasure we need to consume the good things in life a little at a time. Whether it is a Netflix show, a chocolate cake, or a new romance — savor, rather than binge.”

Unfortunately, as Grose points out, life often consists of things that we don’t particularly want to do. When confronted with these tasks, Sharot suggests completing them in one go. She explains, “Research shows that people suffer less if they must listen to an unpleasant noise (like the sound of a hoover) continually than if they take breaks.” Sharot recommends changing your life up a bit. She explains, “Experiment in living. Eliminate some elements from your daily routine for a while, one at a time, and add some other new ones. Measure and assess the impact on your life, so that you can keep those features that induce happiness and purpose, and eliminate those that do not.” Brower adds, “You can tap into micro joy with strategies to focus on small things in the present, as well as your own ability to embrace moments and memories with gratitude and fulfillment.”

Concluding Thoughts

During this year, the semiquincentennial anniversary of the publishing of the Declaration of Independence, the following phrase will likely be repeated frequently: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” One of the things the founding fathers got right is that there are no guarantees of happiness in this life. It is up to each person to pursue it. Happiness is not a destination, but a journey. Brower and Sharot stress that age-old adage: Take time to stop and smell the roses. Roses won’t always line the path we travel; when they do appear, take a break and enjoy them. You’ll be a lot happier if you do. The late novelist Louisa May Alcott reflected, “The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.” I think she was correct.

Footnotes

[1] Staff, “International Day of Happiness 20 March,” United Nations.

[2] Jessica Grose, “Are We Happy Yet?” The New York Times, 8 August 2024.

[3] Robert A. Emmons, "How Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times," Greater Good Magazine, 13 May 2013.

[4] Tracy Brower, “How ‘micro joy’ can help you feel happier every day,” Fast Company, 20 November 2025.

[5] Tali Sharot, “How Do You Live a Happier Life? Notice What Was There All Along,” Wired, 31 December 2024.