What is the 10 Days of Happiness campaign?
Edwin Edebiri is a big believer in happiness, just take a look at his 10 Days of Happiness campaign, which, as the name suggests is 10 days and ways to become happier—think volunteering with a group or smiling more. Here Edebiri, chief happiness officer of the non-profit I Am Happy Project, shares more about what the campaign, which launched February 1st, is all about.
Q: How did you come to launch this campaign?
A: Our mission is spreading happiness globally one person at a time. After interviewing over a thousand people, I came up with the 10 Days of Happiness.
Q: Why start in February?
A: February is when people start wondering if the year is going to be different than the previous year. The excitement and hope that a new year brings starts to wear off a little, most people have abandoned their New Year's resolution or are struggling with it and old habits are creeping back. This is one way to energize people and extend the hope.
Q: And so what is the goal of the campaign?
A: One of my philosophies is that 'Whatever we focus on will grow". So instead of focusing on the negatives, I am encouraging people to focus on happiness. When you concentrate your effort, just like an athlete going to a boot camp, you accelerate your results. With so many people focusing on one goal, the hope is that more people will be contaminated with happiness and more individuals will sustain their happiness longer. The goal is also to remind people what makes them happy.
Q: What if people are coming into this campaign a few days in–how can they get involved?
A: Jump right in. Every day stands on its own. Our objective is to make the recording available at the end of the period on our site under the resource tab for Global Happiness Conference Calls.
Q: Finally, in your mind, why is our happiness so critical?
A: Everything we do in life is connected to our happiness or the happiness of others. Our productivity at work, our participation at play etc. are connected to our level of happiness. It gives the best results in whatever we do, the sick heals quicker if they are happy, a job seeker will have a better chance than an unhappy counterpart and a happy person will bounce back quicker from adversity.
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