International Day of Happiness: Occasion Not to Celebrate only, But also to Promote the True Concept of Happiness (PART 1)

Since 2013 June 20th is being observed as the ‘International Day of Happiness’ at the instance of the United Nations. The aim of celebrating a day in the name of ‘Happiness’ is to spread and make people understand that happiness is a fundamental human goal and one of the best gifts to share with others. It is for recognizing the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world and it is a day meant to be happy. Before this, a Resolution moved by Bhutan in the General Assembly in June 2011 had wanted all the national governments to “give more importance to happiness and well-being in determining how to achieve and measure social and economic development.” The decision for declaring March 20 as a ‘Day of Happiness’ was taken  in the United Nations High-Level Meeting on ‘Well-Being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm’ held on April 2. And the UN in its resolution 66/281 of 12 July 2012 proclaimed 20 March the International Day of Happiness. Also, in support of this a ‘World Happiness Report’ was prepared for the first time in 2013 by a team of experts. The Report was published by the ‘Sustainable Development Solutions Network’ (SDSN). This was continued annually and the eighth World happiness Report came out in 2020.
At the instance of United Nations and other World Organizations, we also have several other special Days of Celebration like World Wetlands Day (2nd February), World Wildlife Day (3rd March), International Women’s Day (8 March), No Smoking Day (Second Wednesday of March) (13 March), International Day of Happiness,  World Sparrow Day (March20),  World Forestry Day (21 March), World Health Day (7 April), World Heritage Day (18 April), World Earth Day (22 April), International Labour Day (1-May), World Environment Day (5-June), International day against Drug abuse & Illicit Trafficking (26-June),  World Nature Conservation Day (28-July), International Day of Peace (21 September), World Animal Welfare Day (4-October), International Day for National disaster reduction (13-October), World Food Day (16-October), International day for the eradication of poverty (17-October) and International Energy Day (14-December). However, the logic or reasoning of earmarking a particular day as a ‘Day of Happiness’ is  somewhat misleading because ‘Happiness’ is a subject different from all other subjects, except perhaps the concept of ‘peace’ celebrated on the International Day of Peace (21 September).
Happiness and Peace are complimentary or mutually reinforcing mental states and they have only mental dimension and not any physical dimension. This makes the uniqueness of the two Days, day of Happiness and the Day of Peace, compared to all other specially demarcated International Days we celebrate at the instance of the United Nations like Environment day, Earth day, Energy day, Labour Day, Nature Conservation day and so on which have only physical dimensions. Happiness and Peace are life-long personal or individualistic phenomenon that cannot be limited to any particular day and therefore call for special treatment when we celebrate a Day in their name. Wherever there is happiness, there is peace and wherever there is peace there is happiness for any person. Both are personal matters and therefore may differ from individual to individual. One person may be happy with a particular situation, but another person need not be happy with the same situation. Similar is the case of peace of a person. None of these can be approached or assessed just from a material point of view as they cannot be improved by material achievements alone, but also by mental development with a spiritual perspective.
‘Peace Day’, however is celebrated not just in the context of personal peace, but in a wider perspective in the context of growing conflicts, fights, wars etc., among people, societies and countries within and between in this world. The Peace Day provides a common platform for all countries and the whole humanity to commit to Peace above all kinds of rivalries, differences and mutual fights, contributing to building a World Culture of Peace. The focus here is not just on peace within an individual, but on peace in the relationship between individuals, societies and countries in the world. In this sense, there is absolute necessity for observing or celebrating an International Day of Peace to promote peace among and between different societies and countries.  Similar is not, however, the case of celebrating ‘Happiness Day’ because happiness in a society or country can be promoted or ensured only by creating basically happiness within each individual.  The ‘Day of Happiness’ should, therefore, be used for initiating actually each person in the family, society, country and the world in the process of achieving ‘Happiness’. The celebrations we organize on the ‘Day of Happiness’ now are helpful only to remind the people about happiness about which they are well aware as it is being experienced by each individual at some moment or other. What we need is to train each one to be happy always throughout the life or as much time as possible. There is also need for promoting and ensuring the participation, co-operation and active help of our spiritual organizations and leaders who are now engaged in spiritual discourses and training in numerous national and international platforms.
                                                                                                                                                                                       ----------- to be continued