Yesterday evening, out to see the lights of Lyon, I found myself in the park of la Tête d'Or, on a path with lights and sounds so surreal…and relaxing ! A real moment of happiness after a day of hard work.

How to propagate the Virus of Happiness?

In fact, it's quite simple !

  1. Answer this question; "What makes, or has made you, happy?" and become a Happiness Agent
  2. You earn some "Points Of Presence" (POP)
  3. You invest your Points in the city of your choice
  4. You spead the Virus of Happiness around the world.

What is the virus of happiness and how it works?

What is Happython?

And how does it work?

About Happython

Happython was founded in 1998 on this simple question: "What makes you, or has made you, happy?".
The answers of many people were printed and then exposed-pinned on clothes dryers called "Porte-Bonheurs".
These exhibitions took place in galleries, public places, post offices and finally on the web.
The idea of a Happening Record of happy moments has germinated: the Happython and the Happiness Virus have been created!
For more than 20 years, tens of thousands of people between the ages of 2 and 109 from all over the world have testified about what makes them happy.
Now it’s your turn!

What makes them or has made them happy?

Smelling the aroma of the pizza that's baking in my oven and thinking that I'm going treat myself !

Mary , 21 years old, Aix-en-Provence (France)

What makes me happy is to be loved by the man of my life, a loving Canadian that fate put on my way.

Christelle , 25 years old, Nivelles (Belgique)
Exposition citatine

What made me happy is that my best friend came with her boyfriend and offered me to go out to take my mind off things because I had just been chucked.

Valérie , 21 years old, Liège (Belgique)

What makes me happy is seeing my girlfriend in the morning on the train tell me « until tonight, my love, » and then leave listening to Chuck Berry singing « Johnny B. Goode. »

Nicolas , 18 years old, Toulouse (France)

What makes me happy is to see animals.

Anna , 45 years old, Naples (Italie)

Yesterday evening, out to see the lights of Lyon, I found myself in the park of la Tête d'Or, on a path with lights and sounds so surreal…and relaxing ! A real moment of happiness after a day of hard work.

Muriel , 44 years old, Lyon (France)

It's snowing. I didn't drink today (well… yeah, a little). I'm trying to answer your question… happiness ? For me this intense, deep emotion that moves me : I feel that I'm going to go away… I won't tremble anymore… live, that's all. Happiness is knowing that you can go away, happiness is the smile of someone who doesn't know that I'm an alcoholic. Happiness… is thinking that I'm normal. Happiness : being right, loyal, and honest.

Victoire , 28 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy is thinking of the happy future waiting for me somewhere in the universe.

Isabelle , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)

My happiness is complete when I let the metro pass to keep kissing my love on the latform...telling myself that I'll take it maybe the next day or the day after that.

Sandra , 28 years old, Paris (France)

I am happy when I travel around the world and get to know different possible ways of being happy.

Marcella , 37 years old, Cagliari (Italy)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is seeing the popcorn head of my love waking up.

Hélène , 30 years old, Lyon (France)

What makes me happy is thinking through the best moments I've lived to determine which one is the best and thus reliving them.

Kevin , 19 years old, Chatenay-Malabry (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is knowing that I am loved for who I am and that fills my heart with emotion to have tears of it in my eyes ! Then I understand that life is more than magic. Thanks to life.

Petrouchka , 21 years old, Marseille (France)

I thought it was only possible to die from sadness. But one day I nearly died from happiness when the man I had always loved from afar, but only ever hoped to talk to, came and talked to me. It was the most beautiful day of my life.

Sanaa , 25 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

What makes me happy is to see that people can work together to overcome difficulty.

Leïla , 29 years old, Sousse (Tunisie)

What makes me happy is to stop and enjoy a few quiet moments in my very busy life, so I can think of the distance covered, trials, moments of joy, and then I think that life is great!

43 years old, Waremme (Belgique)

lived my greatest happiness after having gone through a period of depression. I walk outside and I kneeled before the color of the starry sky and I told myself: God it's beautiful!

Yann , 35 years old, Toulouse (France)

A moment of happiness: the kiss from this little girl who thanked me for having cured her mommy. What made me happy yesterday was passing the evening with the man I love, dancing all night with him and showing him that his black skin and my white skin show at the same time both contrast and harmony.

Muriel , 48 years old, Blois (France)

Each morning on my way to work, I read the newspaper and I hurry up to read the Happython. Often I find myself in what was said. Today, it's my turn. What makes me happy is going to bed early and waking up late when I don't have to work.

Aline , 45 years old, Villepinte (France)

What makes me happy is when you resuscitate a baby and suddenly hear his first cry of life tearing the silence of the room.

Delphine , 24 years old, Paris (France)
Exposition citatine

Happiness is in my nature, I always say that the sun is shining in my head. What makes me happy is loving life and every day there's always the same intensity inside me.

Hamed , 35 years old, Marseille (France)

What fills me with joy is simply that a smile from me can make my companion happy and make him smile too.

Séverine , 27 years old, Bordeaux (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to know that I am the artist of my life ! Happiness exists provided I really want.

Christophe , 34 years old, Neuville-en-Ferrain (France)

What makes me happy is to be on holiday.

The day when my son was born was a day full of happiness.

Malek , 40 years old, Alger (Algérie)

What made me happy was when I played my first notes on the guitar a few months ago. So far I believed music was not for me.

Caroline , 21 years old, Namur (Belgique)

My happiness is eating my favorite meal: pureed sausage.

Thomas , 10 years old, Mons-en-Baroeul (France)

What makes me happy ? My dog !

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)

My cousing Mathilde, 3 and a half years old, was skeptical when we told her, after school, that her little sister had been born during the day. But if you had seen her when she finally met Alice, she was ovewhelmed with joy !!!

Angélique , 23 years old, Chambly (France)

My 14 years old son has a very worn stuffed bear and I hadn't been able to find one just like it to replace it. Today, I search online and I finally found it. I order four in advance and I feel like the happiest of all mothers.

Chloé , 22 years old, Reims (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is when my husband tells me “I love you more than my life!”

Magalie , 23 years old, Marrakech (Maroc)

What makes me happy is to have been able to get a good education « educazione » !

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)
Exposition citatine

To travel to Europe to see my brother's son who was born the day before yesterday.

Mohamed-Amine , 19 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

What makes me happy is freedom of thought and see how deep and creative and generous people can be when they are free.

Poly , 29 years old, Paris (France)

When something wonderful appears in my life. Coincidences, signs, dreams which become reality with the impression that it's life which is organizing everything, lucid dreams.

The day I decided to take myself by the hand again (I was quite depressed) made it so that, during this time, life itself made me happy...

Marie , 23 years old, Thetford Mines (Canada)

What makes me happy is finally being myself in my own eyes and in the eyes of my loved ones.

Didier , 34 years old, Paris (France)

What made me happy was having found my Papa who I haven't seen for twenty-five years.

Patrice , 40 years old, Paris (France)

Most importantly a woman in my life and then my studies that have made me the person I am now.

Ahmed , 50 years old, Oran (Algérie)

What makes me happy is that I have found a bigger appartment that mine for the same price in the region where I am moving (a region where real estate is normally more expensive than in my region).

Maxime , 28 years old, Amiens (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to believe in life, to believe in me.

What makes me happy are my kids' smiles in the morning.

Jo , 35 years old, Terrebonne (Canada)
Exposition citatine

When he holds me in his arms, my head goes “pssshit.”

Angela , 23 years old, Nice (France)

To see my baby's birth.

Fatima-Zohra , 30 years old, Marrakech (Maroc)

What makes me happy are those lives I dream of and those dreams I live in.

Raked , 22 years old, Stockholm (Suède)

What makes me happy is the generosity of people who support Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun. Finally solidarity doesn't end.

Lulu , 21 years old, Aubenas (France)

What makes me happy is the idea of not waking up early in the morning, not taking the bus to school, not working, because studying too much can kill, but I do it anyway, I'm still happy.

Thomas , 15 years old, Aix-en-Provence (France)

What makes me happy is seeing all the cherry trees blooming in Japan, and telling myself that nothing is more beautiful and nothing pleases us more than this langourous pink…

Alex , 20 years old, Nice (France)

What makes me happy is being at the foot of a mountain or a hill and looking at the summit telling it « Soon !, », then marching on to sweat, breathe, suffer a little, climb up to that summit and tell yourself : « I did it. Thank you ». Just a challenge between you and nature. That's one of the most beautiful things in the world.

Guillaume , 25 years old, Caen (France)

My marriage has made me happy.

Thérésa , 48 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)
Exposition citatine

My first contact with her, my hands on her marvelous body, our first heartfelt words, our first steps along the Rhine to exchange, a little timidly, our visions of the world

Boris , 18 years old, Strasbourg (France)

What makes me happy ? Scouting when I was young, then my commitment to a trade-union and a political party, my family – children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and hearing that my great-grandson Guillaume will soon be christened.

Louis , 88 years old, Chatellerault (France)
Exposition citatine

The idea of free time makes me happy. Let me explain: life is such that we are always doing something, stressed, running around, always going faster... So, to programme some free time, time to do nothing, is an idea that gives me a real sense of happiness.

To help people as much as I can makes me feel happy.

Sou , 30 years old, Tunis (Tunisie)

The idea of finding the love of my life makes me happy.

Mouna , 22 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

What makes me happy is receiving a message that is proof of a pardon granted by a friend...maybe found again.

Thierry , 47 years old, Arradon (France)

My faith in God makes me feel happy.

Mohamed , 35 years old, Boumerdès (Algérie)

What makes me happy, hmm... The first is waking up and seeing sunbeams... the second is payday... the third is my last day at work!

Claire , 48 years old, Longueuil (Canada)

What makes me happy : Luigi who plays the guitar !

Vanessa , 21 years old, Rome (Italie)

What makes me happy is seeing that my best friend is always there, even when things aren't going well.

Maxime , 22 years old, Lyon (France)
Exposition citatine

My job!

Ferhat , 20 years old, Alger (Algérie)

What makes me happy is seeing my best friend again after almost two years apart.

Samya , 17 years old, Mohammédia (Maroc)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is chatting with my aunt on the internet and seeing her smile thanks to the webcam.

Mélanie , 20 years old, Toulon (France)

Brought up and educated in Brazzaville, The Congo, by missionaries. A war has broken out... Everything is destroyed, the town devastated, there is nothing to be found anywhere. However with courage the sisters go back to work, open the nursery and primary schools without any materials. They send out an SOS to ex-pupils of which I am one. Since that time I am running around the shops with my limited means of a retired person. Paints, folding books, etc. etc.... meetings with the people who will carry my packages to Brazza. And in return I receive letters and drawings from little children thanking me and calling me godmother and sometimes mother, this is happiness !!!

Just to hear some good news on the radio.

Corinne , 41 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)

What makes me happy is seeing my parents together.

Sarah , 20 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

What makes me wild with happiness is to think that I get life ahead of me to make all my dreams come true, to meet ‘the' woman willing to offer me some kids, to see my babies grow, to make a contribution to tolerance for everyone, and mostly do my best not to wake up one day and think that I have made a mess of my life…

Jean-Daniel , 24 years old, Bastogne (Belgique)

Seeing my son find his taste for life again makes me really happy !

Marie-Agnès , 45 years old, Montpellier (France)

What makes me happy is doing little things every day and realizing that those are what bring lots of happiness.

Hélène , 42 years old, Gracefield (Canada)

What makes me happy is the beauty of the sky.

Camille , 10 years old, Rome (Italie)
Exposition citatine

Nothing makes me happier than to create something with my own hands, to prepare some tempting meal that we can all share together later, or to sew cushions myself. There is a magic in creating, making, concocting something with ones own hands. It is a proof that our hands are just an extension of our thoughts.

What makes me happy is little everyday moments like for example : sitting on the edge of a lake and contemplating nature, horsebackriding in the woods, among other examples.

Carine , 32 years old, Granby (Canada)
Exposition citatine

The simplest feeling of happiness is to know that someone somewhere loves you.

Edmée , 16 years old, Nabeul (Tunisie)

What makes me happiest is all the little daily pleasures... Why search so hard, look what we have near

Louise , 43 years old, Chicoutimi (Canada)

Happiness is when I see my mother again, for whom I'll always be the same kid (even if I'm not this kid anymore) and to see her face lighting up and smiling.

Mehdi , 27 years old, Tunis (Tunisie)