A particular moment in the summer of 2002 really made me happy. My father and I went fishing to the little river going near my childhood's village, in rocky canyons. He fishes with the hand since he was a little boy and this year I was also successful when I got a fish with my hand. The atmosphere and this moment of complicity both made me reach heaven.
How to propagate the Virus of Happiness?
In fact, it's quite simple !
- Answer this question; "What makes, or has made you, happy?" and become a Happiness Agent
- You earn some "Points Of Presence" (POP)
- You invest your Points in the city of your choice
- You spead the Virus of Happiness around the world.
What is the virus of happiness and how it works?
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!
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?
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)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)
What makes me happy is telling myself every morning, while reading the Happython, that I am not the only one who thinks like this.
Nicolas , 22 years old, Nice (France)What makes me happy is to get up in the morning and think that I'm still there despite the past difficulties.
Someone who is able to listen to you, to have a discussion with you. Also to be able to open your heart to someone who knows about human qualities.
Fathi , 45 years old, Sfax (Tunisie)I adore my little kitten's caresses. That makes me happy.
Karma , 28 years old, Palma de Majorque (Espagne)My grandfather's eyes that sparkled whenever he saw me arrive. The wind that strokes my face, the sun that warms up the heart and finally, just feeling alive!
What makes me happy is seeing my girlfriend after two or three days when we haven't seen each other and she has a smile on her lips... That means we aren't going to confuse ourselves.
Karim , 22 years old, Meaux (France)
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 made me happy...I'm going to be very original: the birth of my son! When they put him on my stomach and I saw his face for the first time.
Marie , 28 years old, Toulon (France)What makes me happy is seeing middle aged couples still walking together hand in hand.
Andrée , 56 years old, Sevran (France)The day when I had to defend my DES thesis I was really happy because of all the things I had endured achieving the project.
Meriem , 24 years old, Béjaïa (Algérie)An evening between friends, with a little to drink of course. One of them accompanies you back to your taxi, one of the ones with whom you share the same complicity and sensitivity. And on a « goodbye » you steal a kiss from him, instead of an ordinary « see ya soon ». A kiss that lasts for a little while, a kiss he returns. The kind of kiss that makes you smile each time you think about it again and makes you happy.
Aurore , 22 years old, Paris (France)To be happy, I need calm and tranquillity, to be loved and love, sunshine and perfect happiness ( a little water, some fruit, my garden on my island) and peace in the world.
Marie-Émilie , 54 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)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? Well, I've been married to the man I adore for 36 and we are going to celebrate our 30th marriage anniversary next October 28. We have two sons, 22 and 29 years old, I am surrounded by love. Each second of my life I find a little happiness.
Shana , 52 years old, Chambly (Canada)What makes me happy is being in an excellent mood and knowing how to share it with those around me.
Franck , 37 years old, Toulouse (France)To feel the blending of warmth and cool in a summer evening, to drink a cool beer, to eat spiced olives, to hear my friends laugh, for me, that is happiness (in summer).
Emilie , 22 years old, Montpellier (France)
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 made me happy ? It is probably slight …I met a totally exceptional man on a chat one year and ten days ago (de visu).
Marianne , 38 years old, Liège (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)What makes me happy : walking with your eyes closed to feel the natural elements.
Stéphane , 24 years old, Gradignan (France)What makes me happy is that people read the little Happython phrases that I cut out of the newspaper and paste on the walls in my bathrooms. Even Charlotte, who is preschool, sometimes takes more than twenty minutes.
Maïwenn , 28 years old, Champigny-sur-Marne (France)What makes me happy is to share my newspaper with somebody next to me in the tube that reads over my shoulder!
What makes me happy ? A bird singing in the morning when I get up.
Thérèse , 47 years old, Charleroi (Belgique)What makes me happy is going to the Happython site every day, reading the testimonies of people filled with happiness ready to break up the sadness, to put my little foot on the wall, too. That puts sunshine in my eyes for the rest of the day.
Céline , 18 years old, Toulouse (France)What makes me happy is a warm day with the wind and the blue sky of spring… A day like today.
Lorenzo , 23 years old, Milan (Italie)What made me happy, it is when I was elected Miss France 2003 on december 14, 2002 and my great pleasure was when I saw my mother after that. In her eyes I could see how proud and happy she was. I think it is the most beautiful present I can offer her.
Corinne , 20 years old, Paris (France)
One of the things I like to do is ….don't laugh at me ! It is to take off the shell of hard-boiled eggs. I adore that and it makes me happy.
Lilou , 33 years old, Montréal (Canada)What made me happy is when my boyfriend proposed to me, but also when the Americans demonstrated against war in Irak.
Maud , 21 years old, Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois (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.
What makes my happy is that , currently, I only come across friendly people : the optician and her manager, the sales assistants of the sporting goods store ,of the hardware store and at the cultural goods (cds, dvds, books and video games) and craft arts stores , and the waiters and cashiers at the chinese restaurant).
Maxime , 28 years old, Amiens (France)I was never as happy as I was two days ago when, opening the small package my love had nervously given to me, I discovered a pair of tiny shoes. I then understood that we were going to have a baby.
Emmanuel , 29 years old, Paris (France)What makes me happy is reading every little bit of joy in my children's eyes.
Solange , 31 years old, Lyon (France)Hello everyone, what made me happy this summer was just swimming in the lake with warm sunbeams... letting myself be carried softly away by small waves.I find that that's complete happiness.. it's peace, calm, joy, it's relaxing... it's being happy... and all of that accompanied by my dear husband xxx -ps: the heat is much easier to stand that way hmm...
Sylvie , 35 years old, Marieville (Canada)What makes me happy is that, though I am agoraphobic, I have made a great friend Pascale thanks to Internet, and I thank her for having friendly feelings for me.
Julie , 39 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)
I am learning to develop my ability to « not define » life, to melt into it rather than dominate it… and by so doing… I learn to love… and the more I love… the happier I am every day!
What makes me happy is when I find myself in the mountains again, simply in nature.
Manon , 36 years old, Verdun (France)What makes me happy is seeing all the different colors and ethnicities in the metro when I run errands in the morning…
Mathieu , 22 years old, Toulouse (France)Whenever I start to really like a person, I look at them straight in the eyes and I tell them that I love them (which is always true) : the glint that I see shine in their eyes, sometimes only for a fraction of a second, fills me with joy, and I am happy.
Louis , 47 years old, Lyon (France)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 made me happy was to meet, totally by chance, the man who is now my husband. Thanks to fate, every day is a happy day.
Ghania , 27 years old, Alger (Algérie)What makes me happy is telling myself every morning, while reading the Happython, that I am not the only one who thinks like this.
Nicolas , 22 years old, Nice (France)What makes me happy is the idea that people would learn to love each other, without any feeling of racism. The world is everybody's…
Hilm-Lamiae , 35 years old, Fès (Maroc)Well, what made me happy lately was the surprise to be invited by my friend in a smart restaurant very close by my home where I had wanted to go for a long time but I had not enough money!
Michèle , 45 years old, Montigny-le-Tilleul (Belgique)The day when my daughter Nouha was born, on July 4th, 2004 made me happy.
Saadane , 31 years old, Ferdjioua (Algérie)What makes me happy is to read every morning the Happython when I'm in class. It puts me in a good mood for all the day.
What made me happy was to spend my birthday evening with my son and his girlfriend, and tomorrow it will be the same with my sister and her husband. Hurray for the family!
Josette , 52 years old, Saint-Nicolas (Belgique)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 !!!
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)So passionate, so tender, to hold me in your arms, kiss me gently and… tu make me fall on the bed ! You are so clumsy, my love, but how I love you, ooof ! I think about it in the metro, and I burst out laughing. I am happy.
Florence , 21 years old, Paris (France)My little world makes me happy… I first of all have all my pets: Loulou, Fofinha, Nina, Cleo, Cesar, Micas they are my dogs who, I can assure you, are also very happy with 3400 feet of field and two little houses… My cats: Tigrao, Faisca, Princesa who have 4 little kittens Milady, Aramis, Dartanhan, Portos… My tortoises whose names are: César and Cléopâtre…. My birds in big cage…
Silvia , 23 years old, Pombal (Portugal)To travel to Europe to see my brother's son who was born the day before yesterday.
Mohamed-Amine , 19 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)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 holding one of the metro's double doors, while exchanging a smile, and vice-versa.
Pierre , 68 years old, Paris (France)For a very long time I have wanted to play a musical instrument while avoiding the forbidding aspect of learning the solfeggio. By some wonderful chance, I saw a photo of a man. Playing the tampoura in the desert, the flash !
My happiness has already lasted for a long time. It renews itself every morning when I go to sample a cup of tea in one of the many Parisian cafés. It's a moment of pure joy, I let myself lapse into dreams in the ambiance of the cafes, and I can no longer do without it.
Nicole , 57 years old, Paris (France)Life is at the base. I know well that there are ups and downs, it's like that, but there's the fun and that's what makes me happy.
Cynthia , 16 years old, Saint-Jérôme (Canada)What makes me happy is telling myself that I am going to see the man of my dreams on my right during my classes.
Clémentine , 18 years old, Gennevilliers (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)What makes me happy ? The field of grapefruit in pink mornings.
Damien , 24 years old, Lille (France)What makes me happy is breathing deep and seeing a smile appear on my face while I realize that it's good to live, something I had forgotten for a moment.
Annaïg , 25 years old, Lorient (France)What makes me happy is seeing her in the morning, brushing her teeth in her robe, her gaze far away. I look at her, and our eyes meet.
Noël , 24 years old, Toulouse (France)
Overall, my friends (boys or girls) are the ones who make me happy, because they're always there for me.
Asma , 37 years old, Rabat (Maroc)
What makes me happy is the existence of people on this earth who ask me what makes me happy.
Frédéric , 25 years old, Aubagne (France)What makes me happy is leaving work on Friday afternoon and walking in Bordeaux for an hour savoring each minute of the beginning of my weekend !
Jean-Steeve , 23 years old, Bordeaux (France)