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?

I am getting divorced, my husband prefers men, my 14-year-old daughter is pregnant, I am in love with a 22- year-old man who left for Mozambique, I am jobless, I am walking on air, Life is beautiful, I am alive ! Cool, isn't it ?

Ana , 45 years old, Melun (France)

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.

Exposition citatine

Hugs!

Sophie , 22 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes me happy is to eat a chocolate filled pastry behind my archi (tecture) teacher's back!!!

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)

What makes me happy is feeling so small in front of a stormy ocean, smelling the spray on my face : I simply feel content, and I realize the futility of all my little everyday worries.

Soizic , 24 years old, Montréal (Canada)

What makes me happy is the sunset above the sea.

Andrade , 52 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes me happy is thinking about what's going to make me happy later. When I get my car, a job I like, so that I can fulfill my passion and live with the woman I love and who loves me too. My happiness is living free.

Davy , 16 years old, Saint-Laurent-du-Var (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)

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)
Exposition citatine

My relationship makes me very happy. I really have the impression that I create that every day. What allowed me to live this relationship, was when I started to respect myself and to listen to myself. Of course the other person senses that and naturally comes to you without effort. Afterwards the secret is not to tie the net, not to become a living prison, but on the contrary to open up the space with kind attention and love. Programme for a beautiful relationship: - Respect it – Listen to oneself (and the other too !) – Encourage light thoughts towards the other – Continue as if you were alone - Love the other person tenderly - Have fun together.

Happiness was when my adoptive brother and sister found their biological mother and also the 26th of August when I knew that I was cured of my cancer.

Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to have left my parents' house.

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)

What makes me happy, it is in the morning when I wake up in my lover's arms and he kisses me lovingly

Olympia , 32 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)

Surprising a little sparrow while he's taking a bath in a puddle of water, that's what makes me really happy.

Céline , 22 years old, Langoiran (France)

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 that my three and a half year old son gets angry if someone wants to smush an insect or when he asks us to be quiet to not scare a bird.

Marie-Noëlle , 32 years old, Ham-sous-Varsberg (France)

I'm happy when I'm part of the happiness of the people around me.

Soade , 40 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

Getting married to someone I love. A nice trip with my family. Having a good job!

Fatia , 24 years old, Sidi Bel Abbès (Algérie)
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.

What makes me happy, even if it may look strange, it is when I drive to work in the morning.

Elodie , 26 years old, Limoges (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is making up with a colleague ! ( a little daily pleasure)

Christian , 44 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy? The sun, books, wine, when I have a good idea, a good conversation

What makes me happy? My new life with the man of my life hihihi !

Catherine , 36 years old, Mons (Belgique)

What makes me happy is to be at the bottom of a mountain, a hill…watching the top and say to it: “see you soon”… To walk, sweat, breath, sometimes to suffer a little… and reach the top and think: “I've done it, thank you”. Just a challenge with nature. This is one of the most wonderful things in the world.

Up until now nothing that I have accomplished or created in my life is worth mentioning compared to that freedom I have acquired through the fact of doing nothing to accomplish, change or improve anything in the world, including myself

For me, what makes me happy is accomplishing the tasks I have to do... however small they are... the satisfaction of finished work...

Manon , 36 years old, Laurentides (Canada)

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. »

Raphaël , 20 years old, Paris (France)

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)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is when the people in the metro don't look just at their feet but at each other, and smile.

Axelle , 21 years old, Lille (France)

What makes me happy is to share my newspaper with somebody next to me in the tube that reads over my shoulder!

Exposition citatine

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)

The purchase of a house in the country made me happy. It gave me a goal.

What makes me happy is a genuine and simple friendship.

Mohamed , 24 years old, Bizerte (Tunisie)

What makes me happy is the happiness of others surrounding me.

Andrade , 52 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

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 see that people can work together to overcome difficulty.

Leïla , 29 years old, Sousse (Tunisie)

The purest moment of happiness was my fiance's return to France after eight months spent in prison, in Turkey... All that because he had taken some papers! For now, it's my most beautiful moment.

Amélie , 27 years old, Herouville-Saint-Clair (France)

I am happy when I can make a date with a very good-looking girl.

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

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 to be desired.

Nacéra , 33 years old, Noisy-le-Grand (France)
Exposition citatine

Hearing that a friend is expecting a baby makes me happy.

I like eating spaghetti and curly lettuce with some surimi, I like cuddles and playing with my friends, it makes me happy.

Olympia , 5 years old, Champigny-sur-Marne (France)

What makes me happy is the sunset above the sea.

Andrade , 52 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes me happy is to eat braised fish with my fingers, in the shade of a tree, in the Ivory Coast, and to watch the sunrise on Buttes Chaumont Park.

Aline , 28 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy is to have the possibility to organize a great party with all the family where my brother could come with his children.

Chantal , 37 years old, Tervuren (Belgique)

What makes me feel really happy is to be free to act, speak and realise my dreams.

Hazar , 26 years old, Tunis (Tunisie)

What makes me happy is to talk to people and to learn something from them.

Sofiane , 30 years old, Béjaïa (Algérie)

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)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is the enthusiasm I feel when I'm doing my work properly. I think that living for your vocation is the best way to be happy.

Aderrazak , 31 years old, Alger (Algérie)

What makes me happy is the day when my mother told me that she was happy to have a daughter like me.

Kadi , 18 years old, Madrid (Espagne)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is seeing middle aged couples still walking together hand in hand.

Andrée , 56 years old, Sevran (France)

What makes me happy is eating calamari beignets in the university restaurant.

Lora , 18 years old, Versailles (France)

What makes me happy is people who return my smiles and especially grannies, babies and good-looking

I am happy as soon as I get home from the office in the evening and see my child's smile.

Sam , 25 years old, Toulon (France)

What makes me happy is thinking about what's going to make me happy later. When I get my car, a job I like, so that I can fulfill my passion and live with the woman I love and who loves me too. My happiness is living free.

Davy , 16 years old, Saint-Laurent-du-Var (France)

I'm happy when my pupils smile in class and when they seem to be happy to be at school.

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

Raked , 22 years old, Stockholm (Suède)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is cracking my toes in bed instead of studying math during that time.

Ronan , 19 years old, Marseille (France)

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

Isabelle , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)
Exposition citatine

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)

Lots of things make me happy : I bought an appartment, I slept with a girl and I stopped smoking !

Lolie , 21 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy is to have my family around: my parents Fouzia and Ahmed, my sisters Souad and Malek, and my brothers Hamdi and Faouzi! May God bless them all!

Amira , 26 years old, Monastir (Tunisie)

To eat chips makes me happy

François , 23 years old, Calais (France)

What makes me happy ? Sitting between others, while I feel a little wind on my face and watch the sunset.

Méliza , 19 years old, La Prairie (Canada)

What makes me happy is seeing my sweetie smile while reading the Happython each day.

Lilou , 21 years old, Paris (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 life... the simplicity of people... their joy of living and the smiles that surround me... I want to be happy with them like with myself... I want to live in the moment without ever forgetting the past that made me grow up so well.

Kalina , 23 years old, Laval (Canada)
Exposition citatine

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

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)

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

Angela , 23 years old, Nice (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy : walking with your eyes closed to feel the natural elements.

Stéphane , 24 years old, Gradignan (France)

It's to seat down at Cais Do Sodré and look at my country.

Ana , 22 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes me happy is to have come study french, start to understand it and eat Korean meals.

Chang-Hun , 23 years old, Bastia (France)