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 !
- 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?
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 !
I met a person in the metro that made me smile…for no reason and that made me happy.
Sylvano , 24 years old, Madrid (Espagne)
What made me happy is an angel on the web who gave me a lot of happiness and love and I can't forget…
Marlène , 55 years old, Liège (Belgique)What makes me happy is the ability I have to express myself in any languages, even if that is not the spoken language, but by gestures or feelings.
Claudia , 23 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)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 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 made me happy was seeing that people haven't yet forgotten Ingrid Bettancourt and her thousand-day-detention, November 19, 2004.
Hervé , 20 years old, Paris (France)
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)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)
What makes me happy is to please to my parents so that they are proud of me. Thank you Dad and Mum, I'm madly in love with you!!!
What makes me happy : all the young people getting involved in the life of a new family…and those babies continuing life.
Brigitte , 50 years old, Chatellerault (France)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 is sharing my newspaper with a neighbor on the metro who reads it over my shoulder.
Etienne , 21 years old, paris (France)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.
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 seeing my bunny thanks to the webcam.
Jonathan , 31 years old, Bordeaux (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)Wednesday afternoon, I visit my grand mother at the old folks home. Our walk in the park brings us closer. Seeing her smile and her joy makes me happy.
What makes me happy every day, it is to see black slaves'sons and daughters appointed to fairly important positions, in a country where there were schools for Whites and schools for Blacks, buses for Whites and buses for Blacks, just very few decades ago.
Alex , 43 years old, Paris (France)What makes me happy is to eat everyday with my friends, each bite is for me a breath of life.
Estefania , 18 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)What makes me happy at this moment is that I have got rid of everything in Paris, my job and a hard life, to retire and live in Tunisia at a wonderful man's side.
Françoise , 52 years old, Rades (Tunisie)What makes me happy is having sponsored a little african, who comes from Burundi !
Christelle , 21 years old, Pont-Saint-Pierre (France)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)Yesterday it rained, I went for a walk with Deal along the ocean, we took photos of each other, we kissed each other, we laughed, we warmed up in a pub, and we shared a chocolate cake and a cherry tea.
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)Financial independance gives me a peace of heart and a certain serenity and the fact of being loved comforts me. Loving a man and receiving love makes me forget my worries and brings me pleasure.
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 warms my heart and makes me happy is when nothing relents, seeing that my ideas come back stronger and more definite.
Jeff , 22 years old, Marseille (France)For me, happiness is a content life as a couple, sharing intense moments with another person, who I'm anxious to find again...
Cynthia , 26 years old, Granby (Canada)What makes me happy is to be with my friends with a friend called Sasi, and also Fiore and Dolores.
Anna , 45 years old, Naples (Italie)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)What made me happy Tuesday was seeing my cashier at the supermarket.
Claude , 35 years old, Rosny-sous-Bois (France)
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 happiest is the fact that a child can be born from me and that one day I'll have little toes in my belly...
Claire , 22 years old, Montréal (Canada)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)What makes me happiest is laughing, with time, over things I've cried a lot about. That's how I finally tell myself that life is too beautiful but it's us who often see the world in black.
Aysel , 20 years old, Macon (France)What makes me happy is reading happython every morning in class. That puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
Laure , 20 years old, Lyon (France)What makes me happy is to get up in the morning and thank God for letting me sleep in peace.
Rabah , 31 years old, Grenoble (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)0n Saint Valentin's night I decided to make love with a 40-year-old man. I was his little princess, I desired him so much that I was afraid. I was trembling. He made love with me as none had ever done . On that night I saw the wolf : happy.
Amira , 25 years old, Paris (France)What makes me happy is that, despite all the world's problems, there are at least 20318 happy people.
Audrey , 18 years old, Bordeaux (France)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)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)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)What makes me happy is when I have the giggles and when I laugh so much so that I have a stomachache… I feel so well after shading tears of laughter.
What makes me happy is reading or writing to my loved ones. It's knowing that I am there for them and that they're there for me.
Cyril , 17 years old, Toulouse (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 was seeing whales in the distance spitting water, indifferent to the spectators sitting around a fire on this Zipolite beach.
Aude , 28 years old, Lyon (France)What made me really happy? The first time my son smiled directly at me.
Nathalie , 30 years old, Saint-Hyacinthe (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. »
Nicolas , 18 years old, Toulouse (France)For you I am not merely a thing, my happiness is you, Pilou.
Katie , 46 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)I'm happy every morning when my man snuggles up to me saying: “good morning, darling, I'm here next to you”. I shiver.
What makes me happy is the first kiss in a love affair…The first craziest moments…
Samuel , 28 years old, Paris (France)What makes me the happiest is to see the people I love happy.
Noélie , 16 years old, Mons (Belgique)What makes me happy, it is to crochet fine mats and advise some people how to do crochet and knitting.
Emilienne , 97 years old, Mons-en-Baroeul (France)
What made me happy was to make a break in my job in order not to work any longer, to decide to care about myself and now to give priority to my happiness.
Béatrice , 51 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)What makes me happy is making bread : to knead it, arrange the dough, cook it in my oven, and smell the aroma of fresh bread.
Josée , 54 years old, Paris (France)