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?

What makes me happy is meeting passionate people. They always lend me an admiration like an imprint of their ardor, of their taste for life and love.

Carole , 27 years old, Lyon (France)

Breathing everyday and going with the flow of my dailyjourney enjoying a beautiful sunny day and if possible near the sea, the lake or a river.

Monique , 46 years old, Heisdorf (Luxembourg)
Exposition citatine

What has made me happy for 30 years is to live with an exceptional woman who is my wife, my friend, my confidante and my mistress all at the same time.

Rida , 55 years old, Sfax (Tunisie)

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)

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)

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)

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

Lora , 18 years old, Versailles (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 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)

To feel loved by my surroundings and to be able to return that love makes me happy.

Maria-Selva , 26 years old, Madrid (Espagne)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to dream and imagine things about battles and love.

Younès , 5 years old, Saint-Malo (France)

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)
Exposition citatine

I'm happy when I travel !

Boudriss , 38 years old, Mantoue (Italie)

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

Sofiane , 30 years old, Béjaïa (Algérie)

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 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)

What makes me happy is to have been able to get a job on my own.

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)

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 happiest day of my live was when I left the hole I was hidden in for a month during the war in Rwanda. That day, the sun shone like it will no longer and the breeze was a caress that no man has ever given me. It was June 21, 1994 around 3 :00 p.m. I was 14.

Prisca , 26 years old, Brunoy (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)
Exposition citatine

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 getting online at noon each day on one of the computers at med school with Celine and Arthur to leave messages on Happython !

Carole , 18 years old, Toulouse (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is getting back home after a long day at college, putting my hand in my mailbox and discovering a postcard from someone I love.

Adrien , 18 years old, Marseille (France)

What makes me happy is that it's raining today instead of a day when the weather's nice.

Arthur , 18 years old, Toulouse (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.

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 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 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.

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)

I am most happy when people thank me for holding the door for them on the metro. I leave with a lively step to the RER A.

Sylvie , 38 years old, Rueil-Malmaison (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is that everybody is fine.

Catherine , 18 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)

What makes me happy is the first kiss in a love affair…The first craziest moments…

Samuel , 28 years old, Paris (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is getting up in the morning, stretching out on my sofa and letting the sun warms my bare feet through the window.

Bertrand , 23 years old, Bordeaux (France)

I no longer remember exactly when, But it was approximately in 1996 that I decided to “do something with Internet” It took me until April 1997 to get together the equipment, the connections and the supplies, but then bang, I saw photos of people far away appearing before my eyes, with immediacy of connection and of memory. Wow. For each question I had to do with actual things, ideas or sources of ideas, or how to do something, etc. etc. I could find the reply in a few minutes, and that's when I realised: One doesn't need to know how to reach one's goal before one has decided it - simply dream it and the answers to how you can succeed are on Internet – even if you wish to work towards an enlightened planetary civilisation…

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is finally getting to use the internet !

Jean-Claude , 68 years old, Bagneres-de-Bigorre (France)

For me, it's the sea that makes me happy!!! When I see it or just even think about it I feel good deep inside. It might be quite trivial but the blue ocean makes me happy.

Mina , 30 years old, Tizi Ouzou (Algérie)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is listening to Metallica while petting a kitten.

Pauline , 20 years old, Toulouse (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)

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)

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)

What made me happy was my title of European champion of table tennins in all categories and my boyfriend.

Angéline , 22 years old, Evry (France)

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 my little 80-year-old mother, who is chock full of joyful projects : she's going to move into a new appartment.

Odile , 45 years old, Renay (France)

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)
Exposition citatine

Life and loving others makes me happy.

Yasmine-Lewis , 29 years old, Libreville (Gabon)

I adore my little kitten's caresses. That makes me happy.

Karma , 28 years old, Palma de Majorque (Espagne)
Exposition citatine

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)

What really makes me happiest is seeing happy people around me, and what makes my heart smile is sharing my happiness with others.

Suzie , 31 years old, Candiac (Canada)

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

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

I am happy to have a large family and a girlfriend who shares my vision. I am happy to have a lucky star in my life professionally, financially, and for leisure, love and health.

What makes me happy is to be back on the education road.

Daniela , 32 years old, Ancône (Italie)

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

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)

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)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to create as many problems as possible.

Jeanne , 27 years old, Paris (France)

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)
Exposition citatine

Giving birth to my two children made me happy.

Joëlle , 44 years old, Liège (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 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)

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)

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 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 to love and be loved

Safae , 22 years old, Meknès (Maroc)

What makes me happy is when there is music on the streets or in the metro. It gives me the impression that the quick steps of hurried people are in rhythm on the tempo, like an urban choreography !

Sandy , 19 years old, Toulouse (France)
Exposition citatine

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 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)
Exposition citatine

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)

What makes me happy is running with people who are going to miss their train: not because I want to catch the train, but just for the pleasure of running and being out of breath...

Mélanie , 22 years old, Paris (France)

My five year old daughter told me : « Mommy, when you die, I will take all my treasures and I will give them to you when you return as a little baby. » That day, I felt a great surge of happiness

Rebecca , 34 years old, Melun (France)