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…
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
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 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)This is great !! The virus of happiness !! I'd like to give you my own definition of happiness... : “Happinees is like a butterfly. If you run after it, it will escape... But if you let it be, it will land softly on your shoulder...”
Louise , 42 years old, Chicoutimi (Canada)
What made me happy was rowing with my father one night with a full moon, at 4 in the morning, in the Parana delta in Argentina.
Eugénie , 27 years old, Buenos Aires (Argentine)What makes me happiest is the love of my future husband who, despite leukemia, helps me to get through life.
Lucie , 33 years old, Deux-Montagnes (Canada)What makes me happy is getting up on Sundays to prepare breakfast and going back to my bedroom to find my man rolled up in the blanket, like a spring roll.
Karine , 31 years old, Caluire-et-Cuire (France)What makes me happy is to get up in the morning and think that I'm still there despite the past difficulties.
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 thinking of the happy future waiting for me somewhere in the universe.
Isabelle , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)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 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)
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)What makes me happy is really knowing that one day I'll have enough power to spread love and happiness.
Meriama , 15 years old, Marrakech (Maroc)
I'm in college prep, and what makes me happy is that my scores went from 2 over 20 to 4 over 20. I tell myself then, that now I see the fruits of my labors.
Laly , 18 years old, Paris (France)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 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)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)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 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 thinking of the happy future waiting for me somewhere in the universe.
Isabelle , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)
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)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 see this little twig of a woman who is my mother smile and laugh, each time it's…
Heïdi , 21 years old, Villeurbanne (France)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)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)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 learning that my parents are going to leave for a lover's weekend. After 23 years of marriage, isn't it still really cute?
Pierre , 18 years old, Marseille (France)
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)What makes me happy, you see, is that I live fully in the present moment. I savor each minute with pure delicacy, that's all!
Isabelle , 28 years old, Drummondville (Canada)
What makes me happy is seeing a smile erase the wrinkles on my husband's face.
Agnès , 53 years old, Ayvelles (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.
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, hmm... The first is waking up and seeing sunbeams... the second is payday... the third is my last day at work!
Chantal , 33 years old, Saint-Léonard (Canada)Surprising my brother and seeing the happiness on his face, that's enough to make me happy.
Kamila , 28 years old, Marseille (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)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 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)What makes me happy is seeing my best friend again after almost two years apart.
Samya , 17 years old, Mohammédia (Maroc)
Hearing someone whistle will always be for me, synonymous with happiness. Thans Papy.
Mélanie , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)What makes me happy is to see the others happy, my dearest, my friends, all the people I like.
Christelle , 31 years old, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgique)What makes me happy is writing a message to Happython and knowing that one day, maybe, my testimony with help spread the virus of happiness.
Hélène , 20 years old, Toulouse (France)Oh… little everyday trifles make me happy … a smile, a hand in mine…a look, a laughing child…happiness is very relative…but we must know to appreciate the little things.
Angela , 40 years old, Benidorm (Espagne)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 makes me happy is to prepare a good meal when my son comes home.
Jean-Luc , 52 years old, Garde (France)What makes me happy is to have a special moment with my friends over an aperitif putting the world to rights.
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 are those lives I dream of and those dreams I live in.
Raked , 22 years old, Stockholm (Suède)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 feel really happy is to be free to act, speak and realise my dreams.
Hazar , 26 years old, Tunis (Tunisie)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 adore my little kitten's caresses. That makes me happy.
Karma , 28 years old, Palma de Majorque (Espagne)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)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 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)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)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 nature. Walking in the grass or on a beach, lying in fields, watching the sunset, picking wild leeks to make an omelette with them.
Lorenzo , 22 years old, Paris (France)
Happiness for me is to get miraculously cured of my disease.
Raynald , 50 years old, Roubaix (France)What makes me happy is seeing my sweetie smile while reading the Happython each day.
Lilou , 21 years old, Paris (France)I love to feel that boundaries don't exist here, smiles are the same everywhere, they can be exchanged in every language… that makes me happy.
Amandine , 21 years old, Madrid (Espagne)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)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 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)What made me happy ? After loving lots of men, I fell in love with a woman and for that wonderful love, I gave up men and my former way of life. But it is worth while, I love and I am loved, peaceful and completely happy, that great affection…
Gisella , 51 years old, Paris (France)
What makes me happy is to be sitting outside a café with nothing to do but let my mind wander (daydream), sip my drink and watch people walk by.
Catherine , 47 years old, Bruxelles (Belgique)What makes me happy is all that is beautiful, pure, frank and honest and that doesn't cost anything because these are the simplest things that are the most wonderful.
Steven , 33 years old, Rivière-du-Loup (Canada)
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)The light and sparkles in children's eyes sometimes make me feel like crying with happiness.
Sabrina , 27 years old, Mitry-Mory (France)