Friday 20^th March is International Day of Happiness, a day that focuses on getting everyone to consider what we need to do to be genuinely happy and thus improve our mental wellbeing and live a fulfilling life.

The Lake Foundation believes this is an extremely important day which should be a time to reflect on the positive in a very negative climate.  We need to make it a priority to improve our mental wellbeing by finding a way and a reason to be happy. Research has shown that happiness and health are connected with happiness having a positive effect on our health. Additionally people with a positive (happy) outlook on life have a better outcome when  ill. So, there are health benefits to being happy.

What can we do to live a happier life? Based on research, Action for Happiness has put together ten things we can all do to live a happier and more fulfilling life and this is summarised in the diagram below.

This International Day of Happiness let’s commit to living a happy life by attempting follow these ten tips. A great way to start this is by getting involved in the #GlobalHappyParty. The UN Foundation and Pharrell Williams are inviting everyone to their Happy Party. We’ve taken part and you can too!  Let’s get the whole world dancing for a happy planet!