I ♥ U

Hello there! It’s time Totoro came out of the hiding. A thousand apologies for the long absence (while a lot has been going on on the other blog!) Nothing to post on the happiness blog means I’ve been unhappy? Mmm … let’s just say, I have not been particularly happy to shout about here.

But this made me sorta happier than many other days. Although today, on Buddha’s birthday, I quote him, “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”,  remember that I still ♥ you.

U ♥ I too, hopefully

Coca-cola’s interpretation of happiness

Coca-cola is more than just a drink. See how the brand delivers happiness to Brazil in one of their campaigns below.

So far, I only managed to find videos of this campaign in Brazil and the Philippines.

Does anybody know if they have launched this in a developed country too? Would this have worked in Singapore?

Language of happiness

This morning, my colleague Wee Kiat shared a series of video clips that brought much happiness to my heart and some tears to my eyes. After I overcame the flood of emotions and was able to think rationally, I questioned myself why was I so moved by something so simple and repetitive?

Empathy. I saw my story in bits and pieces in each and every one of them. I wished there were clips on New York, Tokyo and Shanghai, but I really didn’t need to see them. They’re already playing out in the theaters of my brain as I watched these superbly well-executed films with a rather austere objective – learn a foreign language.

A friend once said he would never become a full-fledged resident of his new city until he learned the language. So we will never be truly happy until we learn our language of happiness. What is your language of happiness?

Turning boredom into happiness

Recently, Dutch airline KLM launched a campaign leveraging on social media, such as Twitter and Foursquare, and used little acts of kindness to spread happiness at the airport.

This makes me wonder, what kind of emotions do you typically associate with your airport experience? Many airports in Europe and the United States have been very unhappy places recently, due to drastic weather conditions. With increasingly negative impressions tagged to airports and airlines, how can they improve their image among travelers? Although this might be just a gimmick for KLM’s marketing campaign, it is definitely something that the air industry could use to make our travel experience happier. (hey, I wouldn’t mind a nike sportband anytime! ^^)

Smiles

Recently two trends from Japan have been circulating among our colleagues which I thought were immensely fun, especially if they’re put together. What do you think? Do you have other ideas of how to make these more fun so they can make people even happier?

The first is Kaoiro, an emoticon stamp by Ginghami Co. Ltd. You can buy it on the website!

What is so awesome about this is that it adapts something so traditional like a date stamp for our digital age, creating this emoticon stamp! I'd love to go stamping away my emotions when I'm reading, writing, walking down the streets, sitting alone in the park, travelling in a strange country ... what would my diary look like with a collection of emotions made by these? It must be so emotional and happy to look back at them again one day when I'm old and gray.

The other trend is totally bizarre digital age. LED lights in my mouth? I’m not sure, unless they can flash the above-mentioned emoticons. Haha!

Totoro, 多多乐！

Putting a spin on the pronunciation of Totoro in Chinese - 多多乐 – means much happiness! Tonari no Totoro is easily one of my all-time favorite animated films which I can watch anytime to feel better about myself and the world.

Lovely Totoro cream puffs from the Shiro-Hige Cream Puff Factory in Tokyo. Click on the picture to find out where!

I laughed hysterically when I saw this. Thanks Wei Eng for sharing it, from whimsyandspice on Twitpic! Just wish I had enough snow here to build this >_<"

Happy Joanne!

Joanne, a mighty fine photographer she is, sent me these pictures of things and people that made her happy. These beautiful pictures sure made me VERY HAPPY! ^___^*

Watching the sunset! Hrmm, or just sky watching mainly, because it's never the same.

Kite-flying, or maybe it's the doing nothing, sitting on the grass and enjoy a lazy afternoon, with awesome breeze

My grandparents make me happy

Joanne, I only knew my grandmother. There were times I made her unhappy when all the while, she had only wanted to make me happy. I miss her. Cherish your grams