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Are you familiar with the 31 types of happiness? That might sound like a lot, but author Pamela Gail Johnson says that’s precisely the point. She wants us to expand how we think about the emotion — and that includes separating all the different ways we can experience it, including feeling peaceful, nostalgic, and playful.
“For example, joy is a word we culturally use to describe happiness now,” Johnson told Nice News over email, adding, “However, it is a high vibration type of happiness. Other types of happiness may be more obtainable at times, such as contentment, amusement, or relief. The amount of happiness we experience is often based on how we measure it.”
This reframing is one of the pillars of Johnson’s mission: to help people feel happier. In 1998, the Texas resident founded the Society of Happy People to do just that — though at the time, it was called the Secret Society of Happy People. Originally, it was intended to be a safe place for those who normally kept their happiness to themselves, as Johnson found that expressing her exuberance in public would occasionally annoy others. “Way back in 1997, I wondered where all of the happy people hung out,” she wrote on the org’s website.
However, the secret society didn’t remain under the radar for long. Just a few months after it was established, an Ann Landers column in The Dallas Morning News suggested that folks refrain from sending Christmas letters sharing the highlights of their year. In a response letter, Johnson expressed her disappointment with the idea.
“We live in a popular culture that all too often makes people feel rotten for being happy and even worse for sharing it,” she wrote, adding, “Happiness is about recognizing the happy moments in life, not about competing with others. The concept of not sharing happy news in lieu of bonding only on the wounds of life must end. Happy moments are good things that need to be shared more — not less.”
The letter wound up receiving international media attention. In the years since, the society has been featured by major outlets like the Associated Press, The Washington Post, and CBS News, and in 2018, the word “secret” was dropped from its name. Now, anyone can join the community, although Johnson says that the society’s reach extends far beyond its thousands of official members.
“Over the past 25-plus years, our growth has been measured more by the number of social media connections or in the number of times we are included in stories in our ever-changing online media landscape,” she told Nice News. “And we have an official membership for folks who want to support the Society; however, it really isn’t reflective of our tribe.”
Its goal has shifted as well — today, Johnson is focused on helping people “recognize all of the happy moments they experience and not take them for granted,” she explained, noting, “The Society’s goal has never been to tell someone how to be happy. Sometimes life is filled with happiness zappers that make feeling happy a challenge, and it is important to respect those times. However, even during those challenges, happy moments still happened most of the time, and it is equally important to recognize them.” In 2022, Johnson published a book called Practical Happiness: Four Principles to Improve Your Life, which helps readers identify the emotional state in their lives and manage those challenging “happiness zappers.”
And when it comes to the org’s mission, Johnson leads by example. In 2017, she listed over 100 “events, places, and experiences that happily unite people,” and in what she called the #HappinessUnites Tour, she set out to visit as many of them as possible. Her goals? To check items off her bucket list, meet more happy people, build community — and just have fun. She shared that she loves how the society allows her to “connect and interact with so many interesting people from all over the world.”
In 1999, Johnson also created Happiness Happens Day, which blossomed into Happiness Happens Month the following year. Each August, the society invites people to participate in activities every day of the month. While the themes vary by year, they’re all centered on the same objective.
But there was one hiccup: As most schools were on summer break in August, teachers reached out looking for a way for their classrooms to celebrate during the school year. Thus, Hunt for Happiness Week was born and slotted for the third week of January — which ended up being an advantageous time for another reason.
“It happens during that time of year when we may have to put a little effort into noticing or even creating happiness. The holiday hoopla is over, we are waiting for spring break, and the weather may feel gloomy,” Johnson said, adding that the week helps remind people that “it is OK to put effort into feeling good and being happy. When we do it with intention, it even becomes fun.”
The daily challenges tend to be simple and approachable, as incorporating more happiness into our lives shouldn’t be a tedious task. During 2020’s Hunt for Happiness Week, for instance, the challenges included recognizing those who made you smile. And in 2024, the society asked participants to write “seven things that make you feel good” on a Happiness Bucket List worksheet, and complete one each day.
This year’s interested participants can sign up here for the weeklong celebration, which starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday. And in honor of the week’s silver anniversary, Johnson plans to “add some sparkle” to the seven challenges. “After all, happy people have a way to find the silver linings in even the darkest clouds,” she said.
That sentiment summarizes a powerful part of Johnson’s philosophy toward happiness: It’s not about ignoring the inevitable challenges in our lives, but rather choosing how to respond to them. “My hope for the Society is to remain a place that inspires people to rethink happiness so they recognize all their happy moments,” she said. “It is so much easier to manage those moments that zap our happiness when we also feel good about many of our experiences, too.”
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