WATCH: Islanders share what makes them happy on International Day of Happiness. Ceilidh Millar reports.
The first day of spring makes for a busy day at Poppies Floral Art in Victoria.
“I’ve made about a dozen of these [bouquets] today,” said one florist.
Today, staff handed out flowers to people on the street after a cooler they store freshly cut flowers in malfunctioned.
“Bad news for us is our fridge is broken,” said Mary-Jane Posno, owner of Poppies Floral Art. “Good news for the people is they’re getting some free flowers.”
Fittingly, it happens to be International Day of Happiness.
“Studies suggest that people feel better when they receive flowers,” explained Posno. “They feel better in the long term as well.”
According to a new report, Canadians aren’t as happy as they used to be.
Canada ranked 7th in the World Happiness Report, released by the United Nations today.
The report rates 155 countries based on their overall happiness levels.
It’s the lowest ranking Canada has had since the reported started in 2012.
“We find six variables that seem to explain most of the differences,” said John F. Helliwell, UBC Professor and Author of the World Happiness Report. “[The factors include] income per capita and healthy life expectancy, but then we also get into the social foundations of happiness.”
While our countries rank on the happiness scale is slipping, there are ways to improve personal happiness.
“Do something nice or something friendly for somebody else,” said Helliwell. “People will find they’re glad they did it.”
Ceilidh Millar
