JoyGerm Day

JoyGerm Day is January 8th

JoyGerm Day is a day to focus on spreading joy to anyone around you. Created by Joan White of Syracuse, New York in 1981, JoyGerm day celebrates the tendency for joy and happiness to spread from one person to another, much like the flu but far more pleasant.

January 8th is the anniversary of the launch of Joygerm Limited, Joan White’s company that focused on emanating joy. Joan created Joygerm Limited on her late mother’s birthday, prodded by the joyful energy produced when thinking of her mother. Since the beginning, the idea behind JoyGerms spread like a cheery pandemic across the globe as JoyGerm day was added to Chase’s Calendar of Events, and Joan made appearances, gave speeches, and held parades.

Joy is A Science

Simple observation is likely enough for most people to agree that joy and happiness are infectious. When we’re around that one cheerful friend, our own mood elevates. When someone is kind to us, we feel like being kind as well. It turns out that there are actual scientific studies to support the infectious quality of joy. Harvard Medical School found that people spread joy, not just to their immediate friends and family, but indirectly as well, to friends of friends, relatives of coworkers, and so on. Spreading the JoyGerm has real, far reaching benefits.

How to Celebrate JoyGerm Day

Spread Joy! The hands-down best way to celebrate JoyGerm Day is to spread joy. One of the easiest ways to do that is to simply get yourself in a cheerful mood, and let the joy simply infect those around you.

Read! There are plenty of suggestions on how to spread joy, peruse some of these lists for ideas!

• 15 Simple Ways to Spread Happiness and Kindness
• 101 Ways to Spread Joy This Year
• 50 Things to Put You in an Instant Good Mood

Share! We can even spread joy without physically being near someone, thanks to the power of social media. Share adorable puppy videos, feel good stories, or sweet comments online and put a smile on someone’s face, whether you can see it or not. 
Here’s a happy animal compilation video for starters

Celebrating JoyGerm Day gives you the potential to make a positive difference in others’ lives. By spreading joy and kindness, JoyGerm Day helps unite people and make the world a better place.

Joyful Words

In a 1992 letter, Joan White writes, “You smile, laugh, grin and dance lightly through life, taking the sadness and sorrowful things and hurts that happen into your being; while balancing them with the positive, good things that life offers. Life, itself. Blue skies; dancing daffodils; whippoorwills; whiffs of fresh bread baking in the oven; a welcome hug; offering of peace and prayer...all the natural highs.”