Wellness occasions
Two days about how people feel rather than what they have, the International Day of Happiness and the International Day of Yoga, with dates and what to write.
Two days, both United Nations observances, and India is unusually close to both.
The International Day of Yoga on 21 June was proposed by India at the UN General Assembly in 2014 and adopted with a large number of co-sponsoring states, which is why it is marked at scale here: mass sessions in cities, a national event each year, and Ayush ministry programmes around it.
The International Day of Happiness on 20 March grew out of Bhutan's Gross National Happiness framework and is tied to the annual World Happiness Report.
What to write
On Yoga Day, the useful message is practical rather than devotional. Where the free session is, which asana helped your back, the teacher worth going to. Avoid making claims about curing conditions; the Ministry of Ayush's own material is careful about this and so should you be.
On the Day of Happiness, resist the instruction to be happy. Plenty of people reading it are not, and "choose joy today" lands badly on a bad day.
What works better is doing the thing the research actually points at, which is contact. Send someone a message telling them what they add to your life. That is a happiness intervention with better evidence behind it than any graphic.
Do
- Offer something concrete: a class, a time, a walk, an invitation.
- Write to one person rather than posting to everyone.
Avoid
- Don't tell people to smile, choose joy or be grateful.
- Don't claim a practice treats a medical condition.
If someone you know is struggling, get well soon messages covers writing about mental health without making it a performance.