Key to Happiness Revealed in Time for the International Day of Happiness

18 March 2014: A new survey* from online experience retailer redballoon.com.au has found that the happiest people are those who stop to smell the roses.

An impressive 95% of respondents who stated that they live in the moment are happy with life overall.

This is a stark difference to those who don’t live in the moment, with just under half (47%) of those respondents stating that they’re happy.

According to RedBalloon CEO Kristie Buchanan, “These results show that you can double your chance of happiness by simply slowing down and appreciating what’s around you”.

“It’s a great reminder in time for the UN International Day of Happiness,” Ms Buchanan said.

“You only have to look around to see this in action – many people today are viewing life through the lens of a camera phone. 

“Take in the aromas during a cooking class, lie down in the grass when you’re outside and let yourself laugh until it hurts – when we soak in the beauty of the everyday, we experience more happiness and that’s reinforced through these survey results.”

The RedBalloon survey also found that 91% of respondents who live life on the edge are happy.

“The key to happiness could be doing one thing every day that scares you or challenging yourself," Ms Buchanan said.

“Here at RedBalloon we see this every day – there’s an undeniable amount of joy that comes from doing the things we think we cannot do, like swimming with sharks, skydiving or abseiling off a cliff."

To celebrate International Happiness Day, RedBalloon, a brand synonymous with fun, embarked on finding out what makes us happy.

The other key findings are:

- The things that are most likely to put a smile on Australia's dial include: spending time with family and friends (54%), receiving an amazing gift (15%) and baby animals (12%).

- The happiest time of day is 6-8pm.

- The happiest people wake up between 6-8am, the unhappiest wake up between 10am-12pm.

- The happiest age group is 60-64.

- People who have a bucket list are more likely to be happy.

- Happy people are more likely to choose chocolate ice cream first from a Neapolitan tub, followed by vanilla and then strawberry.

* The survey was conducted with 1987 respondents via an online survey between 28 February and 14 March 2014.

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