small joys- The stuff happiness is about

smalljoys

We sometimes tend to measure the richness of our life in terms of the number of the formal celebrative moments it offers: Birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, Annual Days, weddings and parties. But if this what life were to be about, then we would all have only a handful of happy and celebrative moments to enjoy each passing year and otherwise find our lives quite routine and dull.

With this thought in mind, smallJoys was born. The idea is to create a platform where people who see small notable and joyful moments in their everyday lives find a common place to share it.

A cup of tea each morning watching the sea gulls play over the sea; A walk through your favorite park on the way to work; Eating a handful of boiled peanuts whilst sitting on the park bench; Watching your 4 year old play with a bowl of water and sand, the list goes on.

Another important aspect that smalljoys attempts to shed light on is that we live in an age that offers us an abundance of everything and yet there seems to be an underlying feeling in us of discontentment.

smalljoys is also an attempt to remind us of the simple small things in life that could bring us joy and add to the feeling of our well being- while we busy ourselves in pursuing the bigger pleasures of life: A better job; A bigger car; A swankier home; A better holiday and so on...

So share your own little joys with the world and offer insights into how joy can be sighted from the little things in life.

Share your joys on http://www.placebo.me/smalljoys

Placebo: thankyou- feel it, say it, set if free

Placebo: thankyou- feel it, say it, set if free: "thankyou is the first experience to be launched on the Placebo Hub. As the name suggests, its a simple application that allows people to tha..."

thankyou- feel it, say it, set if free

thankyou is the first experience to be launched on the Placebo Hub. As the name suggests, its a simple application that allows people to thank people, places, animals or anything else that comes to mind via a unified interface.

Why take the trouble to build an application that simply says "thankyou"? Well, the reasons are many. For starters, thankyou becomes just the trigger to make people think about who or what they wish to thank. It becomes the trigger for reflection, introspection and eventually, expression.

thankyou then also becomes the catalyst for realizing the numer of people, things, situations and states we need to be thankful for. Then comes the question, "Why take the trouble to build an application that should get people thinking about whom or what to thank?"

The answer to that is not as simple as the first question but let's try anyway: Its simply to celebrate life and feel good about the things that have made us happy and yes, somewhat thankful.

The online advertising campaign of sorts attempts to bring to light situations in our lives that we could perhaps be thankful for - even if some of these reasons seem too miniscule to glorify and thank. The idea in the campaigns is to suggest areas or events in our lives that we could possibly thank: The people who made things happen for you; little events or interactions that made you feel good...

So give it a shot, see who springs to mind and is worth thanking. Look at the advertisements to find inspiration :)

Placebo wishes you a Happy 2011

Thanks for viewing our Happy 2011 card. If you haven't seen it yet and might want to see it first, then see it here. So the card is really about happiness and being happy. The analogy of the 3 doors and asking you to make a choice is to suggest that whatever choices we make in life, the responsibility of being happy and staying happy ultimately lies within us.

So whichever door you choose (red, blue or green), the message worded slightly differently each time essentially suggests that the power to being happy lies in how we process life around us. How we see, is how we will be. Why such a 'heavy' card for New Year, you might wonder.

The reason is simple: It is perhaps evident to you that we live in an age of consumption, acquisition and wealth creation. All very well, but it also seems as evident (if you care to look below the glitz of things) that nobody seems to be really, truly happy. So while there appears to be an abundance of material wealth creation, there doesn't seem to be a directly related (and expected) result of becoming happy and staying happy.

Then again, in recognition of this gaping void in happiness amidst abundance, there are mushrooming around us, spiritual and self- development centres that hold promise of seeing you more complete and yes, happier.

All very well, but our intention is to also support your journey inward in small ways, by creating interactions on online and offline to add a dash of introspection in our lives, just as we eye the next gadget to buy in a swanky new shopping mall.

So do share with us your own views on happiness and what you think it takes to get there and stay there.