FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE
Want to be the best you can be in 2017? Here are some special days on the calendar that in all likelihood will give you the chance to feel virtuous and happy
1 JANUARY 12 Poetry at Work Day
Get your creative juices flowing. So what if you can’t string two words together? It’s all about finding the inner beauty of your job. So write a haiku about your office desk, a paean to your colleague from hell or a hymn for your tyrannical boss
7 JULY 2 I Forgot Day
Birthdays, parties, anniversaries— the list of things we fail to keep track of and end up hurting people we care for, can become overwhelming. Use this day to make amends. Write a special note, send a text message and say, “I’m sorry, I forgot”
2 FEBRUARY 22 Inconvenience Yourself Day
Offer to carry grocery bags up the stairs for elderly folks. Give up your seat to people with disabilities and pregnant women. Take out time for cleanliness drives in your community. Put on your happy face, think of others and make sacrifices
8 AUGUST 22 Be an Angel Day
A day to recognise, acknowledge all the acts of kindness—a random measure on a bad day or a lifechanging action—that you have experienced through the year. Get in touch, express gratitude, give a hug— this is the day to embrace generosity
3 MARCH 13 Fill Our Staplers Day
Members of the Dull Men’s Club of New York (their mission statement is, “It’s OK to be dull”) have come up with this day to encourage everyone to refill their stapler and minimise future workplace stress
9 SEPTEMBER 28 Ask a Stupid Question Day
In the 1980s, teachers in the US created a day that would allow students to ask all the questions they wanted to but couldn’t, for fear of being ridiculed. An annual tradition in American schools, it is now celebrated in UK and in India
4 APRIL 1 Tangible Karma Day
What goes around comes around, they say. If you agree, set a day aside for ‘good karma’ and expect it all to come back to you. Ask yourself where can you do good, at what cost, against what else you might have to do, and take it up
10 OCTOBER 7 World Smile Day
The smiley American graphic artist Harvey Ball created in 1963 became the emoticon of our digital era. World Smile Day is about remembering that a bright smile, a simple compliment, a cheery hello or a little gift can make the world a better place
5 MAY 22 Sherlock Holmes Day
Play detective and unravel those little mysteries: is anyone stealing your sandwiches in office? Are you getting amorous texts from an unknown number? Is a colleague whacking you behind your back? Today is the day to find out
11 NOVEMBER 17 Use Less Stuff Day
Clothes, toys, gadgets, devices—in an era when the lure of the ‘newest’ fills up our lives with things we often don’t need (and sometimes don’t enjoy), it’s a day to take a critical look at our consumerist excesses and declutter our lives
6 JUNE 23 Let it Go Day
The perfect day to stop wasting your energy on those nagging regrets and little grudges from the past that take root and turn toxic. A day to remind yourself to move on and let go of the negative emotions pulling you down
12 DECEMBER 29 Tick Tock Day
The clock is ticking away. And as the year comes to a close, it’s a day that urges us to complete unfinished chores and unrealised wishes that you never found the time for. Take a day, set things right and start the new year on the right note