Experts extol body and mind approach to being happy

Family can be a key factor to a person's happiness, but ultimately, happiness is an individual's choice, an exhibition aimed to promote happiness was told on Tuesday.

Nitcharee Peneakchanasak admires a picture of rock singer Artiwara 'Toon' Kongmalai on display at the 'Endless Happiness' exhibition in Bangkok. Tawatchai Kemgumnerd

At the exhibition, "Eight zones of happiness within the family, organisation and society," held by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Rayrai Suveeranont, a seven year-old blogger who has over 200,000 followers on her Facebook, shared her key to happiness.

"I only post happy stories because it makes people happy with me.

"When I am sad, I don't share those stories because I don't want to make others sad," she said.

"When I am sad I talk to my family and they always make me feel better," she added.

Rayrai is famous for posting daily, modest journals of her views on the world which reflect her intuition and observations about her young life and and day-to-day conversations with her family.

Her mother, Chanida Suveeranont said, "You cannot linger on a hope or expectation that happiness will be knocking on your doorstep, because happiness is a decision that you can make every day that you wake up."

Another speaker, Nicharee Peneakchanasak, who lost both her legs as a teenager in 2011 from a rail accident during a study trip in Singapore, said "With the relentless optimism my parents gave me throughout my recovery, I found inspiration and the will-power to be able to stand on my own once again."

Ms Nicharee now works with The World Medical Hospital in Bangkok as a happiness observer and finds joy in listening to patient's stories and helping them improve their lives in the process.

She earns one million baht a month.

Meanwhile, Thai Health Promotion Foundation director Sampan Silapanad said a person needs a happy body, heart, society, relaxation, a good brain, soul, money and family.

Happiness is important as it is the key to people's well-being and productivity, he added.

"Throughout my 30 years in the workforce, I have discovered that employers paying staff did not have a lasting impact on the employee's well-being compared to helping them create happiness for others," Mr Sampan said.

His agency is holding an "Endless Happiness" exhibition on the second floor of the Thai Health Centre.

It will be available until April 21 next year.

The exhibition touches on a variety of factors influencing happiness, such as the way people interact with one another, the perils of an excessive lifestyle and even the multitude of things people put in their bodies.