Welcome to What Makes You Happy. We’re a magazine – one of those nice things you can hold in your hands and flip through during a power failure. Also a website: if the medium really is the message and you’re reading this, you are getting the message.

The Pig and the Diamond
Is attaining happiness like grabbing a greased pig? Is it more like chanting “ooooomm” until the butterfly lands on your cheek? Is it world peace? Is it a new diamond choker? If you know the answers, speak up.

And if it’s the diamonds, is that because of jewellery’s pawn shop value or because it is evidence that you’re doing well in life, or because it’s a reminder that someone loves you? Is happiness just an attitude, or do you need a certain basket of worldly success too? Is it a new car? And if so will you be more or less happy with red leather seats? Is it all of these?

The Pig Again
We are all interested in what makes you happy, and if I were chasing a greased pig, you’d watch. Don’t you want to know what does it for Roberto Luongo, Michaëlle Jean, Justin Beiber, Stephen Harper, Diana Krall, or Conrad Black? In this magazine we will ask such people these questions and see what they have to say. We will look at shiny baubles, beautiful houses, trips of a lifetime and see what they add. We will consider eating for your mood and the physiological and psychological benefits of exercises and we will hear a lot from people who have achieved some measures of success and happiness and have something to say about it.

The Diamond
We’re not expecting simple answers, but we are expecting a great quest and a lot of fun along the way. There will certainly be something for everyone because what makes us happy is as diverse as we are. We’re not going to be intellectual or snobby about it. Just because you get a moment of joy from a glass of cold beer or a new pair of shoes does not mean that you are a shallow person who is not going to also get something from helping the world be a better place or fulfilling a long-term dream. Each one of us may have thousands of ways to be happy. A big diamond has many facets and all faces of a gem look in a different direction – that’s what makes it sparkle.

The Diamond and the Blue Bin
That’s a serious metaphor and our readers will get it! What Makes You Happy is going out in the Globe & Mail to Canada’s most educated, successful and engaged readers. Talk down to this group at your peril! The entire publication is “reverse engineered” to be of interest and value to this demographic. From the moment it falls out of the morning paper, subscribers will see quality, smarts, humour, approachability in a very good looking and feeling package. If we do it right, this magazine will bypass the blue bin and land on the coffee table where it will be read often by all who pass through the house.

Virtual Diamonds and the Pigs
This website will have the same philosophy with its own version of metaphorical diamonds and pigs. Watch for things we cannot not squeeze into the magazine, links to the best of what others are doing in this field (we didn’t invent happiness) and coming soon to a computer and device near you: the National Happiness Index on which you can track your own happiness and that of those around you. We also promise not to overdo this cutesy pig and diamond thing when we get this site developed.