Feeling blue? 36 things that will make you smile on the gloomiest day of the year

It's Blue Monday, the day which, according to pseudoscience and travel firms, is the gloomiest of the year. Dr Cliff Arnall is said to have coined the term in 2005 to describe what he had calculated to be the most miserable point in the calendar (he used a similar formula to find out when the UK is at its most content, and stumbled on July 14). Sceptics have doubted the accuracy of Dr Cliff's measurements, but one thing's for sure: it's cold, it's January, it's (probably raining), you're still paying for Christmas, you're not drinking or eating deliciously unhealthy food, and summer seems a long way off. And you're worried that 2018 will even more of a downer than 2017. In short, there's plenty to be gloomy about. 

With that in mind, here are 36 bitesize dollops of happiness to lift your spirits ...

1. Stevie Wonder's 'For Once In My Life'

We challenge you to listen and not smile

2. That BBC interview

Because not everything that happened in 2017 was scary or depressing.

3. The Animaniacs atlas

Every country of the world, reeled off in one catchy song. (The actor who voiced Yakko did it in a single take, too.)

4. The colour orange

Commonly associated with feelings of warmth and excitement

5. Marcel Desailly laughing his way around the world

6. This graph

Which shows that a smaller percentage of the world's population is living in poverty than at any time in the past 200 years

7. See? The world's not such a bad place after all

And it's also stunningly beautiful to behold

8. Back to the funny with this video...

9. ...and the top comment beneath it

10. This gif of cows licking a dog

Like it's one of their own

11. Louis Armstrong singing 'What A Wonderful World'

A wonderful performance of a wonderful song by a wonderful musician

12. Dr Seuss's life philosophy in one bitesize quote

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

13. 'Look at all those...'

Headphones on, sound up, watch until the end...

14. A toddler helping a chick to smell a flower

Want another dollop of happiness? The chick is called Biscuit. Ahhhh.

15. This cunning life hack

16. A baby's laugh

17. Another baby's laugh

18. And another one

19. Should we stop yet?

20. A calming manatee

From calmingmanatee.com. Really, you could just spend all day there summoning calming manatees.

21. Alex Salmond kicking a football ...

... however bad you are at football, you can always remember: Alex Salmond is worse.

22. This man seeing colours for the first time

23. 'Everybody Wants To Be A Cat' by The Aristocats

"I've heard some corny birds who tried to sing / but a cat's the only cat who knows how to swing"

24. The weather forecast in Haiti

Scorchio...

25. A dog in Converse

26. Xabi Alonso's chuckle

27. Men singing 'Can You Feel the Love?'

In a coffee shop

28. Drive by compliments ...

... that are offered – and accepted – in the spirit of happiness

29. Bill Murray singing 'Happy Street'

A chirpy little ditty from a man who knows how to live the life euphoric

30. A picture of a kitten in a sunny field

31. The sheer passion of this trainspotter

32. Carlton's dance in Fresh Prince

33. The evolution of dance

34. This picture of Bill Clinton with a balloon

35. A stealthy cat

36. Smile

Yeah, we know: we sound like that random in the street who tells you to "cheer up, it might never happen", thus sending you into a spiral of angst and fury. You were perfectly fine, thank-you-very-much, and who does this person think he is, telling you to cheer up? You can do what you jolly well wish, which right now just so happens to be scowl and mutter, all because someone's told you to smile.

Anyway, here's the thing: smiling really does make you smile. The brain is always looking for biofeedback, which means signs from the external world that the body is doing well and coping with its environment. Smile and your brain gets tricked into thinking it's happy. Which it now is.