The year's perfect gift -- it's free but in demand!

Instead of mindlessly wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Happy New Year, starting right now, I am going to BE the happy. 

With new research suggesting that our happiness is contagious, I want to spread joy. Isn't that the best gift we can give one another? Our joy reinvested in their lives?

I am not talking about an elfin insincerity, or a happiness competition. No, this shift is subtle. Maybe we let the bad news of the economy go to the background and the holiday spirit (if you will) take center stage for a while? I am talking about a moment-by-moment embracing of the good. 

For me, I will take a few extra seconds to share some goods news, to enjoy my best friend's lovingly decorated Christmas tree, to bake cookies with the special little ones in my life and enjoy the white lights up and down my street. Just a small shift in perspective in every little moment. Oh, and it makes me pretty happy to say I've let myself off the hook on sending holiday cards this year -- I'd rather connect one-to-one instead.

Here's a few things that already have made my season brighter, I hope they do the same for you:

This "tough guy" coach is personally investing in teens trapped in cycles of violence, and said on 60 Minutes last night that he lives every day expecting something really good is just about to happen.

Here's a Web site dedicated entirely to good news.

And, if all else fails, we may be another year older, another year wiser and according to this research from the University of Chicago, another year happier, so we can be happy to look ahead.

Cheers to a very HAPPY holiday season.