Happiness

“I’m happy!”

This is what my grandson tells me every morning, when I get him out of his crib.

In the evening, when I ask him how his day was, he says:

“It was great!”

I can’t remember the last time that was the answer that jumped to mind. (I truly can’t remember—no hyperbole intended; my memory is a finely-tuned machine desperately in need of some WD-40.)

We are living in tough times.

Political divisions, war, famine, and natural disasters, here in the US and globally . . . It all feels overwhelming.

On a more personal note, a close family member is once again facing significant health issues, and it feels as though my overly-full bucket of worry is no longer merely trickling over the top, it’s a gushing torrent that threatens to drown everything else. (I spend much of my time wrestling with health care providers, and sometimes it feels as though the “wrestling” is literal. Anyone who has been in or assisted someone else in a health crisis knows whereof I speak, and knows how exhausting it is.)

For all of these reasons, I am finding it difficult, this year,
to approach Thanksgiving with gratitude.

And then I see my grandson’s tousled hair
and sleepy morning smile
and hear him say, “I’m happy,”
and suddenly, miraculously, I’m happy too.

Other things that make me happy,
and remind me to be grateful
if only for a few, precious moments:

Dogs . . .

. . . Good food.
(Pecan pie comes to mind at this time of year. And pumpkin pie. And apple pie.) . . .

. . . Good books . . .

(Check out the latest book review below!)

. . . Seeing how beautifully
my children have grown up . . .

. . . Friends and Family . . .

  . . . And let us not forget

Donkey Videos . . .

It sounds cheesy, but there is evidence that gratitude really does improve your outlook, your emotional health, your (dare I say it?) happiness.

If you don’t believe me, check out this 2022 NPR article and this YouTube story.

So join me in finding happiness in spite of it all. Maybe then the next time someone asks how the day was we can say with a happy grin:

IT WAS GREAT!

 Two Over Easy All Day Long News

The book won another award, but I’ve been asked by the awarding organization to hold off on announcing the details until they publish the results in early December. Stay tuned…

The reading at Bookery in Manchester, New Hampshire was sweet.

What a lovely bookstore - check it out if you are in the “neighborhood”!

You can find a small clip posted on the YouTube channel here

I was honored to participate in not one but TWO book clubs. It’s a great way to connect and share different perspectives on Walt and Nancy and the rest of the crew, alternative justice, laughter, and the power of community. If you are interested, send me an email: sharilaneauthor@gmail.com.

Book Review

For fans of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series, The Grey Wolf does not disappoint—I spent many happy hours lost in the story! I even took the unusual step of buying it in hardback, as I’d already heard this book sets up the next in the series, and I want to make sure I can go back and re-read this one just before the next comes out. International intrigue, an insane poet (and her duck), a Dominican friar (who may or may not be one of the “bad guys,”) children throwing marshmallows on the ceiling and, as always, a race against time to save Gamache’s beloved Quebec. Check it out!

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books 2024)

A Gift for an Author

(Repeated from an earlier Social Media Post - Ignore if you’ve already seen it.)

Have you read a good book, a book that made you hoard time like a dragon, shedding one solitary hot dragon tear when you reached the last page because by finishing the book you’ve lost the companionship of the characters, the escape of an unputdownable story, the Eureka moment when you read the very words you most needed in the moment?

And then when you dried your eyes and blew your nose did you wonder – before taking up the hurly burly of your life again – how you might thank the author for the gift of Story?

Here’s how: tell the world. Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell a stranger. Rave about your favorite character to the clerk at the grocery store, while he glances, furtively, at the impatient line growing behind you. Quote your favorite line in barely intelligible garble to the dental hygienist as she attempts to crack the tartar from your upper right rearmost molar. Share a pithy philosophical point eloquently shown-not-told with your mechanic as they hmmm about the sound your car’s engine makes only when it is not in the shop.

Buy the book for someone you love (heavens, yes!), and request that your local library and bookstore carry the book (of course!), and post a review on social media and/or a review site (a sigh for the ubiquity and necessity of PR and social media) . . . . But when you've received the gift of Story from an author, the very best way to show gratitude is to pass it on.

Postscripts:

This newsletter is the third version of a newsletter sent to subscribers. If you’d like to receive future monthly newsletters in advance, sign up here. Also, the original newsletter delves more deeply into the sources of my angst, specifically related to the political landscape in the US. The Facebook powers-that-be have previously blocked newsletters and posts for that reason, so this version is purged of details. Probably for the best, if I am hoping to spread happiness, yes? The second version, posted to my personal social media, included lots of photos of friends and family that have been omitted from this version, which appears only on my Author Page. 

That’s right, dear reader, you could have not one, not two, but THREE opportunities to read this newsletter (picture the eye-rolling emoji here, if you will).

Last but not least, In writing about finding happiness, I want to state unequivocally that I am not advocating that we ignore the state of the world, let up on the fight for justice, or fail to spread kindness where we can.

Only, when drowning in a sea of hard news, it helps, sometimes, to come up and sip the sweet air.

(Friends Melissa Chureau with Fully Mindful and Monika Gold with True Move Studio could tell you more eloquently than I the value of breathing).

AND I want to be clear, with myself and with you, lovely friends, that these are the actions we take . . .

. . . before diving back in.

*** Happiness Rocks image by Jennifer Shoniker from Getty Images (text added).

***Donkey image by JACLOU-DL from pixabay (text added).