I’ve been doing a ton of reading lately. Well, I always read a lot (one can clearly see that from all the books in my apartment), but my recent trip to Hawaii allowed me to read even more. It’s amazing how much you can read while sitting on a plane for ten hours, and on the beach.
Before I read the following three books, I had been trying to get into Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for the umpteenth time. I don’t know how many times I have tried reading this, and over how many years. It has just been sitting on my shelf for years, teasing me, mocking me. I wanted to like this book, I really did – it’s a best seller for crying out loud! I can normally fly through books, but it took a couple weeks for me to even get to page 105. I would read a couple pages, realize I wasn’t paying attention, then I’d have to go back and re-read the two pages I had just read. This book was putting me to sleep. I just don’t get what the big deal is with this book. I give up, and I’m not sorry about it.
Sometimes when I’m trying to find some random book to order a read, I’ll just do searches on Amazon or Google. I recently searched ‘New York Times Bestseller’, and came across The Happiness Project. I liked the summary, but to be honest the cover of the book caught my eye so I decided to give it a go. I mean, whose eye would this not catch – am I right? It’s a cute, bright cover!
So, this woman (the author, Gretchen Rubin) is kinda awesome. How many of us are working jobs we don’t like, but we do them because we have to and blah blah blah. Well, she was a lawyer, and a successful one at that. But she wasn’t happy. She had written a couple law books, and loved writing. So, she decided to roll the dice – she quit her job to try to make it as a writer. Wow. Ballsy and heroic move, Gretchen. Blog high five!
Gretchen was already pretty happy – she had a loving husband, two happy and healthy daughters, and a great life. But she wanted to maximize her happiness, basically. So this book covers her journey for a year, each month having a different goal. She did things she had always wanted to do but hadn’t. She laughed more. She played and got silly with her girls. She learned to appreciate her husband more. She played pranks. She learned to not get upset over the little things, and instead have them roll of her shoulders.
Throughout the book, she discovers and outlines her ‘Splendid Truths’ – I just adore these.
To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; one of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
The days are long, but the years are short.
You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.
The only person I can change is myself.
Happy people make people happy, but I can’t make someone be happy, and no one else can make me happy.
Now is now – this is it.
I absolutely adore these, and when you think about it, they are so very accurate. You’re not going to feel good and happy if you consume yourself with negative, icky thoughts. Fake it ‘til you make it if you must! I took the second one as meaning that happiness is in and of itself quite contagious. And you know it! When you are around someone bright and smiley and happy and cheerful, you almost can’t help but feel good and warm. And when you are around someone negative, it is so easy to become pissed off yourself. The days are long, but the years are short – this one has to be my favorite. We have so many stressors and nuisances that can distract us from the good things in life – kids are high maintenance and throw fits, long days at work, bills and your mortgage, you spill coffee on yourself, your husband forgets to pick up the milk on the way home and you get pissed, the AC breaks in the Texas summer, damn traffic, and so on. But, relish in the moment because the days can be long and exhausting, but they will pass before you know it. Slow down, take a breath, smile, and appreciate the good that is in every single day. Now is now, this is it – once these moments pass, they are gone.
I consider myself a genuinely happy person. Waking up in the morning with a smile and good morning stretch and a hug from my dog just make me start the day off on the right foot. I try and do my due diligence to appreciate and be grateful for all that is around me. But this book encouraged me to be even happier than even I am now, and to continue to take time to slow down, breathe, smile, and be grateful.
This is a quick read, good book, enlightening, encouraging, and will leave you feeling lighter and happier.
I started The Happiness Project at home, and finished it on my way to Hawaii. At the airport in San Francisco, I decided to pick up a few more books (and even sprang for brand new ones, which I NEVER do). I mistakenly bought one that I didn’t realize was a sequel – I have mentally noted to order the first so that $15 is worth my while. But this one in particular caught my eye – Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend. This grabbed my attention for a few reasons. 1) I liked the cover. I hope authors realize how important their covers are. It’s like a bottle of wine to me – I will buy the bottle with the coolest wrapper and try it every time over one with a boring wrapper - same thing with books for me. 2) I enjoy reading memoirs. 3) This reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Drop Dead Fred. 4) My sister and I had three imaginary friends when we were younger. 5) I like atypical books – and this appeared to be one of them. 6) Jodi Picoult gave this an amazing review, and she’s badass so I kinda have to take her word for it. She also points to the idea that this book is unique. 7) I had a red pair of high top converse just like the ones on the cover.
Some of these may sound like weird and unjustifiable reasons to pick up a book, but to me they weren’t. But, I have often been told that I can make sense of things in my head a bit different than others J
I loved this book – like, this book was could-not-put-it-down good. I love books that are different, and this one is very different than most books. It grabs your attention like other books don’t – it is so imaginative. It is written from the perspective of Budo, an imaginary friend of what I assumed was an autistic boy. Budo details his world – the imaginary friends he knows, how and when they ‘die’, what they look like, who their ‘imaginers’ are, the different skills they have or don’t have, their day-to-day life with their imaginers, etc. The book is the story of how Budo helps his ‘imaginer’ Max through the unique challenges being different than other kids his age.
This book reminded me of one of my favorite movies Drop Dead Fred. Both tell the story of an imaginary friend and their imaginer. While reading this book, I thought a few times of my childhood imaginary friends. My twin sister Aren and I had the same three imaginary friends. I’m assuming we conjured them up together, although I don’t remember how or when they came to be – I just remember who they were. We named them (and I have no idea where we got these names) Geechie, Herdigaw, and Hank-O-Hanks. They were little and elf-like and lived in the air conditioning vents. I think we used to have them come eat with us at the table sometimes as well. I recall one instance that I made my mom get a fork for the one sitting to my right. And I got the stool for him to sit on. I would think that kids conjure up imaginary when they are lonely, but we weren’t – Aren and I were twins, built-in friends, playmates. And somehow we made up these three elf-like friends with names that are insane. Maybe it was just foreshadowing as to how bright and imaginative we’d be throughout our whole lives J
If you’re looking for something different, read Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend – you won’t be sorry.
Silver Linings Playbook is in my Netflix queue right now. I didn’t even know it was a book ‘til I saw it in the Target in Kona, Hawaii. I knew it was coming up in my queue, so I figured I should read the book first. This book was also a quick read. It wasn’t what I expected, to be honest. I didn’t know they were both a little nutty, but I liked it. The book reminded me of a favorite quote.
‘We are all a little weird and
Life’s a little weird,
And when we find someone whose
Weirdness is compatible with ours,
We join up with them and fall in
Mutual weirdness and call it love.’
Dr. Seuss
And I am a little weird to be honest. I’m quirky. I’m odd. I do things differently. I’m different. Sometimes I feel like a neurotic hippie. And I think there’s another weirdo out there for me. Perhaps another neurotic hippie. And then one day I shall meet him, and we will be weirdly in love with other, and breed little weirdo kids J
I’m working on another book right now – it’s a page-turner that has grabbed my attention. Stay tuned, but I’ll tell you right now – you’re gonna wanna pick this one up.
No comments:
Post a Comment