Writing Down the Bones: I appreciate her writing about trouble with your inner editor/censor. This is something I experience often during my writing process, and it is nice to read about a possible solution! Giving it a voice seems so obvious after reading it, but is something I will definitely be giving a shot!
The Happiness Project: What she says here about gratitude and perspective are important in life, and both something I have had a big realization with recently. I like how she writes about how reading about catastrophe makes her grateful for what she currently has. Sometimes (like when reading/watching the news) we can see and hear about all these horrible things and not stop to think about everything great we have in our lives, and I think that's an important to take that time to stop and be grateful.
The Last Lecture: I thoroughly enjoy his writing style! In addition I agree with much of what he says about being able to critique - which is a word I prefer much more than judge - yourself. Yes! Stop complaining! This made me happy to read because I feel the same way. Life takes hard work and we all have to do it in order to be successful - so get over it. Harness your inner Jackie Robinson work ethic and keep going! Love it.
His style in getting people's attention was clever too, I would have come back to that class for sure. In addition I have always (and still am) a big fan of a simple card. I am always writing cards, for much more than just thank yous. However I agree that the thank you's are important as well, they are a simple and personal way to show gratitude. It is so vital to human happiness to stay connected to others, especially for me, being the extremely social person I am. Human connection is a life force for me, which keeps me extremely grateful to those close to me. I enjoyed these chapters a lot and his writing style on these topics.
I agree that being social is a really important part of being happy - what is life if not to be shared with others? It would make sense that because humans value contact and relationships so much that we would be more outwardly appreciative of those around us, but somehow it does take effort to remember to be grateful. I love writing cards! It is so much more meaningful to give and receive a card than a text or email, although any act that shows thought and appreciation is good! I definitely find that when I write by hand that I am able to be more genuine and get to my true emotions better than typing and so those I write to get more out of it that way too!
ReplyDeleteAll in all there is plenty to be grateful for and sharing happiness is one more thing to add to that list.