This Is Happiness — Ageless Possibilities

Happy is not a word in my vocabulary. Am I happy? I stop and think, attempting to frame that word into a feeling that resonates. All I can come up with is I am content. Contentment is steeped in comfort and quiet, a state of being. I laugh when I look up the definition - “contentment is a state of quiet happiness and satisfaction.” The closest I can identify to happiness is this feeling that has emerged since my granddaughter came into my life. She brings me pure joy.

Saturday morning, browsing through Instagram, I saw a photo posted by @sophieblackall - beautifully wrapped packages tied up with string. I flipped to the next photo - the book This Is Happiness by Niall Williams. In her post, Sophie writes, “I just finished reading a book that I loved so much, so, so much, I had to buy five copies for my studio mates.” Ann Patchett had recommended the book. “It’s Dylan Thomas and E.B. White and Claire Keegan-ish,” writes Blackall. That had me sold! I enjoy Irish authors and stories of small villages, so I thought I would order the e-book from the library. I typed ‘This Is Happiness’ into the search bar and found - happiness!

Who knew so many books had been written with happiness - or happy - in the title? I scrolled through the books on offer, both fiction and non-fiction and recognized familiar titles. And I realized happiness holds so many meanings. So here are some book recommendations, some I have read, others I have added to my TBR list!

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Not your typical missing person story, this is “an emotionally rich portrait of a family whose most personal secrets just may be at the heart” of the disappearance of their father and husband. Where does the happiness come in? The father is involved in a happiness project. The non-speaking son, Eugene, wears a perpetual smile. But there is much more woven into this story. In an interview, Angie Kim speaks of her interest in happiness projects, particularly as an immigrant child who was really poor but very happy in Korea and then completely miserable during her first years in America even though her family was so much better off objectively.

This Is Happy by Camilla Gibb

Camilla Gibb was newly pregnant when her partner told her she had fallen out of love and was leaving. This compelling memoir reflects on Gibb's journey in rebuilding her life as a single mother. "All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them,' Isak Dinesen once said. Sorrows are all pain otherwise, pain without sense or meaning. But joys, too, it seems to me, need their context. And sometimes their coexistence needs to be borne. The coexistence or possibility of the opposite can be what gives an experience its meaning. At its simplest, that is a story.” - Camilla Gibb

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." At that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project (Google Books). I’ve read the book and downloaded resources, still searching gorgeous that elusive happiness.

Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

I have also read this book by happiness guru, Rick Hanson, interested in learning why it is easier to dwell on the negative than bask in happiness and contentment. His teachings have helped me to rewire my brain to focus on positive thoughts.

This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

My husband is heading off for the day tomorrow. You will find me curled up with this story, “a tender portrait of a community – its idiosyncrasies and traditions, its paradoxes and kindnesses, its failures and triumphs – and a coming-of-age tale like no other.” Small village+Irish author - sounds like a winning combination!

Happy by Nicola Edwards

This picture book gently encourages children to explore their senses and discover their path to mindfulness. A perfect book to read to my granddaughter!

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

How can I resist “a funny book about horrible things?” In Furiously Happy, a humour memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest (GoodReads).

Any other books you have read with happiness in the title?