Goodbye "Happiness"

 I was awake much of the night last night, and in my wakeful ponderings, I arrived at this thought-should I continue with my Happy Alphabet Project on my blog? As many others on social media do, I check my stats to see what posts people may be more drawn to, and my alphabet posts are not, shall we say, the most popular kid in school. I say it with a smile, as I am not out for clicks and popularity, but I do want to try to give people what they are looking for. All writers want to give readers what they want, just as anyone who produces any kind of material; it's not just for us-it's for the people we produce it for. It's kind of an odd place to be-as I may be passionate about writing about squirrels, but if no one cares about the bushy-tailed monsters, then who am I writing it for? I may as well just write about squirrels in my personal journal. 

 When I first began this blog, it was like a personal journal of the daily happenings of my life as a mom, and that's what drew certain people to it in the first place. I am a fairly reserved, private person until I allow you in, and it takes a really long time for me to do that. It's just who I am. I believe that there were people who wanted to get to know me a little better, and learned about me through my blog. They then approached me, and we were able to become friends through my weekly blog. I get to know myself better through my writing, too, and I sometimes work out a lot of things going on in my mind through this style of writing. Trust me when I say I sometimes go back and delete what I've written and I always wish I could say so much more, and not about squirrels!

So what about the "Happiness Project", and what should I do? The letter this week was "G", and I was going to focus on the word "grateful" or "gratitude", as I do believe that we can only be happy when we are grateful, and we are quite unhappy when we are not. I also believe humble people are happier, people who have healthy interests are happier, and people who share joy are happier. Kindness leads to happiness, loving people makes us happy, being merciful instead of judgmental, appreciating the beauty and creations in nature, and those who are optimistic and temper their sharp opinions-yes, happier. Patient people, Quick to help others, resilient, sharing what they have with others, thoughtful-knowing it's not always about US. Understanding, people with a vision and a goal, people who seek and have wisdom, a xenophile: one who is respectable to foreigners and strangers (affable, warm, genial), young-at-heart (needs no explanation!), and lastly, and perhaps my favorite, zip-it!  My mentor, Norm has said this phrase to me a few times when I bring up things about my life and I'm tempted to say something and he thinks it's best that I keep my trap SHUT.  He has been 100% right every time. Yes, having control of the tongue will lead to happiness, because we won't cause a big mess when we say all the wrong things. Zip it. Thank you, Norm Sawyer. 

Okay, so the decision has been made, evidently, and I'm moving on from the project. I will return to the work on the book I am working on with the Zip-It Master himself, Norm Sawyer, and I hope to have news on that release soon. Normally I would not speak of it until it is finished, but this is called lighting a fire under my seat, if you know what I mean. 

I truly hope you all have a HAPPY 2023!