Last week I attended a talk with Katherine Center, bestselling author of Things You Save in a Fire and What You Wish For, and Brené Brown, podcaster and author with one of the most watched TED talks, “The Power of Vulnerability”. I sat in my basement and connected with 1500 other people on a webinar. Sad that this is the world we live in? No. It was amazing. Here I was, listening to two incredible women and hanging out with 1500 people who love happiness.
Do you want more happy endings?
The positive comments populated the chat as people shouted their love for Katherine and Brené. Then, the audience gave recommendations for happy books, feel-good movies, and lighthearted videos. Brené said, “Give me a ‘Hell yeah!’ if you want more happy endings!” The comments section filled with pages of “Hell yeah!” I loved connecting with so many people who surround themselves with joyful stories.
Brené Brown and Katherine Center celebrate happy endings.
What can we learn from the happy people?
Are the happy people the ones who have perfect lives? Nope. No one’s life is perfect, no matter what you believe you are seeing on social media. The happy people are the ones who are grateful for what they have instead of focusing on what they don’t have. Happy people aren’t skipping and dancing through life because everything is rosy all the time. Happy people find ways to create happy moments in order to counterbalance the tough times. Happiness is finding ways through the darkness by searching for the positive.
Onto that search for happiness…
Now that we are six months into the pandemic, I am on a quest for happiness. I am tired of doomscrolling. The negative comments between neighbors on Facebook exhausts me. The news? I can’t even. I want to be happy more often than not, and I will be. That’s the plan. The best part of my plan is that, even if it doesn’t work out perfectly, at least I’ll have fun trying.
I will read books that make me happy – like this one.
Finding my Happy Moments
For 15 minutes on Thursday mornings at 9:30 AM CT, I will interview someone who makes me happy on Instagram Live. The series is called “Happy Moments.” During those quick fifteen minutes, we will learn new things like how to bake pumpkin egg muffins or the latest writing tips or how to organize your house this fall. We will laugh, and we will connect with one another. I haven’t been this excited in a while, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
These are life’s happy moments.
My first “Happy Moments” Instagram Live was with Leah Bostrom, founder of Chia Leah Clean Eats. We made delicious and nutritious pumpkin muffins. I loved every minute of it. You can watch the episode and bake with us here, and this is Chia Leah’s Autumn Pumpkin Egg Muffin recipe.
Mmmm…pumpkin muffins.
Photo credit: Chia Leah
Next week on Oct. 1, I will be chatting with Summer Rachel Short, author of The Mutant Mushroom Takeover. This middle grade book has been described as Stranger Things meets The Miscalculations of a Lightning Girl. I met Summer on Instagram several years ago, and I cannot wait to finally chat with her in real life. I’m pretty sure chatting on video is real life now, right?
Photo provided by Summer Rachel Short
Create your happy moments and share the joy
When Katherine Center and Brené Brown discussed happy books and romantic comedies, they lamented that these genres are often put down for not being literary enough or serious enough. The audience would’ve booed those happiness naysayers, but they were having too much fun to give it a second thought. The event gave viewers permission to be happy. It felt like a call to action to share our happiness. So, let’s search for our happy moments and share them with the people we love. Think about what made you happy today. Then, do more of that.
I hope to see you on Instagram on Thursdays at 9:30 AM CT for more “Happy Moments”. You can find me @ AliWenzke.
