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When Are You The Happiest? Part One
* I think that we can all confirm the obvious—we work a lot. Here, in the United States, we work many, many hours, whether those hours are at work, outside work, in the classroom, outside the classroom, attending meetings and conferences, or attending other notable business-related practices as needed, when needed. I never realized how much we worked—truly—until I sat on the edge of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy, on the River Arno with my husband. We had purchased fresh Prosciutto, mozzarella, olives, roasted red peppers, and bread, and made ourselves a little picnic as we watched people close up shops for the afternoon siesta. I believe the words…
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When You Realize What Makes You Happy
Picture this: It’s Sunday morning, the last day of your academic spring break, whereby you spent most of the time working, doing some aspect of your full-time job or your writing hobby that you do. You are tangled up in all of the stresses that make up your everyday life when all of a sudden … magically … it … appears … whether it is divine providence or by the hand of your own Fairy Godmother (why should Cinderella be the only one?). There it is, literally, in black and white. Bippity, boppity, BOOM. You breathe. Like a thunderbolt from the sky, Tom Muha, and his Sunday article in The…
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Caution: I Pause For Happiness
* * * I actually heeded this advice for the past four days. There were several times when I paused this Thanksgiving weekend and looked around me, as if my eyes were a camera recording the moment. I didn’t want to forget this particular holiday weekend. I wanted to keep it for all times in that wonderful place called my memory. I took in sights, sounds, and smells. Some might say our Thanksgiving table had few people sitting around it. I hosted the dinner, and there were only eight of us: my immediate family, my parents, and my husband’s parents. I would say that it’s not the number of people…
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On Happiness—Duh?
My travel writing class is watching “Eat, Pray, Love” this week. We are taking a little respite from reading travel stories to watching one (though I am having them read an excerpt from her book as well). The point I am trying to make is this: Don’t watch a film about traveling if you are not traveling. It will only make you want to travel, and then you’ll be miserable because you’ll be wishing you could experience something new and exciting and exotic. Don’t get me wrong, I love my students, and I adore teaching this class. I am learning along with them, but am also imparting some of my…
