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Sparkle (1)
In the last year I've made a lot of changes to my life in the quest for balance and happiness. Some things required major (and scary) change, like quitting my old job. Other things required only minor tweaks, like giving up reading lists and challenges. Reading from a list and reading with a deadline (aside from a library due date) just wasn't making me happy. I love curling up under a blanket and getting sucked into a good story. For me, reading without deadlines or agenda is every day happiness.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about happiness, usually when I wasn't feeling it. Like Colleen at Chasing Ray I found myself reflecting on how happiness is mystifying. It's different for each and every person. But always, always for me there were books. Short books, long books, graphic novels, young adult, children's fiction, classic literature, histories - I like a bit of them all and seeing them all lined up on my shelves bring me contentment. In them are old friends, unexplored worlds and favourite characters I haven't met yet. From my living room I can travel the seven seas and explore new galaxies. I can time travel. I can step into the shoes of people from all different walks of life. Sometimes it's the characters and story that pulls me in and won't release me until the last page. Other times it's the language and a truly wonderful crafted sentence will leap of the page, insisting you read it aloud, rolling it around in your mouth like a piece of slowly melting chocolate.
Reading make me happy and I'm not alone.
Mandapooh says reading just plain makes her happy.
I'm sure most of you reading this will admit to an enjoyment of reading, well, something. Whether it be song lyrics, poetry, magazines or epic battles, most of us enjoy reading. When I was younger, I would read anything. Just for the activity.
Mom in High Heels caved to the Twilight craze but had some great thoughts on reading and happiness.
Sure, I had plenty to do during the day, you know what with the homeschooling and all, and even in the evening I could watch all 9 of our TV channels and plot and plan where I was going to put our stuff, but I needed to read. I craved it. Reading makes me happy. I can step out of my ordinary self and find something...more. Something different.
Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project is working on her book The Happiness Project, her year-long study and quest to the secret of happiness. Sometimes for her, happiness is reading a good memoir.
For Wacky Mommy, happiness is all things books.
You know I’m happiest when I’m reading books or writing about books or checking books out to kids or buying books for my own kids. Or checking books out for my own kids. Or, alternately, checking books out for myself. Or buying myself cookbooks and then not cooking anything from them.
Sometimes happiness can seem elusive but really, it's just a page away.
Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
