Be Hap Hap Happy Like Me

I spent my day today (Sunday) writing about happiness. I have to say that spending Sunday working didn't make me particularly happy, but now I'm happy because my story is done and filed. Well, it's not filed because for some reason my editor's e-mail keeps spitting it right back at me every time I send it. That doesn't make me happy either.
I got the idea for this article because I saw the author, Marci Shimoff talking about her new book, Happy For No Reason: 7 Steps To Being Happy From The Inside Out, on the Today show. I had seen Marci Shimoff in The Secret and liked her very much, so I thought others would be too.

On the author's Web site is a quiz you can take - the Happy For No Reason quiz. I took it and it turns out that I am in fact, one of the lucky folks who is basically, happy for no reason. That's good to know, because like everyone, on any given day there are many reasons I could choose to not be happy.


As one of the perks of my job, I got to interview Ms.Shimoff and she's well, pretty darn happy, and very lovely. She told me a story (that I didn't get to put in my story but will share with you) that was pretty inspiring. She told me that she had put on her vision board an index card on which she'd written some very precise intentions for this new book. She wanted a certain amount of money for an advance, she wanted the book to go to a particular publisher, for the book to be published in 2008, and to be on the best-seller's list.


Well, the freaky thing is that she did get the advance - to the penny - she'd wanted, with the publisher she wanted, the book was published on January 1, 2008, and it debuted at number 2 on the New York Times best-seller's list. Kind of gives you pause doesn't it?


I am pretty passionate about creating the life you want, and find people like Marci Shimoff incredibly inspiring, because it serves as a great reminder to all of us that the life we want to be living is right there. It might require working some Sundays, and it might take a lot more elbow grease than you originally thought, but it really is all right there for you.


So, even as tired as I am now, I'm going to sit down with some magazines, some scissors and most certainly an index card, because I have some manifesitng to do.