When were you truly happy?

After reading this great book called Sabbath by Wayne Muller, I really started to think about a section he wrote about happiness. He talked about the false happy we get when we buy a new car, it feels like we are happy and once it gets the first scratch we are no longer on the happy high of the purchase. Since we cannot rely on things to make us truly happy, what then do we do to be happy? I posed this question to my Dad after dinner last night and a few glasses of wine, when were you truly happy? I assumed he would automatically say, the day I was born.. hehe But he went back further way further.. My Dad told me about a specific night in his life that he felt true happiness/joy. It was the night before Christmas and he was about 10 or 11. St. Anne's Church, an inner city catholic church, had an event for the kids that included goodies, a mass and of course penance. On his way home, which was several blocks from the church, along the snow banks and crisp air, he felt total happiness/joy. Nothing specific happened that night but he was freed from his 10 year old sins and was awaiting the arrival of Santa with a few goodies in his hand from the event. That is it.. Simple, that is what I thought... There was nothing spectacular about his story.. Hell he had a wife, 3 children, is a published author, has had great career moments but what stuck out in his mind of true happiness and joy was a simple event. How do we recapture those moments today so we can truly be happy? I don't know the answer to that but I challenge each of us tonight to think about a time in our lives when we were truly happy or filled with joy. In a small way, just sitting with my Dad talking over wine is happiness. He keeps me writing this book every day..

Write 3 chapters...

I spent the last week organizing my quickbooks and for those of you that don't know what that is, consider yourself lucky.. Quickbooks is our accounting system for the bakery and what a nightmare trying to get it all organized for the accountant. At the same time, I am trying to get all the w2's done for the staff and close out the bakery for good. I keep getting asked if I feel like a weight is lifted off my shoulders the further away the bakery becomes and the answer is yes and no. Yes removing the 800lb gorilla that was the bakery off my shoulders feels better but it is still an 800lb gorilla staring me in the face each day. I think it will take more than a few weeks to see any relief from the feelings of failure and frankly death of my business.
So I was informed by my sister to not overthink writing the book and just start writing.. So next week is dedicated to writing every day for a few hours each day. Each day I have been listening to a different song of inspiration and I wanted to share with everyone the ones I listened to this week. Check them out if you are feeling low.
1. Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
2. Broken by Lindsay Haun
3. Anyway by Martina Mcbride
4. I'm coming out by Diana Ross-This is for fun!
Have a great week!

Now What? Week 1

I handed in the keys to the bakery last night and it became official, my business had passed. It was like getting a death certificate and trying to put all the pieces together. The complex owner said,"I'm so sorry this didn't work out for you". I took a deep breathe and said, "thanks". I walked out of the empty bakery that no longer smelled of Whoopie Pies and cupcakes and began to cry. It was really gone. What do I do now? Naturally being the type of person that cannot sit still, I write a book about this experience, right? I hope people begin to follow this blog because it has 2 purposes, one is to chronicle the process of writing my book and two to provide some support for others who have suffered the death of a business.