What's on Your Bookshelf?
“What’s On Your Bookshelf” is a personal and professional growth podcast exploring the intersections of passion, potential, and purpose - featuring multi-certified coach and leadership development consultant Denise R. Russo alongside Andy Hughes, Scott Miller, and Samantha Powell.
What's on Your Bookshelf?
77 - Solve for Happy - Wrap up
How do we find happiness after a profound loss? In this episode, Sam and I conclude our journey through Mo Gaudet's "Solve for Happy," sharing an emotional reflection on the author's poignant insights into the loss of his son, Ali. We unravel the continuous process of resolving happiness, focusing on how illusions of self and suffering influence our perceptions. Through heartfelt discussions, including my own struggles with self-blame concerning my children's actions, we examine balancing expectations with reality in our quest for happiness.
Raising children not only transforms our lives but also demands self-growth. We reflect on the bittersweet reality of watching our children evolve from babies to pre-teens and the deep bonds that shape us as parents. A touching conversation with Vincent underscores the importance of cherishing the present moment and embracing our children's growing independence. We delve into the necessity of confronting and healing our pasts, emphasizing the joys and challenges of parental reflection.
Finally, we turn our focus to the impact of loss and the ways we celebrate and remember those who have passed. Drawing inspiration from Aiden's life and legacy, we emphasize living with gratitude and choice, inspired by the resilience of friends who have faced serious health challenges. Through a poignant conversation with my mom, we find peace and inspiration in daily life. Wrapping up, we highlight the transformative power of books, previewing our next read, "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, and inviting you to join us on another enlightening journey through happiness literature.
Connect with us on our LinkedIn page School of Thoughts . We also value your reviews, subscribing, and sharing our podcast "What's On Your Bookshelf?" on Apple and Spotify.
Subscribe to our new YouTube channel.
Welcome to what's on your Bookshelf, with your hosts Denise Russo and Samantha Powell.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, welcome back. It's another episode of what's on your Bookshelf. This is a life and leadership podcast where we are living out loud the pages of the books on our shelves. My name is Denise Russo. I'm here with my co-host, sam Powell, and I cannot believe that this is the last episode of our second book of the year. The book is Solved for Happy by Mo Gaudet, and it's sort of bittersweet that we have now come to the end. So, sam, it's just the end of this book. We still have a lot more to go this year, but how are you doing today?
Speaker 1:I'm good, I'm good. Yeah, bittersweet, it's a good, I think, a good good way to describe this, because this has been a. This book's been a journey. It's been really interesting. It's very different from the last book, because the last book was very much like practical strategies, research, like here's what you can do to practically like increase your happiness level, and like I loved all the science behind it. This was just a lot more thought provoking and like really making you examine some of your, I think, core beliefs and your core thought processes and what's maybe limiting you, what's holding you back from joy. And so this book's just really been a really been a journey, and I can't believe we're at the end of it. It's crazy to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 2:This to me, this, this is the afterward, so it's not one of the chapters in the book, it's the afterward, at the end of the book, and I felt like this is so beautiful and at the same time really heartbreaking, because it's him reflecting on the reason that he wrote the book was through the loss of his son.
Speaker 2:And so I question a little bit, sam, that if most solved for happy because the name of the book is solved for happy, but it doesn't say solved for happy. So I wonder how many times does he have to revisit everything that he wrote and that he thought about and all this stuff in order to soothe his heart and his mind, because the memory of his son will always be there, but the present and the future of his physical body is never going to be there again. So I'm just curious to think about as he had to let that go. It says in the very beginning of the afterword he had a sense of peace when he kissed the forehead of his son, whose heart had stopped beating. But I'm curious, how many times might he have to revisit all this stuff when these things crop up, and and wondering what your thoughts might be on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think some of it is, some of it is probably, once you resolve it for yourself, it's probably easy to just live in that new truth. But I think overall and I think he even says this, like in the beginning of the book when he's introducing the happiness the happiness equation is that you're constantly solving for it. It's an ongoing, ever present thing in your life, right, because life happens around us, to us, through us, and as life progresses, there are constantly things that are trying to throw you out of balance. Right, the happiness equation is kind of like a balanced, balanced scale of your expectations, meeting reality, essentially, and you're constantly rebalancing that and you're not always happy, you're not always joyful, but it's can you get back to it easily and over and over and over again, and I think that's that's really what this is.
Speaker 1:I love the way he set up this afterward. It's really beautiful. Um, he calls it a conversation with Ali and it's it really is him kind of exploring and like it's really him asking himself some questions but answering them the way he thinks his son would, and it's really. It really is a beautiful chapter. I cried as I read through the end of it me too.
Speaker 2:Me too, I have so many highlighter marks, but I definitely felt like this one really got at my heart and it's. It's interesting the way you framed all of that, because I want to talk about the word resolve for a minute, because resolve, if you take it apart, is to re-solve and it goes to the point of what you were just saying is that it's this constant state or continuous state. And it's interesting in this afterward where he talks about the illusions again and the illusions if you've gone through these chapters with us, through the series one of the illusions is this illusion of self, and so he talks about how he questioned about was life punishing him for something he may have done? Like was the loss of his son because of something he had done? And certainly that was an illusion. And I got stuck on that part of the chapter because it makes you question things about life.
Speaker 2:I had a situation a couple months ago that I shared with you, sam, where I was dealing with one of my kids and I had that same illusion of self, of feeling like, if one of the kids takes a left hand turn, is that my fault? Is it somehow punishing me for something in like my past. I remember that there was this book years and years ago called Sins of the Father and it's a gangster book and my uncle, who is in the, was in the FBI, was mentioned in the book and it was basically the story of criminals and how they were brought up at a very young age to basically, you know, live that lifestyle. But that is it perpetual based on the way you lived your life, that your kids are going to live their life that way. But in this case there was this situation that happened for me with one of my kids and I was blaming myself for something until I got to the point that that really was an illusion and to just be like anything from the past.
Speaker 2:Like Vincent will say often to me that I look at him like he's still four and I do.
Speaker 2:He's 19 years old, he's going to be 20 in a few months, but I hold on to that past and I don't think that I don't celebrate the present or have gratitude for the present, but it's really hard to not see him as a little boy or even with Olivia, to see her as a little girl, and so one of the things that really helped I don't want to say heal me, because I don't think I was broken. But what, what? But what maybe soothed me in this chapter was that there's this idea that what was past is past the good and the bad and we talked about this before, about is there really anything good or bad in life but that the past is the past and to just be with it, and that the present is where you are now and don't lose sight of that yeah, yeah, I like that and I, my, my kids, are younger than you are, so, like I, I'm behind you in the journey of the evolution of raising children.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, there, I mean you're right, my son accused me of that. He's like I'm not a baby, he's nine. Right, you know, I'm like well, I mean kind of, but in reality, like I get it, he's in that he's in that phase of like heading towards the tween years. Right, really starting to like care more about what his friends think than like what we think. Right, like, he's really in this phase of like this, I think one of the first big shifts right, like I think, or probably the second one, right, I think you go from like baby toddler to like kid and he's really going from kid to like this next thing that comes before teenager and like I've found and I think it is some of what he's exploring here is like, as I'm raising my son and as he grows, I'm finding things in me that need like I would use the word healed like that need healed, that need growth, that need something. It's like, oh, I've got to let go to the past. Right, like he's not four anymore. He's not a baby anymore. Right, like he's not four anymore, he's not a baby anymore. Right, he's his very own person, who's not just a product of me and my husband and other influences in his life. Right, he's his own little being who's growing into a bigger being. And, like, I'm finding that, like I have to let a lot go right, I have to grow myself, I have to heal parts of me that are rubbing against his own growth and my own growth. Right and and like I don't know, I think that's become for me one of like the most magical parts of raising kids. It's like how much it shines a flashlight on me. It's like it's not like my fault that he took the left turn right, like it's not my fault he decided to jump off the high thing and shouldn't have jumped off the high thing. But it's in me of like how I react, how I kind of let go.
Speaker 1:We were at an event last night and my husband looked at me and he's like you need to relax. He's like he's like, well, you got to let this go, and I'm like, oh, dang it, he's right. Right, there's this part of like that I don't know. The past is what it is and I can appreciate that and I can love that for what that is.
Speaker 1:But if I really want to find a sense of peace, if I really want to find the joy of now, it's reconciling all that right's, it's working on myself in the ways that I need to show up for the situation that I'm in now. And you know, and also just accepting that, like I can't control that he's gonna run around the corner of the building where I can't see him and we gotta call him back. Right, like I can't control that he's gonna, like follow the friends to whatever crazy adventure that I think is dangerous. Right, like, Like those things are going to happen and it's, you know, making sure that we're setting up the best successful situation we can, but there's a letting go of that, that is really hard.
Speaker 2:I think what's hard is because it's hard to define, maybe, the things that you want to hold on to. So Vincent and I were having this conversation last night and he said that he was he was struggling to to try to grasp the understanding of why he loves me so much, and I was so grateful that he was telling me this conversation.
Speaker 2:It was really I, I have I when I'm with just him, we have, well, we have some polar opposite conversations sometimes too, but, but, um, but we were having this conversation around just that. Do all kids feel that way about their parent? And I think that we know that not all kids feel that way about their parent. Like, I feel that way about my mom, hands down, 100%, I feel that way about her and I'm grateful that Vincent feels that way about me. But I've seen relationships with other families or kids and parents that aren't quite that way. But with mo it seemed like he also had that with his son, because the way that he honored the life of his son shows that there was that tight bond. He even says in this afterward that he had this thought that is this stuff true? About what really happened. Did the nurse actually murder his son when there was this quote unquote accident that happened in the hospital? Because he didn't die from a car accident, he died in the hospital with an accident in the hospital. And so he goes on to talk about are these things true? And one of the things he questioned was will my life stop with yours? Is that true?
Speaker 2:And so when Vincent and I were in this conversation. It just so happened that he was practicing driving to get his driver's license which, by the way, he should have gotten three years ago but he just, I think, likes to have a chauffeur, but he just, I think, likes to have a chauffeur. And so we were practicing driving at the place where he, since the time he was a very little boy, played soccer. And so I, just in the middle of him practicing driving, started crying and he's like what is wrong with you? But it was because I was seeing him on the soccer field as that four, five, six, 16 year old little boy. And now he was behind the wheel of this car and practicing.
Speaker 2:And so when Mo talks about this, he says that life stops for nobody. You're here until it's your time to go and you better behave with that in mind. And so, once I sort of got over myself in the memory of seeing Vincent in this imaginary world of running around the soccer field, I was able to look at him as this young man, facial hair and a deep voice. He was behind the wheel of a car driving me, which I just I had a whole different appreciation for him, and that's what led to this conversation that he and I had about. Why is it that we have this close relationship? Is it because we have the same DNA, or is it just because you're supposed to love somebody? But how do you, how do you reconcile, when you actually feel this deep sense of I don't know unity for a person?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think that that's that. Um, it's the topic of connection, right, it's all the research, all the, all the pieces of what helps us connect with someone. And once we connect on a certain, at a certain depth, I think that's where love really, you know, really comes in. And you know, I think that's where you know varying of degrees of connection with people and then, like, when you get this, like get with someone who, like you, get that just deep sense of connectedness with you know, I think that that's like, that's that's really amazing. And I want to go to neat conversation to have with your son and I love, I love your story of driving him around at this soccer field. As soon as you started to describe where you were doing this, I was like, oh, isn't that like a nice full circle moment or like him kind of learning a new thing at this place that is meaningful. And you're right, like I, and you turn and you look at him and you recognize that, like you know, he's a man now he's grown up, I mean he's, you know, in that early adulthood, but, like you know, in that in a whole different phase, right, he's not the seven-year-old playing on the field anymore and like I think that that's part of what I'm like, I'm finding that I love about parenthood. So much is like getting to constantly meet this new version of my child, right, like every time he grows and he learns and he does something new, or something new comes up. It's like I don't know. It's like this constant rediscovery of some like amazing little human that I like, like I'm just along for the ride for the most part, like, keep you safe, keep you healthy. I've been trying my best, but like, just really appreciating that.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I love this part of this book where he has this whole conversation, where it's all these invasive, like he calls them malicious thoughts. But I think we all have these right Of like oh, nobody likes me, or oh, I shouldn't have said that, or oh, whatever. These right Of like, oh, nobody likes me, or oh, I shouldn't have said that, or oh, whatever. And in his head it's his son asking himself, is asking him is that true, right? So it's that and this is a great like. I mean I, I use this in coaching all the time. I'm sure you do too but like when someone has some limiting thought or some intrusive thought where they're like oh, nobody's ever gonna you going to want to hire me, nobody's going to want to be in a relationship with me, nobody's going to want to do whatever.
Speaker 1:And this is one of the really powerful questions, like is that true? Yeah, why do you think that that's true? Right, and really challenging that. And he goes through this whole dialogue of like, like you said, my life will stop with yours, no one should die at. I drove, you know, like I took you to the hospital where you died myself, right. Like this is my fault, this is whatever.
Speaker 1:Like all these thoughts that we have, they're perfectly normal, right, like these are the types of things that would go through anybody's head. But it's like, is that true? And it's, it's not right. And, at the end of the day, like these thoughts are just thoughts and you know, especially if we go back in the book, like you are not your thoughts. And I think having this easy way to challenge that is such a wonderful tool, especially when you're looking for happiness and you're looking for joy, because these things are going to come at you. And if you can have this small tool of saying is that true and being able to combat that for yourself, you can get back to this balanced equation much faster, I think.
Speaker 2:I had a really beautiful conversation with my mom this morning before our call started, and I was really struggling with something, because I was unhappy around a situation that I think should make my mom unhappy, okay, and we were having this conversation around how, and I was crying and I was just like I just want you to be happy and I just want you to have peace and I want you to have love and I want you to receive as much love as you give away. And and she was like why do you think that my life isn't happy? And so she reflected back and said my happiness comes from you and your brother and your kids. That's my happiness. And so in the book when we were reviewing before we got on the call today, there was this section that flips want all of your days to be filled with happiness.
Speaker 2:And if you believe that that's true, that your children want the best for you and that you want the best for them, then he goes on to say that isn't it enough that you should not have your thoughts bring you years of suffering? That won't change a thing about something that already happened. This is the whole idea of we you and I talked't change a thing about something that already happened. This is the whole idea of well, you and I talk about this a lot, about controlling the controllables, and that's something that we have deployed at work many times where we were surrounded by conflict or chaos or poor leadership and we were in the midst of having to look at what are the thing outside of our control, what are the things outside of our control, what are the things within our control, and can we show up within those things that are within our control in the right way?
Speaker 2:And so when Ali is telling this to his father, subconsciously he says you know what I want you to do? I just want you to be happy. Your thoughts are an illusion. That would mean the good and the bad thoughts, that thoughts. In itself, just like you said, they're just an illusion. So you can tell your brain what to think, so tell it to find the truth. And so I thought that that was such a beautiful way for him to try to let go of the things that he couldn't change or the things that were outside of his control, and learn how to be happy within what he was learning through the experience and the love that his son had for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, definitely, and I think that that's it Like you have to come to. And he goes. The next section is like really, what is the truth? Right? Like what are the things that you have to accept and where do you find again your peace in that, your balance of your scale, in that right, and really coming to a truth that leads? My grandmother always says you must be like you should be led by your peace, and like it's one of my favorite things. I come back to it all the time. It's like which, which choice here, which direction here, is going to lead me towards a sense of peace? Right, what thought process is going to lead me to something where I can have a balanced scale, peacefulness that's going to lead to happiness, that's going to lead to joy. And one of the things that I highlighted in this section that he, like that he came around to is, he said, instead of thinking about losing him, his son, I learned to think about the beautiful truth we had him.
Speaker 1:And like I came to that exact same realization about my own son Right. Like it was a hard. We had so many struggles with my son. He was medically complex, like there was so much, and then we lost him. After all of the fighting, all of the battles, all of the hospital visits, all of the doctors, beautiful truth is that we had him right and you know it's funny I was thinking about this this week because we we went to see, like a specialized doctor because like me being pregnant, you know, with another baby and all this sort of stuff and part of that was going through the history of like how he lost my son and I was thinking I was like you know, so many people ask me how Aiden died right, like how did we lose him?
Speaker 1:Not many people ask me how Aiden died right, like how did we lose him? Not many people ask me how he lived right and really what were the things about him that were so beautiful. But like, that's the part, and like I don't mind telling anybody any story, right, if somebody asked me the questions, I'm going to tell them. I think it's a natural curiosity, so I don't fault anybody for that, but it's funny how few people ask me now because he's gone. They focus on that instead of, well, how you know, what was he like, right, like what you know, what are the things about him that you know were so wonderful? And I think that, like that's what this book is such a tribute to of his son, is it's how he lived and then how Mo decided to live, you know, in the aftermath of that loss and really kind of keeping so much of Ali alive, which is really beautiful to me and like he calls it the beautiful truth, and I love that. I just I thought that was really profound and it resonated with me really deeply.
Speaker 2:I was watching a funeral service on television a couple weeks ago for a pretty well-known singer who had passed away so many fans that they wanted to have the service be on television so that people could sort of experience the love that the people that loved her and knew her as a person, not just a famous singer, had. And I think about all the many wonderful, incredible things that people said about her that were able to come up and speak or sing or speak to the audience about. And isn't that the way that you want your legacy to be, that you would hope that people would go to your funeral and that would be your legacy and not all the other stuff, because we're all humans and there are all kinds of things that make us up who we are. And wouldn't it be so amazing if we could live our life every day like maybe it was our last day? And you know that I talk to often about my dear heart friend, wendy, and the struggles that she's had to go through with having cancer.
Speaker 2:And I have another friend, vicki, who has struggled with some brain tumors and has survived for many years and not just survived but thrived like come through these things with such peace and perspective and passion for wanting to really like dive into life the way that maybe you wouldn't if you didn't think that tomorrow or today could be your last day. And so when he's talking, when Mo is talking about his son, he said his peace was already complete because he lived his life, living his life in live, living color, in peace. He was a peaceful person, a happy person, he lived his life that way. And so now it was a culmination of all that to say he didn't die lacking peace even though Mo and his wife found incongruence with peace in those moments at first but that his son lived his whole life that way. That's the way I see my friend Vicki live, it's the way I see my friend Wendy live, and those are the things that really drive me, I think, sam, to try to live that way, that when I find myself in a place of sadness, that I have to remember that it's a choice. And that goes back to this conversation I was having with my mom this morning. I was at a place of just sadness and she turned the whole thing around the way a mom can do, and was like you know, you have so much to be happy for and I'm happy and I just want you to be happy Find it, find it today.
Speaker 2:And it was just coincidental that, of course, whenever we have these episodes together, I seem to find my way back to the things, which is why this podcast is so important to me, because we share this at the beginning of every single episode. This isn't just for us to advertise books. This is so that we can live out loud the pages of these books to transform our lives. And not every day is perfect, not every day is easy, but every day is meaningful when we can go back in and say, wow, you know what this person went through. This, this is how it applies to me. Or this scientist found this, and this is how I know this to be true about what's happening in, through and to me yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I and the um. One of the things that's highlighted towards the end of the book is a tattoo that ali had that mo saw on the last day of his son's life, and the quote of the tattoo is the gravity of the battle means nothing to those at peace. And I think that's exactly really like what you're saying. Right Is like when you can get to that sense of peace, then everything around you, right, like the, it doesn't matter that what you're fighting, it doesn't matter the things that are coming at you, right, those things don't like that. The battle doesn't mean anything, it's the peace, it's the way that you live.
Speaker 1:As you balance this equation, as you, you know, go through this happiness model that he throws out there. You know that. That, that's that, and I and I, like, I think those words are beautiful and they really deeply resonate with me as a, as a truth too. Write this like when you're at peace, the circumstances around you, just like it doesn't matter. You're still at peace. Right, you can still find the way back to balancing your equation. You can find your way back to joy and happiness despite the battle.
Speaker 2:Right, or maybe because of the battle sometimes the battle right, or maybe because of the battle sometimes too. I was golfing with Vincent the other day for fun, because we're recording this in advance of when it comes out and so he was off of school at the time, and so we were out golfing and in the first couple of holes we were having the best time. We were so happy. The weather was amazing, his hits were awesome. And then something changed, and I don't know if it was that it was just getting too hot outside or if the grass was just it was. There were a couple of holes that weren't in very good shape at this golf course that we were at, and his whole demeanor changed. In this one particular hole he's like I don't want to play anymore. And so I stopped the car and just have a conversation with him and we started talking about it and I said what changed for you? The first three, four holes, you were at the top of your happiness, top of your game. You were hitting great. Something changed. But does that mean that this isn't a fun day just because you didn't have one fun hole? Like's get past this. And so we, I said, just let it go, close your eyes, try your best, do another shot so we get to the next hole. Vincent must have had Sam, I don't know, the best drive I've ever seen this kid hit, ever. It's so funny that in an instant his demeanor changed back again and I said to him, if our emotions can change that fast and that we can go from happiness to sadness or anger to happiness again, what if we could purposefully and intentionally shift the change ourself? Yeah, to be in that way. And we were at the movies. The other night we were watching this movie, fall Guy, if you haven't seen it. Super cute. It has nothing to do with this book, but I just have to make a plug that the movie is a family friendly movie. It stars ryan gosling and emily blunt and it's basically in tribute to stunt men. And it was just. We had such a fun time watching this movie together, vincent and I went, and so at the end of the movie you know they have all these posters of other movies coming out, and inside out too, which is a disney pixar film, because you know I have to make my plug for my disney films is there and I can't wait to see this movie because it's probably the one best um mind over matter animated film I've ever seen. So I can't wait for this one to come out. But the gist of that movie if you've never seen it. So I can't wait for this one to come out. But the gist of that movie. If you've never seen it, please go see it. If you're listening to this, if you have Disney Plus, or you could go rent movies somewhere inside out.
Speaker 2:It's all about the thoughts we have in our mind and how they try to take control, but that it's you that actually is in the driver's seat of those thoughts and that when certain thoughts crop up that aren't the best thoughts for you, that all you have to do is reprioritize the ones that are. That's what we really learned in the how of Happiness, the book before this one. Yeah, but I wonder in interest of time. I really love the last couple paragraphs that he had here and maybe I'll just read that and then get your closing thoughts, sam, and how we then pivot for our friends, listening to what we're going to do next. So Mo says in this last part of the book and again, I encourage you to please get this book, you've only heard a very small part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what we've shared is our own personal life through the book, but there's so much more for you to read on your own. So he says thank you for reading my story and considering some of my views on life. I hope that you find your happiness too, and truly hope to meet you someday. I was like, wow, that's pretty profound. An author that sold millions of copies of this book says that he hopes to meet the people who are reading his words, and then he says Meanwhile, please write and teach me how applying some of these concepts has worked for you.
Speaker 2:And so I wrote a note in this when I first read this book and you can see it. I know we're not on video, but you're on video with me right now, sammy Well, the lighting is kind of weird, but it's. I wrote a note in the book that says we need to make a podcast about having meaning and purpose because of this book. And so when we talked about having our year of happiness and I looked at the books on my shelf, I didn't remember that I had written this, but when I read all the way through the book, that was the last thing I wrote on the last page of this book was make a podcast about it, and I'm so happy, sam, that you were able to do it with me. So I'll close my thoughts with that and let you close this out for today and maybe give us a little preview of what's to come as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think my closing thoughts are maybe just a recap of, again, like, this happiness equation, and I just want to remind everybody that you know, your happiness is when you're balancing your perception of the events of your life.
Speaker 1:Again, the events are one thing, but it's what you think about those events. And on the other side of the balance scale is your expectations of how life should behave. And you have so much control over we all have so much control over what we do with our perception, right, how we think about things and then how we piece together our shoulds, right, how should life behave, what should things should, what should be the progress of our life? And letting so much of that go. And you know, I think that if this is something you're struggling with again, like, read the book, go through and read the book, because we can't live this for you, you've got to live this for yourself. But you know, remember that like he puts us together in this happiness model of busting the six grand illusions, fixing the seven blind spots and hanging on to the five ultimate truths, and I think that that exploration is worth it for everyone, right To go through and really think about these things that he lays out there.
Speaker 1:And then find your own right. If you don't agree with this five truths, find your own Because, again, that pieces together the how life should behave compared to what you know, how you, what you're perceiving is going on with you, and I think that that equation is very profound, and I it's such a good way to piece together things that I've thought in my life but couldn't, you know, put it together in a way that I could articulate, and so I. It was just. This has been a great book and I am really, really happy that you recommended it and we got to explore it together because it was.
Speaker 1:It was really a nice journey and a beautiful story and definitely definitely worth a read. But yeah, but I'm excited for the next book, which was another one you recommended, which is called the Happiness Project, which is by Gretchen Rubin and yeah, that is blue and yellow for those of you that have seen it, and this one's really interesting. So I love this journey we've been on of like the how of happiness was all about the science, really how to make yourself happy, what are the actions you can take. You know how do you personalize that to yourself? This last book, solve for Happy, was really one person's journey and and him presenting that to you as something that you could really do of like how to really think about happiness in you know, in this balanced way, and what can you take control of, and things like that.
Speaker 1:And this next one is super interesting because it's kind of back to a practical application. Like this is some. This is a woman who read a whole bunch about happiness and realized like she wasn't unhappy, but she wasn't as happy as she could be, and so she set out over a year to go do some things that made her happy and it's a great. It's a great book. I just started reading it because I kind of read as we go and it's just, it's a good. This is going to be a good one and I think I've got has got some practical stuff for all of us to think about in our own lives about what do we, how do we apply, what do we do? You know, again like taking these thoughts and taking all the stuff that we've learned in the last two books, and then let's listen to a story about how one woman applied that and think about what that means for us in our own lives. And it's a great. I'm really excited to get into this next book. I it's a great.
Speaker 2:I'm really excited to get into this next book. I'm looking forward to it as well, because it's a reread for me. And what we'll do next week, friends, is we're going to share how the format of the next several episodes will go, and this book is meant to be actually lived out loud over the course of an entire year, but we're going to condense it down over the course of a few months and then I think that we're going to suggest that it be a reread for our listeners so that that way, we give them the gist and then, in January, you can actually live this out loud yourself. It's the happiness project, and I can't wait to even share some of the things that Sam was doing with this author outside of this book. That's connected.
Speaker 2:So we're going to leave you with that cliffhanger for today that there's some other secrets that we'll share next time, but for this time, it's always a happy time for me to be with you, sam.
Speaker 2:I always learn so much from you and listening to you and hearing your stories and just sharing moments that are important to us, about our families and even though we talk about work as well, and all of this is blended together. It's just so wonderful to be able to be united with someone, and I hope for you listening, that you're finding that as well, that, just like Mo said he'd like to hear from people that are living it out loud, we'd like to hear from you as well, and so Scott puts our contact information in the show notes. If there are things that stand out for you, it really helps us to hear that. In fact, we're in the process of thinking about what our series will be for 2025. And we'd love to hear what are some of the topics that might interest you. So let us know. But for today, my name is Denise Russo and, on behalf of my dear friend, sam Powell, this has been another episode of what's On your Bookshelf.