For the last few months, I’ve been trying to learn to identify trees. I use the PlantNet app and can now identify oak, maple, spruce, pine, and hemlock. It makes looking at trees much more interesting. And yes, I realize just how basic these efforts are—but it has been new knowledge for me. Reflecting on the beauty of nature is a solace, and the more we know, the more we notice. I’ve read Carl Jung’s haunting memoir Memories, Dreams, Reflections at least four times, and in it, he observes, “Trees in particular were mysterious and seemed to me direct embodiments of the incomprehensible meaning of life.” I agree.
Onward,
5 Things Making Me Happy
My friend Delia Lloyd’s excellent newsletter, Good Reads for Grownups, directed me to a fascinating piece in the Yale Review, “Writing in Pictures: Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature.” How I love Richard Scarry! Author of masterpieces such as The Best Word Book Ever; I Am a Bunny; Good Night, Little Bear; Busy, Busy World; What Do People Do All Day? (until I read this piece, I never noticed that this book features animals, not people). Scarry also illustrated The Golden Book of 365 Stories: A Story for Every Day of the Year—I keep a copy of this book in my office; I admire it so much that one day I’d like to create my own version of it.
When I was trying to decide on a title for my book Life in Five Senses, a strong contender (and my sister’s favorite choice) was “Why Ketchup Is Magic.” I love ketchup! I don’t use it myself (because I don’t eat sugar), but the fact that classic Heinz Tomato Ketchup offers a combination of all five tastes—sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami—fascinates me. That’s a tough combo to pull off. So I was gratified, but not surprised, to see that it ranked as Wirecutter’s “top pick.”
Jump-start your holiday preparations with the Happier™ app. Use “Spin the Wheel” to get fun, quick challenges to help you make the most of the season. In the app, everyone loves the Spin-the-Wheel tool; as Creed told Pam in one of my favorites scenes of the TV show The Office, “A wheel wants to spin, Pam.” On the Explore tab, listen to tips and hacks for entertaining, curated from popular podcast episodes. The Happier app is free to download and use.
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet declares that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but does it? I recently learned that “mimosa” is another name for “wattle,” and I think that knowledge changes the way I read Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Lichtenberg.”
Smells are surer than sounds or sights
To make your heart-strings crack—
They start those awful voices o’ nights
That whisper, “Old man, come back!”
That must be why the big things pass
And the little things remain,
Like the smell of the wattle by Lichtenberg,
Riding in, in the rain.
The Devil Wears Prada was a hugely successful 2006 comedy-drama movie about a tyrannical but brilliant editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine—a character obviously based on the legendary Anna Wintour of Vogue and played by Meryl Streep. Apparently, a sequel is in the works, and I just learned a fact that delights me. Not only did Anna Wintour attend the movie’s premiere, she also wore Prada. “Anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry,” she said. “So, I was 100 percent behind it.”
SPOTLIGHT
Give the gift of Audible.
Listening to an audiobook counts as reading. And it’s a great way to enjoy a book—especially if it makes it easier to get through your reading list. For those that prefer it, there’s now an unbeatable holiday offer for Amazon customers to enjoy or gift Audible Premium Plus at just $0.99 for the first three months. Available until December 2!
This week on Happier with Gretchen Rubin
PODCAST EPISODE: 509
Happier Gift Guide: Great Gifts for the People We Love
INTERVIEW
Dr. Lucy Maddox
Dr. Lucy Maddox is a consultant clinical psychologist, researcher, and author. Her latest book, A Year To Change Your Mind, offers evidence-based ideas to live a more thoughtful, positive life.
Q: Can you suggest something we might try to help ourselves to become happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative?
There are so many ideas from the therapy room which can be helpful in everyday life. As a clinical psychologist, I often use evidence-based ideas which have helped other people to help myself too. In my latest book, A Year To Change Your Mind, I’ve tried to share these ideas as widely as possible, within a framework of a year – with different ideas for each month. One idea I find consistently useful is remembering that making time for rest is just as important as making time to be productive. It’s easy to cram in loads of things to feel like we’re making the most of our time, but when I do that I find it makes me enjoy what I’m doing less. If I can plan in fewer things they tend to go better and feel more fun. Sometimes doing less really is more.
Q: In your own life, have you found ways to tap into the power of your five senses?
I find the practice of mindfulness very helpful in my life – trying to pay attention to the present moment, instead of getting caught up in ruminating on the past or worrying about the future (easier said then done, like so many of these things!). I find focusing on my different senses helps to anchor me in the present – often in quite small ways or ‘micro practices,’ like paying attention to the feeling of warm water if I’m washing my hands or washing up, using scented candles when I’m working, paying attention to the colours of the leaves on the trees (especially as they change), and listening to the sounds around me – especially if I’m outside in a park with my young son.
Q: Is there a particular motto that you’ve found very helpful? (I remind myself to “Be Gretchen.”) Or a quotation that has struck you as particularly insightful?
I have two cards up on my noticeboard above my desk. One says “making something” to remind me how much I like the feeling of creating things, and to connect me to this kind of creative feeling in the things I’m working on. It helps to remind me that creativity is a value which is really important to me. The other says “you have time” – which I find soothing, especially if I’m starting to feel like I’m overwhelmed by the number of tasks I have to do. I also like the saying “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,”, as it encourages me to get stuff done to a “good enough” level instead of procrastinating and spending too long on it.
Q: What simple habit boosts your happiness or energy?
One simple but effective habit that helps me is moving more in the day – it helps me to feel less stressed and more energetic. I certainly don’t always manage it, but I try to keep an eye on how much I’m moving and increase it where I can. Cycling is one way I do this and it’s such a pleasure – I learnt to ride a bike as an adult so I was quite late to this party, but I really enjoy the feeling of riding – it feels almost like flying to me!
Q: Has a book ever changed your life—if so, which one and why?
I read Candace Pert’s Molecules of Emotion when I was in my late teens, and I found the idea of psychoneuroimmunology fascinating – the idea that what we think is linked to our physical health through physical pathways. I went on to study Psychology, Physiology and Philosophy at Oxford University, before studying a Masters in Neuroscience and then my Clinical Psychology Doctorate, and I’ve always been interested in how our minds influence our bodies and vice versa. Lots of the ideas from evidence-based psychological therapies help in all sorts of ways – by changing some of the ways we think and the behaviour patterns we get into – we can influence how we feel emotionally and sometimes physically too. My aim with A Year To Change Your Mind is to give these ideas away as widely as possible so they can be helpful.
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