Quantifying Happiness

To be released June 7, 2016

March 20 was World Happiness Day, so I'm reporting on this a little late...but I feel happy today. I received notice this morning that my story about wanting to get home to my husband from Haiti after 9/11 will appear soon in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of America. This makes 27 stories in this acclaimed series since I  submitted my first back in 2007 about saving my family from disgrace on a long ago Easter. I still recall how thrilled I was to have a story in an actual book. Though I'd been used to seeing my byline in newspapers and magazines, a book was different. It was something that could be placed on a shelf between bookends, or be located in a library or a bookstore.

Somebody asked me today how many stories I've had published in books so far, and the truth is I have lost count. I know there's close to 110 books in the special bookcase where I store my author's copies, but many of them contain two or three of my stories, so I don't know the actual total...and some stories have been published in more than one book. But on evenings when I'm feeling a little less happy...perhaps I'd received a rejection or had failed to finish a particularly challenging tale, I look at the accumulation of books...and smile. When I find an email in my inbox from Denmark or Australia or Bangladesh from somebody who has read one of my stories and enjoyed it, then I smile again.

Is smiling an indication of happiness? The Washington Post in its Worldview section printed a piece today, "The complicated emotional state of the world, in 13 maps and charts." Here's the link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/03/25/the-complicated-emotional-state-of-the-world-in-13-maps-and-charts/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_wv

One of the indicators indeed is smiling. "Thailand is all smiles. In most countries, at least two-thirds of people said they smiled or laughed a lot the previous day. But the range in such reports was wide: The distribution ranged from as low as 39 percent in Turkey to as high as 91 percent in Thailand."

Hey, though, it's not just receiving an acceptance letter that makes me smile today. I've other reasons to be content. And to smile. There's a weekend coming up that will be filled with movies, dinner with friends, deviled eggs, and possibly a little chocolate. That combination should make even the most glum person from the most unhappy country glimmer a little with joy.

So, yes I'll continue to do my happy dance.