This week's quotation comes from one of my favorite authors, Alice Walker. Walker is famous for writing The Color Purple, but has also penned many poems that I love. She has a gift of language; her words and images and characters are brilliant in their realism and simple profundity.
I've been thinking a whole lot about the nature of happiness lately, perhaps spurred on by a reading of Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss. I think that happiness is something that we all need to work toward every day. Part of this work, I've realized is to be content in the small joys and scenes of our lives. Walking a dog, doing dishes in hot soapy water, good-smelling lotion, making a fire in the woodstove--These actions and simple pleasures make me happy.
I looked for quotations from Alice Walker for this week's quotation because this is her birthday month. Of course, Walker has many quotations that would've served us well this week. Here is one that stood out to me:
"Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself."
So. What makes you happy? How can you create happiness for yourself, even if others are not happy for you? You don't need to answer these questions to me. Think about them (as I surely will) as you go through your days.
