The Joy Book Club

I’m interested in how ideas come to people. Some of you have been kind enough to share with me how you get ideas for your writing. For me, the ideas for individual posts come from a variety of sources – something I read, something someone says, a memory, the kids, music, the dog, the creek by my cabin, most anywhere.

The ideas for the bigger concepts, however, seem to come to me in titles. For example, someone asked me recently why 10 steps, why not 12 or 5 or some other number. How did I know there were 10?

The 10 Steps originated from what seemed to be a random incident. I was walking through the living room one day about two years ago. My daughter was sitting on the couch with her boyfriend, who was slumped over looking so forlorn. Mia was gently patting his shoulder. She looked up as I passed by and said sympathetically, “Emanuel is looking for his happy place.”

I walked on by without comment, but in my head I thought, “Aren’t we all?” I realized then that after decades of not being a very happy person, I now lived in my happy place most of the time. As I pondered my own transformation, the title just came to me – 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place (and Staying There). I don’t really know why 10, and not 12 or 5. That’s just the way the title sprang forth.

I was immediately excited by the idea. I went to one of the ministers in my church and exclaimed, “I have a this title. I don’t know what the ten steps are yet, but it’s going to be great and I want to do something with it.” Without missing a beat, she asked me to lead the all church retreat. (You can see why I love my church!)

I agreed right away and then sat down with the title and started shaping content. And started this blog. In retrospect, there is nothing magic about the number 10. It could have been 12 or 5. Indeed, some of the steps overlap to some degree and could have been combined. But 10 is what came to me and 10 it has remained.

The following year, I was asked to lead a women’s retreat. Again, a title came to me before the content. Radical Joy. I ended up creating the program around four radical spiritual practices – radical acceptance, radical forgiveness, radical compassion, and radical hospitality – all of which lead to radical joy.

Lately, a new title has been dancing in my mind. The Joy Book Club. I have read so much about happiness and joy over the last several years. I realized that all this reading has saturated my thoughts and consciousness with a mindset of joy. Reading has become a practice all on its own. The 11th Step?

I loved Amy Tan’s book The Joy Luck Club. No doubt that was the inspiration for the new title that has come to me. I don’t know what to do with it yet. Like the others, there is a title before content, before a plan, before anything. But the title itself brings me joy. I like to say it out loud. It makes me smile.

So there it is. Maybe the act of writing it or posting it will spark some ideas, suggest some direction, or move it in some way towards manifesting in some form. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I’m headed up to the cabin for the day, long enough for a walk in the snow and a nap by the fire.

May all your titles bring you joy