When you’re happy, you can start a happiness virus through your social network, according to a Harvard and UC San Diego study.
So update your Twitter and Facebook status with good things and spread the love!
No conclusive info about when you’re down, although I know that’s as good a people repellant as B.O.
The nearly universal desire I’ve heard from creative entrepreneurs is “I want to be on Oprah!” And on SuperViva, Oprah-related life goals abound.
Here’s a new idea: Be LIKE Oprah! Isn’t that what you really want? To have the joie de Oprah along with her success in life?
Oprah’s Big Give* is a nice innovative charitable reality TV show for which Oprah.com has some interesting ideas for you to make change:
Actually from a past O Magazine I got the idea to throw a “Chow for Charity” dinner party. Basically instead of going to a restaurant you have a dinner party where everyone chips in to cover costs. The rest goes to a charity!
What a great yearly or even monthly tradition to start! How about adding one of these goals to your life list?
*The Big Give is a show on ABC where a determined and competitive group of ten people are given the challenge of a lifetime — to change the lives of complete strangers in the most creative and dramatic ways.
Rarely do I laugh out loud from an email. But today someone wrote:
“I visited your site and came away inspired. What a great idea to tap into the community - my favorites are “learn to weld” and “clean out my freakin closet and filing cabinet“
Welcome to Spring!
And thanks to the poetically named ThatPoetChick for expressing how we all feel about our overstuffed closets. And that same chick happily reached her goal to “hook up her freakin’ printer”—another well stated goal.
Somehow throwing in a word of frustration does seem to add a sense of urgency to get it done.
I myself need to back up my freakin’ harddrive and file my freakin’ taxes, although I tend to not list chores like that on my life list. (Here’s my freakin’ list. Wait no it’s not freakin’ it’s awesome! You can see I tend to exclude those freakin’ chores, which I usually jot in my Blackberry or on an envelope.)
In the spirit of first day of Spring cleaning, check out all of the “clean out my” goals that may inspire you!
(You may see a giant sea turtle!)
On a recent trip to Oahu, in Hawaii, I zipped over to Hanauma Bay which has some of the best snorkeling on the island.
At only 10:30 the lot was full. On this curvy mountain road, I had no idea how to turn around.
So I kept driving straight and at the bottom of the mountain I saw a parking lot where the road was also lined with cars. I parked and was delighted to see a small beach down the cliff, crowded with people.
Down the sandy rocks, I headed toward the surprisingly cool water.
“Is the snorkeling good here?” I asked someone. He answered affirmatively. I don’t know why I asked since I didn’t have snorkeling gear.
I swam out and asked a guy “Are there good fish here?”
“There are lots of turtles right out there!” he said, “All different sizes.”
“Do they come up for air?” I asked. Yes. For minutes I stared, as if looking for a falling star, to no avail.
I asked a girl to borrow her mask. She happily handed it over. A mere fish or 3 swam around, with no turtles to be seen.
A woman stood upon the cliff by the water’s edge looking down. “Are there turtles?” I asked hopefully. A local, she knew the 5 local turtles, one she called by name. “If you lie there like a log they may come up to you, but don’t pet them.”
I tried to act as log-like as possible, again to no avail.
Finally I got out of the water, and walked down the craggy lava rocks to where she had stood.
Instantly, a 3 foot wide turtle swam to the surface and poked its head out for a breath. Such a thrill!
The girl who had lent me her snorkel swam 3 feet from the turtle—facing away with her mask on her head.
“Hey!” I called. And motioned for her to put the mask on and explore the water.
But it was too late.
The lesson: Sometimes you have to step back to see the turtles for the ocean.
I munched on my non-Famous Amos cookies and thought “This is just like my recipe. Only I like my cookies better. One day I’ll be Famous Susie!”
And I can’t imagine a better day, had I seen an ocean full of turtles and colorful fish. Although I just added a goal to swim with a sea turtle to my life list.
Chocolate chip cookies are my life.
I even have a goal to perfect my chocolate chip cookie recipe on my life list. (Checked!)
So it was that I found myself making a beeline across the island when I saw in a tourist magazine that Wally Amos, of Famous Amos cookie fame, had opened a new cookie store on Oahu which I was visiting.
That would not have been enough to detour me from my quest for the North Shore.
But I read a SuperViva-esque sentence on his website:
“Most people go through life as if they were living out the movie Ground Hog Day. One day at a time, same thing every day, never breaking the cycle. Then there are those people who wake up every day with a mission to live out their dreams and to inspire others to connect with their potential. Wally Amos is one of those – a man with a mission.”
It turns out he’s written a number of books inspiring people to live a full life.
His website spoke of his passion (and mine) for inspiring kids to love reading and the Read It Loud Foundation.
This coupled with my childhood memories of eating Famous Amos cookies re-set my course for the day.
I called the store and they said “He’s here right now!” Chip & Cookie is in a little town called Kailua, which has a beautiful thick white sand beach and a turquoise water bay. Snore. Just like the rest of Hawaii 
At the store, Wally greeted me with a basket of cookies. We were off to a good start.
1) Don’t be afraid to sell - I already mentioned that Wally insists you taste the cookies upon entering. But he also calls out to people walking by, to come on in.
With one person who’d hesitated he asked her why she wasn’t going to come in. It’s interesting how sometimes it’s annoying when vendors call you in. But with his watermelon patterned clothing and basket of cookies. Well, it was more like a siren song.
If you believe in your product, shout it out loud.
2) Be resilient and re-invent yourself - I left with 3 of Wally’s books
Man With No Name is subtitled “Turn Lemons Into Lemonade.” I’ve never seen such a nakedly honest “self help” book before. The chapter titles have advice such as “Failure is someone else’s opinion of the outcome of a situation.” And within the chapters he tells his story of many personal foibles and his ultimate happiness by learning from his mistakes.
(Hey the book is available for $.01. You can’t turn that down!)
The Cookie Never Crumbles
Who would have thought he started out at a talent agency, which led to his opening the cookie store on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood?
3) Follow your impulses - If I hadn’t turned the car around upon seeing the ad, looking up his website, and calling up the store I never would have met this man, learned about his work, and had these books on hand which - who knows - could change the course of my life.
And THAT’S the way your cookie should crumble!
I’d love to hear your stories and advice on life, cookies, and Hawaii.
