Rediscover Happiness and Creativity

Sometimes it can become easy to lose ourselves because of the stresses of everyday life, whether it's the daily commute to work, long hours at work or busy lifestyle at home. There are two books in particular that I will go back to for a pick me up. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan.


Big Magic is all about Creativity having a soul, which may not be perfect but if not seized in the moment, the creativity will find another to express itself. Big Magic is my go-to guide to reestablishing my creative flare. If an idea comes to you, the book explains that you should seize the moment before it dashes off to find another to make the idea a reality. Towards the beginning of the book, she explains that a book that she was working on, lost its appeal after some time, that she let the idea pass. The love and soul for writing the novel had vanished. She then discovers that another novelist also had the same idea for a book, Sounds crazy right? She explains that this discovery was magical, that creativity has soul itself..

"I saw this incident as a rare and glittering piece of evidence that all my most outlandish beliefs about creativity might actually be true- that ideas are alive, that ideas do seek the most available human collaborator"

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic

This book is great for moving on from something creative and artistic which may not have flourished as you originally intended. Through her funny stories and methodical ways of looking at our creativity, this guide allows us to live in a creative world without the disappointment, anxiety, and fear that comes with trying new things. Like the idea of writing and sharing aspects of my life and interests was daunting to me at first. Now it has become a channel which allows me to enjoy the creative aspects and skills I have, for myself and my readers. I never knew how long I would keep my blog running or whether anyone would read it, but having the curiosity to try, allowed me to have a place to express myself in a creative way.

"I believe that curiosity is the secret. Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living.

 Curiosity is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end"

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic

I don't want to give too much away about this book, for me, it has changed my perspective on aspects of my life, allowed my ideas to flourish and be able to say to myself that it's ok to fail. We are not experts, even in fields which we may have followed for a long period of time. Creativity can be magic, but it can also not be perfect.

Happiness by design breaks down into sections what happiness is all about and what to do with it. The chapters are categorised from What is happiness? What do we know about happiness? What causes happiness? Why aren't we happier? Deciding happiness, Designing happiness, Doing happiness and Decide, design, and do.

This in-depth guide explains how different events in our lives can affect our happiness, one example from the book is to imagine if someone had dented your car. How would you react to it? Would you get it repaired straight away because you can't stand to look at it, or would you let time pass and see if it bothered you then. Sometimes in the heat of the moment,we can become annoyed and frustrated by the things that go on around us, this counteracts our happy thoughts. Of course, we can be annoyed that someone else's careless attention has damaged something you have worked for, things like that can cause us more work, like chasing up insurance companies to get the job fixed, or taking it to a garage to get fixed because you have no idea who caused the damage. However being annoyed at the situation isn't going to fix the issue any quicker or make you happy. If the dent doesn't bother you a couple of weeks after it has happened, you have more than likely reestablished what makes you happy. If you choose to have it fixed that's because it will make you happy in the knowledge that it is back to its original condition.

This can be applied to so many aspects of our lives, for example, you may look at yourself and think that you are out of shape and want to train. You feel unhappy and down because you aren't in shape or have the body image you would like. If weeks have gone by and you have still done nothing about it, you haven't trained, been to the gym or exercised at home. Were you really unhappy with your body image? or was it other people's idea of body perfection which made you think that changing your own body image, would it make you feel better about yourself? It is likely that if you haven't done anything about it, you are probably happy with your body image, but lack self-esteem at the sight of over manipulated imagery in the media. ( But that is just my perspective)

Another point in the book which stuck with me is the idea of trying too hard. Sometimes trying to be happy can result in frustration, which then leads back to being unhappy.

"It is important not to try too hard to be happy. I think this could go some way toward explaining why I (and I am speaking entirely for myself here) hate taking part in 'Organised happiness' I hate pub trivia and karaoke with passion"
Happiness by Design- Paul Dolan

This section of the book stuck with me because I have never been a fan of what Paul calls 'Organised happiness' As he explains there is a pressure behind these activities and events, such as Weddings and Birthday parties. There is an overwhelming pressure to have fun and be happy, which as I find forced happiness just doesn't work.

Hopefully, I have given you an insight of what to expect from these books. Personally,I have found these reads very enlightening and whenever I have a down day, I will read a passage from them to help reconnect myself with happiness and creativity. They have definitely been eye openers for me, and if you enjoy reading I highly recommend giving these two books a shout.