The Art of Loving Your Life (mass blogging event!)

I wrote today’s post as part of the WOW-Women on Writing’s “The Art of Loving Your Life” Blanket Tour celebrating the release of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore by Barbara Conelli (www.barbaraconelli.com).

Barbara Conelli is an internationally published bestselling author, seasoned travel writer specializing in Italy. In her charming, delightful and humorous Chique Books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their own Dolce Vita no matter where they are in the world.

Her latest book, Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore offers an intimate view into the unpredictable and extravagant city of Milan, its glamorous feminine secrets, the everyday magic of its dreamy streets, the passionate romance of its elegant hideaways, and the sweet Italian art of delightfully falling in love with your life wherever you go.

If you comment on today’s post on this blog or any of the others participating in The Art of Loving Your Life tour, you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore!

Oh. the art of loving your life! The Dolce Vita!    

If you have a rich imagination like me, then you can envision yourself beside me as we sip cappuccinos while sitting at an outdoor café in a quaint Italian village that bustles with activity: artists, musicians, fountains, sexy men complimenting our beauty, an endless array of decadent food choices … and children screaming and fighting in the background– wait a minute – rewind, back it up – oh yeah, that’s reality sneaking into a perfectly good fantasy, again.

Happiness, that gem of a word that is the whole key to proclaiming that you love your life, so many times seems as elusive as the possibilty that I’ll be sitting in an Italina café any time soon (which, as far as I know, is highly unlikely).  But that’s exactly the point.  It shouldn’t take a shift in geography to suddenly figure a way to love your life.

Philosophers, magazine articles, self help gurus, you name it, I Google-searched it to provide you, my fine readers, with the answer of how to perfect the art of loving your life.  If Ponce de Leon could search for the Fountain of Youth, then I could sift through the internet to discover the Fountain of Happiness.  (Yes, I’m pretty sure the actual fountain would look like something found in Italy with half-nude statues and flowing water.)

The secret to loving your life, I found, was about as ambiguous as that scene from City Slickers: remember when Curly played by Jack Palance held up one gloved finger in order to explain to Mitch played by Billy Crystal what the meaning of life was and Mitch said something like, “What?  Your finger?”  and Curly said something to the effect of finding that one thing that means the most to you … remember that?  Well, it seems good old Curly wasn’t too far off.

My findings summed up nice and neat:  It is an art, the whole loving your life deal.  And as an art, it takes work, dedication and nurturing just like anything else in life.  Such as, if you want to be in good physical condition, you can’t sit around eating chips and wishing for it to happen.  It takes work in the form of exercise and eating right.  The same goes for happiness.  When I discovered this fact, it actually made me depressed.  Ugh, can’t anything be easy! 

Luckily, I had learned what it takes to become happy and start loving my life once more:

1. Being passionate about doing something (also known as “what Curly from City Slickers meant when he held up one finger”).  Figure out what are the things that you enjoy doing most?  And then, do them as much as you can.  Of course, if you’re like me, there will be a thousand obstacles in your way.  Do it anyway, no matter what. 
2. Get enough sleep and, if possible, quality sleep.  If you’re a parent, then you know it’s true for the kids.  Make it a priority for you and try not to feel guilty about not getting other stuff done.
3. Laugh.  Honestly, most of the time, I think of my life as fodder for a stand-up act or a sitcom.  It does seem to make the most excruciating of circumstances better, simply by thinking about how I could recount a difficult scenario in a comical way.
4. An attitude of gratitude.  I know I’ve heard this one a thousand times before and you probaly have, too.  So count your blessings, blah, blah, blah and now I’ll continue.
5. Live in the present.  There’s tons of stuff out there on how to meditate or act child-like by living in the moment.  It seems from what I read, that people who weren’t holding onto grudges about the past or stressing about the future actually report feeling happier.  Who knew?

6. Last one:  If Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba has taught me anything, it’s this – It’s fine from time to time to have “a party in your tummy”.  I’ll be inviting pasta, wine and chocolate to mine.  And, it’s important to “think happy thoughts”.  Afterall, happiness is a choice that can be found anywhere in the world!

I’m sure there’s more that I could add to this list.  I’d love to hear your comments!  Plus don’t forget that commenting makes you eligible to win a prize.  I’ll say it again: If you comment on today’s post on this blog or any of the others participating in The Art of Loving Your Life tour, you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore!

  

Today's post was inspired by the writings of today's
featured author, Barbara Conelli.

To read Barbara’s post about loving life and view a list of other blogs participating in The Art of Loving Your Life tour please visit The Muffin (http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/)

 To view the book trailer for Chique Secrets of Dolce Amore:

http://youtu.be/uI0dJiaO6K0