Here in the United States where I’m writing from, it is almost Thanksgiving.

It’s a holiday that is ideally about giving thanks. And about gathering with folks you love, to give thanks with.

However, because it’s an American holiday, and we love to mark our holidays by ingesting massive amounts of food and sweets, it is also about eating in one meal the amount you might ordinarily eat in a week. But I digress.

It’s ideally a happy, thanks-filled time of year, but for a lot of us, it’s not set up to bring us a lot of happiness. Perhaps quite the opposite.

I have something that I think will help. And bring more real sweetness and happiness to you.

It’s a short video, 5 minutes and 59 seconds, in which I walk you through the non-negotiable ingredient in joy. It’s titled, “How to be a happy woman.”

{If you don’t identify as a woman, it will still be useful}

{If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, or on the date we Americans do, it will still be useful.}

There are so many reasons why this holiday season might not as joyful for you as you might wish …

Perhaps you can’t celebrate it in the way you wish because it’s our first Thanksgiving in the time of COVID-19 and it’s not safe to gather with the folks you usually do. Or some of your beloveds will not be able to join because they are sick or have passed.

Perhaps you are too aware that what is supposed to commemorate a peaceful meal between Pilgrim settlers and Native Americans, has erased a painful history of brutal genocide on the Indigenous People of this continent.

Perhaps you’ll be gathering with a bunch of people that have such different views than you, you wonder how you are related, and you are bracing for a time of intense conflict.

Perhaps you’ll be gathering with folks you absolutely love, but it’s been a helluva year and you just don’t feel that happy or hopeful, even though you know you “should.”

Perhaps you ARE happy, and there’s plenty of joy in your life and will be even more this week.

Wherever you are, whatever you’ll be doing this week, I hope this little exercise via the “How to be a happy woman” video will bring you some (more) joy.

What will I be doing on this week’s ascribed holiday day? I myself have the rare opportunity to have ONE ENTIRE WHOLE DAY OFF.

I’ve been hoofing it, seven intense days a week, since the first lockdown in March. You can be SURE I’ll be doing the exercise in the video ALL DAY LOOOOONG. 🙂

With you in spirit,

PS: How to be a happy woman is one video in a (free) series of five.

They are all pretty great, with exercises on “How to get clear about what you want,” “What you have to believe to be confident” and “How to overcome jealousy.”

You can sign up to get all five, or share it with a friend by checking out the video series here.

Enjoy!