Hacks, Hacks, and More Hacks from the Proverbs of the Professions

EPISODE NOTES

Update

The paperback for Life in Five Senses is out now. I really enjoyed writing this book, and now I’m happy to hear that other people enjoy reading it.

Announcement: We’re planning our next Happier Book Club!

Anne Lamott’s Somehow: Thoughts on Love (Amazon, Bookshop) hit the shelves recently. It was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller.

Here’s the official description:

“Love is our only hope,” Anne Lamott writes in this perceptive new book. “It is not always the easiest choice, but it is always the right one, the noble path, the way home to safety, no matter how bleak the future looks.”

In Somehow: Thoughts on Love, Lamott explores the transformative power that love has in our lives: how it surprises us, forces us to confront uncomfortable truths, reminds us of our humanity, and guides us forward. “Love just won’t be pinned down,” she says. “It is in our very atmosphere” and lies at the heart of who we are.

In each chapter of Somehow, Lamott refracts all the colors of the spectrum. She explores the unexpected love for a partner later in life. The bruised (and bruising) love for a child who disappoints, even frightens. The sustaining love among a group of sinners, for a community in transition, in the wider world. The lessons she underscores are that love enlightens as it educates, comforts as it energizes, sustains as it surprises. Full of the compassion and humanity that have made Lamott beloved by millions of readers, Somehow is classic Anne Lamott: funny, warm, and wise.

We mention two other excellent books by Anne Lamott:

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Amazon, Bookshop)
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My son’s First Year (Amazon, Bookshop)

We can’t wait to have a wide-ranging discussion with her in an upcoming episode.

Very Special Episode

One thing that makes us happier is having clarity on how to move ahead: how to make a decision, how to size up a problem, how to deal with other people.

We love a hack, and here we feature a special kind of hack—“proverbs of the professions.”

We love these proverbs!

If you want to read an article with the proverbs we highlight in this episode, you can find them here.

If you want to hear our proverbs from teachers, listen to episode 324.

Resource

As a way to say “thank you” to everyone who has supported Life in Five Senses, I’m hosting a free virtual event to discuss the book on May 6, 2024.

Fill out the form, and you’ll receive details for joining the virtual event along with a “secret chapter” from the book.