Welcome to the month of love, a time to celebrate love and appreciation. My mantra “Love & Live Happy” holds great meaning in February as I reach out to those I love.
January could not have been a more productive, happy month for me. The “New Year, New You,” book launch for You Are Your Choices: 50 Ways to Live the Good Life got off to a brilliant start: My publisher told me over lunch that HarperCollins went back to press with a large print run after only two weeks. The book is selling beautifully. Imagine, before even leaving on book tour, my new book was in a second printing! Obviously, I’m thrilled beyond measure. This kind of energy is a very good sign.
I gave a talk at the Winthrop-University Hospital Arts & Humanities Program to doctors, nurses and staff. I called my friend Dr. Anthony Petro in Jackson, Mississippi, to ask him what advice he had for me to say to the doctors. Anthony is a general surgeon. He told me the “mistakes” he’d made. He said, “Alexandra, first, I’m a person, a father, a grandfather and a husband. Second I’m a surgeon.” Anthony told me to tell the doctors:
(1) Never forget who you are.
(2) Don’t work too much. Go home and hug your children, your spouse and your puppy.
(3) Be yourself.
(4) Don’t be on automatic pilot. Embrace everyone around you.
(5) Remember, you’re part of a team.
(6) Before you enter your home, let go of stress. (7) Seek beauty and reason.
Anthony’s advice sounds wise and wonderful for all of us. This talk was my first for my new book, You Are Your Choices, making it quite a celebration for my 25th published book. I had a lot of fun.
I feel especially touched my friend Major Matthew Kennedy is reunited with his wife Kerri and four children, Kathleen, Colleen, Matthew, Jr., and Michael, after serving as an Army helicopter pilot in Iraq. Kerri sent me a great photo from the front page of the Cape Cod Times of Matt holding his 5-year old son Michael while Kerri takes a photo to mark his return from the Middle East.
I began my book tour on a triumphant note. At a power lunch with my publisher, editor and literary agent, I was told they want from me a new book, Happiness For Two,” to come out for Valentine’s Day, 2008! Nothing could make me happier. As you know, I’ve been struggling with a book about friends and then marriage. Even though I’ve been writing a book of essays about things I’ve taught myself, I’m putting that aside temporarily and will work on Happiness For Two under a tight deadline – I love to write about happiness and having the book focusing on how two people can be equally happy together is most exciting. I’ve written Living Beautifully Together and Living in Love; this new book will expand on ways we can increase our happiness when we are with another person we love. It will be all-inclusive, not just couples or partners.
Peter and I flew to ...
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