You may recall my earlier post about our family book club! I wanted to send a quick update…
As we reviewed the list of selected books, we realized that most of the required reading books for 10-18 year-olds are pretty depressing and dark. Lord of the Flies, Diary of Anne Frank, Ordinary People, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, etc. In an effort to have a more balanced approach, we decided to add an additional book as the first book of the trip…..The 10th Anniversary Edition of The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler. It may seem like a book that is too hard for a couple of the members of our book club but we let them do the audio version 
We finished it last Wednesday and had a great discussion about it! Most interesting was favorite quotes which I posted below. We all agree it is a great book to read as we begin this year long odyssey and also dive into more serious book topics.
OTTO – “The more reliable method for achieving inner contentment is not to have what we want but rather to want and appreciate what we have.”
WESCOTT – “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had welfare, terror, murder and bloodshed – but they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they have brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.”
YVE: – “True happiness relates more to mind and heart. Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable; one day it’s there, the next day it may not be.”
CLIFF: – “The first step in seeking happiness is learning.” AND, “We contribute to our own suffering by personalizing every annoying situation, as if it were being intentionally perpetrated on us.”
LISA – “Love is difficult to define, and there are many different definitions. But perhaps the most pure and exalted kind of love, is an utter, absolute, and unqualified wish for the happiness of another individual.”
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