Amy Newmark's Blog, page 2

Practice Gratitude... It Could Change Your Life!

When you make gratitude a habit, every day comes bearing gifts. And boy do we get a lot of stories from people who have shifted their perspective by actively counting their blessings and focusing on the good instead of the bad. It just made sense that we dedicate an entire book to stories about gratitude. And that’s just what we did with our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Attitude of Gratitude.

Oh sure, some days are easier then others in practicing gratitude, but just like everything we do in life, a little practice goes a long way!

Here’s a preview of two of my favorite stories from the book about how to practice gratitude:

Remember the good luck you’ve had.
In Marv Stone’s story, "We Have Jalapeños," Marv plants a garden with his young son who was most excited about the jalapeños. But as spring turned into summer, all they were getting were tomatoes, squash, and bell peppers. No jalapeños. Marv’s son was disappointed.

Later that summer, Marv was on a business trip making a presentation to a very difficult client. A morning of venting had turned into an afternoon of yelling. His wife called him twice in a row during the meeting, a sign that it was an emergency. He excused himself and called her back, but his son answered on the first ring, exclaiming, “We have jalapeños!”

Marv says, “Billy is in seminary now and grows his own jalapeños on the balcony of his apartment. My wife and I don’t eat them, but I grow one plant each year, just to remind me to keep everything in perspective. And should my wife or I ever lose that perspective and allow the troubles of life to begin sapping our joy, we just look the other in the eye and state, ‘We have jalapeños!’”

Focus only on your thankfulness and don’t ask for a thing.
In her story, "Prayers of Thanksgiving," Jane McBride says that her daily prayers were less about thanksgiving than about what God could do for her. She realized that she was issuing instructions in her prayers but not expressing any appreciation for what she already had.

She asked herself what she could do to change that, and she decided to challenge herself: for one week, her prayers would just be about gratitude. She started small, thanking God for a sunny day and the flowers outside her window. As she continued this practice, something changed. Jane says she became more aware of all the blessings in her life… and she became happier.

Thank you!



Amy Newmark

Take a Hike... It's Good for You!

Although it is the last chapter in our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness, it also happens to be one of my favorites -- and that is "Get Outside in Nature." I love the sense of community I feel when I spend time outside. It makes me very aware that I am but a tiny cob in the gigantic machinery of life on our planet. And... it makes me happy!

When I go outside to take a hike I also love the fresh air, I love that I am getting a dose of vitamin D, and I love that all of this is improving my overall health and fitness. I sleep better too... who doesn't love that?

Here's a sneak peek at two of my favorite stories from the "Get Outside in Nature" chapter:

In her story, "The Trail to Myself," Ann Morrow discovered the peace that comes from getting outside. On the morning of her forty-fifth birthday, she stood at the bathroom mirror and realized that the woman looking back at her was angry, stressed and unfit. That's when she decided to reclaim control of her life... she grabbed her coat, walked out the front door and began her walking journey. Walking led to a thirty-pound weight loss for Ann, and it set her back on the path to rediscovering her creative side, too.

In JC Sullivan's story, "Shinrin-yoku Is Good for You," JC tells us that she never went hiking, even though she lived next door to one of the best hiking areas in Los Angeles. Finally, a friend forced her to go for a walk, and JC was hooked, enjoying all the health benefits of what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing."

See you out on the trails!



Amy Newmark

Recognize the Good Things In Your Life

For the past 14 years I have been editor-in-chief and publisher of Chicken Soup for the Soul. During that time I've had the pleasure of reading tens of thousands of stories from people all over the world.

Of the thousands of stories, some of my favorites are those that focus on happiness — how to find it and how to keep it. Not only did I develop an understanding of what makes people tick... I learned what makes them happy!

So when we decided on our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness, I knew immediately it would be a passion project for me.

I began the book with a chapter on counting your blessings because I think that’s the most important key to happiness. I’m not sure you can truly be happy if you aren’t aware of what’s good in your life—if you’re always focused on what you lack instead of what you have.

Here's a preview of one of my favorite stories from the book about how to count your blessings to make every day a good day:

It’s amazing how powerful the active practice of gratitude can be for focusing us on what’s good in our lives. In Joan Donnelly-Emery's story, "Worst Day Ever," Joan learned this when she was diagnosed with lymphoma the same day her husband lost his job. Her husband had the right attitude, though. He said, “Someday in the future, we’re going to write about today and we’ll call it Worst Day Ever.”

They both went right to work solving their problems. Alan would eventually find a new, even better job, and Joan would successfully navigate her cancer treatment.

As the one-year anniversary of their Worst Day Ever approached, Joan and Alan decided they should commemorate the day – with a fun trip to Las Vegas. They have continued to celebrate March 19th every year since then, with trips to Savannah, Destin, and even Dublin, Ireland on the ten-year anniversary! Joan says, “Each year, we raise a glass and toast that awful day and all the days since, which we survived solely because of a bounty of blessings.”

Joan says the greatest blessing of all is that celebrating the Worst Day Ever has stripped away all the trivial stuff and shone a bright spotlight on all the important things, like faith, family, perseverance, love, and health. She said they don’t take any of those things for granted and they feel blessed to have them in abundance.



Amy Newmark

Kindness Really Does Matter!

Lately I find myself scouring the internet for a feel-good story to start my day. I particularly love those that involve practicing kindness — it always puts a smile on my face.

I recently found out that being kind is actually good for you — it increases self-esteem, improves your mood, and reduces stress.

It should come as no surprise that our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Kindness Matters, is quickly becoming one of my favorite Chicken Soup for the Soul books!

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show how you can incorporate kindness into your life — because it really does matter:

Follow that impulse to pay someone’s bill.
In Amy Mewborn's story "A Shared Struggle," Amy noticed that the woman in front of her at the grocery store checkout looked tired and frazzled. She was trying to handle an active three-year-old and a newborn, who was crying. As her items were rung up, the woman realized she didn’t have enough money so she started selecting items to put back.

That’s when Amy stepped up. She confirmed the young mother was a single mom, and then she explained that she was a single mom, too, and she had been in her shoes. She would be happy to pay for the family’s groceries. The woman started crying with gratitude.

Amy says, “The total cost for the rest of the groceries was less than thirty dollars. The man behind me and I split that total and left the IGA with full hearts that danced like the toddler.”

The biggest beneficiaries of that random act of kindness? Amy and the man behind her in line, not the young mother. We elevate ourselves and brighten our days when we do something like that for a stranger. And I’m sure that woman will turn around and pay it forward one day when she is better situated and encounters another struggling young mother.

Don’t hesitate to express your gratitude and appreciation.
In her story, The Letter, January Joyce was at the cellular phone store once again looking for help with downloading an app. She knew the kind young man named Carlos who worked there would help her.

As she waited her turn and then waited for the app to download, January watched Carlos in action, treating his elderly customers with patience and respect, rushing to open the door for someone, calling each customer by name.

The next day, January followed an impulse to do something about this. She wrote a letter to Carlos’s boss, and also mailed copies to the company’s headquarters and the CEO.

When January went back to the store for help again a couple of months later, she learned that Carlos was gone. An employee told her that someone had written a letter about Carlos and as a result he had been promoted and now managed his own store! When January also heard that Carlos and his wife had just had their first baby, she felt even better about following that impulse to reach out and compliment someone.



Amy Newmark

Laughter Really Is the Best Medicine!

I love to laugh... it makes me feel good! It's no surprise, studies support that laughing triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural feel-good chemicals.

I am excited to share our NEW book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Too Funny! This is our third humor book and I promise these 101 stories will make you laugh.

Here's a preview of two very funny stories from the book that we all can relate to:

The best way to get over total embarrassment is to tell everyone.
In her story "The Keys" Becky Campbell Smith was using her husband’s car to drive her daughter to camp, which gives her an excuse for what happened at the gas station that day. First, she realized she had no idea how to open the gas tank in his car, so while a woman waited impatiently behind her at the pumps, Becky called her husband.

That accomplished, Becky pumped her gas, but when it was time to leave she realized she had lost the keys to the car. At the gas station. While not moving. She had to go confess to the lady behind her that she wasn’t going anywhere, and the disgruntled lady backed up and switched to another line.

But a man pulled up behind Becky, so the pressure was still on. Becky and her daughter searched everywhere for the missing keys. Becky confessed to the man as well, but he stayed put, seeming to enjoy watching her humiliation.

Then a woman at an adjoining pump asked if she could help. Becky said yes, grateful to have a woman volunteer. And that’s when the woman found the keys in one second, hanging in the car door where Becky had left them when she opened the car to get her cell phone. She’d left the door open the whole time she was searching and never thought to peer around the other side of it because her normal car didn’t have keys that had to go in the door. The man behind her burst into applause, apparently pleased by Becky’s performance.

You can go too far with personal grooming.
In Pat Solstad's story "Lip Balm Addict" Pat is a self-proclaimed lip balm addict, so one particularly cold and dry day she applied her lip balm regularly while shopping at Walgreens. She always kept her lip balm loose in her purse so she could just reach in and grab it.

As she walked the aisles, Pat smiled at the other shoppers, but she noticed some of them were giving her peculiar looks. She thought that maybe they thought she was shoplifting because she kept reaching into her purse.

Even the cashier wouldn’t look Pat in the eye when she checked out. It was only when she got home and looked in the entryway mirror that she realized what had happened. She had been grabbing the wrong tube every time she reached into her purse. Her lips and the surrounding skin were liberally coated with red lipstick.



Amy Newmark

Grief Is a Journey

Everyone grieves differently. There's no right way and there's no wrong way. However, what I learned while putting together our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grieving, Loss and Healing, is that there are ways to help manage grief and the loneliness that follows.

This new collection of inspirational and compassionate stories will help you cope with loss, regain your strength, and yes, find joy in life again. These stories provide powerful messages of resilience and hope.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that offer advice on how to take one step at a time on the never-ending journey of managing grief:

Sometimes a good chat with a stranger is just what you need.
In Jamie Korf’s story, I Was Somebody's Sister, Jamie's Uber driver asked if she had any siblings, she was hit once again with her grief and her confusion as well: Was she an only child now that her brother was gone? Could she still say she had a sibling?

Jamie decided to answer with a full explanation—her brother had died a few months ago. There was a stunned silence and then the driver started talking. He had lost his son and his wife. Jamie and the driver cried and gave each other advice, doing their best to comfort each other.

Jamie says, “This special stranger sat in my pain with me, as I sat in his for twenty whole minutes.”

Look for the simple, social pleasures.
In her story, The Presence of Absence, Barbara Rady Kazdan tells us after her husband died the "quiet" that engulfed her house had become an unsettling daily companion. She hadn't realized her marriage shielded her from silence.

Barbara says, "My husband and I were a tiny community unto ourselves. In his absence, quiet descended."

Barbara soon realized she was going to need to escape the silence of solitude, now made worse with the pandemic. Eventually, she pushed herself out of the house, emerging from the darkness of solitude, and found joy with simple social pleasures—lunching with friends, chatting with neighbors, and joining book clubs and writing workshops! Barbara closes her story with: "And, once again, taking to the sky, melting into the arms of family, and savoring the sounds of lively households before returning to the silence at home."


Amy Newmark

You Are Stronger Than You Think!

I love the quote by Christine Mason Miller, “At any given moment, you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.” The simple message represents so many of the powerful stories in our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times Won't Last But Tough People Will .

This Chicken Soup for the Soul collection is a reminder that when faced with financial challenges, health issues, relationship troubles, or any of the other ways in which life can go off track, we all have hidden reserves of strength and resilience that are just waiting to be called on.

Here are previews of two of my favorite stories from the book that show — this is not how the story is going to end:

You can rebuild slowly and surely even after the worst financial disaster.
In her story, Broken Vessel, Gold Meadows thought she was broken beyond repair, like a shattered piece of pottery. She was a divorced single mother of three with no home, no job, no car, and no child support. She was full of self-recrimination.

She had to start over from scratch. She decided the best place to do so was somewhere far away from her ex, so she moved from Maryland to California. She stayed with friends while she gradually got on a financial footing that would allow her to rent a small apartment and make a new home for her children.

It took years, but Gold slowly but surely made progress, finding a job, a small apartment, and a car. She says of her previously shattered life, “Piece by piece, I began to stand again. It all happened as slowly as the tears that trickled down my face each night. I knew if I could just make it through the pain and work of rebuilding, we would be okay.” And, like so many of Chicken Soup for the Soul’s contributors, she discovered she had more strength than she’d realized, saying, “I found my inner fortitude and resilience and I pushed on, one day at a time.”

You are not defined by your possessions and souvenirs.
In Tracy Whitaker's story, Validation, she lost everything in a fire. Tracy says, “It was nearly impossible for me to wrap my brain around the fact that nothing in my home remained.” She felt the loss of her papers the most—identification, birthday cards, letters, certificates, awards and more. All the papers that had defined her life had burned.

As a Black woman, Tracy wondered if she had inherited a familial terror. She says, “Perhaps in the deepest recesses of my being, there was historical trauma associated with the loss of documentation—documentation of freedom, of ownership, of self.” She also realized she’d been using those old letters and awards and other souvenirs of achievement as validation of her worth.

Tracy says, “I’d been hoarding not just paper, but other people’s opinions of me. Now I could reimagine myself.” She says she has learned that the only opinion worth cherishing—the only validation she needs—is her own.


Amy Newmark

There's Something Magical About a Black Cat

Most of us grew up with the myth that seeing a black cat brought bad luck. But did you know in many cultures black cats bring good fortune? In Europe black cats were thought to bring good luck for sailors — having them on board was believed to ensure a safe journey.

At Chicken Soup for the Soul, black cats hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, we’re always advocating for the adoption of black cats, the ones who are often left behind at shelters.

One of my favorite stories from our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Clever, Curious, Caring Cat, is about a precious little black cat named Rhiannon. In the story, The Magic of the LBC, Margrita Colabuno did not want a black cat. She wanted a cat like the one she’d lost, with a colorful coat. But when Magrita 's son and his girlfriend lived with her during the COVID-19 pandemic, they added a little black cat named Rhiannon to the household.

It took a while for Magrita to warm up to Rhiannon, but she grew to appreciate the complex and colorful personality behind the black fur. She says, “The more I noticed and appreciated her cute, little quirks, the more I realized how vastly I’d misjudged the bewitching powers of the Little Black Cat. Like the infamous LBD, or Little Black Dress, LBCs may seem plain and unadorned, but there’s nothing basic about them.”

And don't forget to mark your calendars— October 27th is National Black Cat Day!


Amy Newmark

Let's Talk about Our Dogs!

Hey all you proud dog owners out there - did you know that National Dog Week is September 20 - 26?

What better way to celebrate than reading stories from our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Hilarious, Heroic, Human Dog .

There's something truly magical about our dogs — their natural joy, resilience, and protectiveness are so often combined with affection, intuition, courage, and just plain smarts. They keep us company, act as our therapists, and provide unconditional love. And they're so darn cute!

Here is a preview of one of my favorite stories from the book that talks about how our lovable canine companions can make even the most mundane tasks more fun!

In her story "Drive-Thru Dog" C. L. Nehmer has a Beagle named Lulu who loves to go for rides, sitting right next to her human mom. She knows exactly where they’ll be going on their errand days, with the first stop being the coffee shop drive-thru, which always has a puppy cup of cream ready for her. At the next stop, the bank, Lulu greets the bank tellers and knows there will be a dog biscuit tucked into the cash envelope that comes through the chute. Lulu knows to stay in the car at the gas station and minimart and then comes her favorite stop: the school.

At school, Lulu collects lots of pets and scratches behind her ears as the kids stream by the open car window. And then she performs her important task: licking her own small humans hello when they climb into the back seat. That done, she joins human mom in the front seat again.

Her human mom says, “Even though it was just an ordinary day, Lulu’s company made it special. There’s no one I’d rather be running errands with. Rain or shine, any time she hears the clatter of my keys or the tread of my shoes in the back hall, she’s ready to go. A car ride wouldn’t be the same without my faithful companion.”

Enjoy!

Amy Newmark

Life Lessons for All of Us

So you remember middle school, right? And the cafeteria? And the groups? And changing your friends? And how everything was moving so fast and it was sometimes exciting but also—too often—painful?

It’s funny how those experiences taught us a lot about how to conduct our lives going forward. And that’s why I loved putting together the new revised and updated Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 21st Anniversary Edition. This new collection is filled with such wisdom—the stuff we learned in middle school that we need to refer back to now!

We went through the old 2001 edition of Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul and removed the stories that were outdated and not relevant to kids today. And then we added in a couple of dozen new stories, just written in the past few months — ones about being a kid during the pandemic, social media and technology, and many other modern-day issues.

The lessons in these stories are ones we all need to hear at every stage of life because I think most of us go through life making some new friends each decade and letting some go as well.

One of my favorite stories, "Just Trying to Fit In," by Frances-Amelia Spadoni is about being true to yourself and making friends who are right for you. When Frances-Amelia started middle school she immediately noticed that what she had seen in movies about cliques was very true for her school. There were so many cliques. If you didn’t belong to one, then you were by yourself, or you had a small group.

Frances-Amelia soon realized that a girl she knew—her neighbor—was “popular.” And that popular girl asked Frances-Amelia to sit at her table. Frances-Amelia says, “A part of me didn’t want to be popular, but the other half couldn’t help it. So, I sat with my neighbor... I made so many friends that I felt accepted. But I felt guilty for leaving my best friend to sit with the popular clique, so I invited her to sit with me.”

Then her best friend changed. She dressed differently, she acted differently, and she talked differently. She got popular fast.

Everything went wrong then. Frances-Amelia didn’t want to sit with the mean popular girls anymore but her old friends wouldn’t take her back. She would skip lunch just so she wouldn’t have to sit alone.

Frances-Amelia had been taught by her neighbor – how to get a boyfriend, where to shop, what to say—all the “rules” of being popular. She says, “I just couldn’t take it anymore. I talked to my mom about it and she told me ‘just be you.’”

Now Frances-Amelia is in high school and she’s finally back to being herself, with real friends who she finally made in eighth grade. She’s doing the opposite of what her neighbor told her to do. And because she’s being her true self, she knows she’ll keep these friends. A life lesson for all of us!


Amy Newmark