Matt Tracy

When I’m not hiking in the hills with my wife and dogs, I like to read. I usually read a couple of books a week, in all genres. A good novel with great characters is my favorite choice, but I love non-fiction, science fiction, romance, detective stories, biographies, and of course, self-help books.

I have to admit (full disclosure) that I have read all of the Louis L’Amour books, oh, maybe three or four times each, and there are over 150 of them. There’s something soothing about them. They’re manly but for a thinking man. And they do have a lot of wisdom in them. If you read Happy Here and Now you’ll see that Louis is quoted there.

I like to cook, and I like to share the process of cooking with Maria and with my friends if they want to join in. My motivation for cooking usually comes from wanting to eat something cooked a certain way. When I get the idea of the taste in my mind I get excited and want to make it right away.

One of my favorite things is to sit with someone and hear what’s important to them and how it’s affecting their life. Lately I have gotten very good at asking a question and then being comfortable with silence while the other person thinks about their answer. It’s a very calm moment, that time between question and answer.

People ask how happy I am. I’m generally very happy now. Yes, things make me upset or scared or sad or impatient or frustrated or any of the other words that mean unhappy. When I start feeling that way, I notice it and take an action to correct it.

It’s like riding a bike. When you’re riding a bicycle, you’re continually in the process of falling down and correcting it but you rarely fall all the way to the ground like you did when you were learning. What I have learned, and what I put in Happy Here and Now are the tools to notice what’s making us unhappy and how to correct that so we don’t fall into unhappiness very often.