My Top 140 From Barbara Ann Kipfer’s “14,000 Things To Be Happy About: The Happy Book”

For the beginning of 2023, I have decided to collect a series of small things that make life worth living from the nonfiction title “14,000 Things To Be Happy About: The Happy Book” by Barbara Ann Kipfer because the book celebrates things that makes us smile; my copy now features a lot of highlighted phrases because I wanted to emphasize the things that I relate to the most and that are very meaningful to me.

It is a book I recommend to anyone (I own the paperback edition and it is nice to be able to carry it around with me and open a random page that reminds me of something that makes me feel joyful); we will not get to relate to every single sentence included in the book because every person is different and no one has the same experiences. Nevertheless, it makes us think about ourselves as individuals, reflect on who we are, who we have been, and who we will become.

I have created a list of 140 things from “14,000 Things” that mean the most to me; I invite you to read the book and choose the parts that make you smile the most and that resonate with your own lives.

Happy New Year 2023!

• the art of candymaking;
• keeping on nodding terms with the person you used to be;
• bringing beauty and meaning into others’ lives;
• getting a really good haircut;
• the pure joy of the sun;
• your favorite airport;
• popcorn at the movies;
• part of you always being a child;
• aerial views;
• New York City;
• a lively conversation between plants;
• pantry shelves loaded with jars of fruit;
• absorbing nature’s blessings;
• learning a new sport;
• Starbucks caramel macchiato;
• taking a refresher course;
• sponge baths;
• an inspiration board;
• watching an old Nora Ephron movie;

• triumphing over adversity;
• bakery croissants;
• a bedroom library;
• lavender-scented evenings;
• warm firesides;
• visiting museums;
• pet portraits;
• a skin-care regime;
• the law of attraction;
• a smile, a sunny day, an ice-cold Coca-Cola, and a best friend to share them with;
• buying fresh flowers;
• Louboutin red soles;
• magazines that you’ve read for decades;
• challenging yourself with a jigsaw puzzle or game app;
• ultramarine blue;
• old-fashioned lemon pie;
• winter bringing long, silent nights to dream on;
• online courses and degrees;
• singing to the radio when you drive;
• very colorful and cleverly lit oil pantings and watercolors;
• making lists, from major life goals to dinner menus;

• bubble coral;
• showing sensitivity and concern;
• apples, trees, country sky, the snap of fall in the air;
• little bits of kitchen knowledge;
• the Sistine Chapel’s frescoes;
• the quiet spirit of holiday music;
• conversing in many languages and accents;
• On Demand movies;
• getting out the cashmeres and tweeds;
• a white Christmas;
• conviviality;
• secondhand stores;
• scented oils;
• the tradition of going to church on Christmas Eve;
• classical music concerts;
• Sharpie pens in every color;
• starting a collection;
• looking through a very powerful telescope;
• a Technicolor sunset;
• lighted swimming pools;
• reaching toward great self-awareness, appreciation of beauty, and love of others;

• organizing images in an album;
• when it is better that things did not work out the way you wanted them to;
• being between extrovert and introvert, an ambivert;
• visiting a farm to see all the newborn baby animals;
• blowing bubble-gum bubbles;
• love of books;
• red Ferraris;
• experiences and interactions with the world through art, intellect, and/or emotional ties;
• morning prayer;
• Moon: the night light of Earth;
• pastel colors;
• nonprofit organizations;
• giving thanks for what you have;
• the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring;
• hearing a song that you haven’t heard in a gazillion years and still knowing all the words;
• creative photography;
• sunglasses and shades;
• decorated Christmas trees;
• tennis whites;

• linking oneself with a great cause;
• fashions for every season;
• tiny sample perfume vials;
• movie trailers;
• special art exhibits;
• cotton candy;
• learning everything you possibly can about a subject that interests you;
• Vivaldi in the morning;
• visiting someone you haven’t seen in a very long time;
• Sunday brunch buffet;
• the 1920s Jazz Age;
• exercising at home;
• the Swiss Alps;
• fashion shows;
• large, framed pieces of landscapes, seascapes;
• a street full of bookstores and galleries;
• buying a wonderful piece of furniture and enjoying it for years;
• a patisserie window that stops you in your tracks;
• the pong of a tennis ball;

• lines from favorite movies or poems;
• a huge set of Faber-Castell colored pencils;
• the color, scent and deliciousness of strawberries;
• wine tastings;
• thick woolen blankets;
• red licorice;
• eau de cologne;
• manicured hands;
• paying attention to the sounds of each of the different instruments in a symphony;
• discovering a niche market;
• still having a turntable for vinyl records;
• swimming with dolphins;
• the true meaning of an object, seen only with reference to its relationships, its context;
• your favorite new TV shows;
• the look of a room after you clean it;
• a heap of homemade French fries;
• automobile brochures;
• “Knowledge is power”;
• Internet Movie Database (IMDb);
• disco music;
• a time for all things;
• foliage tours;

• homemade bookmarks;
• James Bond movies;
• the smell of freshly brewed coffee;
• s’mores: chocolate and marshmallows melted between graham crackers;
• old travel and movie posters;
• warmed bread;
• having the time to reread Little Women;
• afternoon tea in London;
• puppy love;
• staying friends with those who are miles away;
• marine biology;
• an authentic, artistic and aesthetic life;
• black-and-white photography;
• antique violins;
• visiting a Nativity scene;
• a story that has been handed down through your family for generations;
• tennis on clay courts;
• brightening someone’s day;
• cultivating mindfulness and loving-kindness throughout each day.