How the Hapless Wanderings of the Happy Bright Travelling Books Have Come Full Circle

In a bid to break routine and order, I sent these books out into the world, guess what happened?

Once upon a time, in a world before social media…

Wait, what? No social media?

Yes little cherubs, there was once a world where we weren’t constantly craning our necks and peering into the highlight reel of others.

But you know, it wasn’t such a different world, as the 20-year-old me will tell you.

I have a homing missile in my core, dedicated to creating cohesion, connection, and community in a sometimes lonely world. I have it now and I had it back then.

As a lost and increasingly despondent young adult, barely out of my teenage years, the urge to bring joy and happiness engulfed my sense of purpose.

I can feel others’ suffering. Call it a sixth sense.

And so, I created the Happy Bright Travelling Books; 4 large, luminous notebooks with “PICK ME UP” scrawled on the front.

I laid out the mission in the first few pages and then left these books in random places throughout the UK. Wrapped up in clear and waterproof casing and ready for their adventures.

From memory, one was left on a park bench in London, another was placed in a cafe in Newcastle and the remaining 2 were tucked up in places I can’t recall, in my beautiful Scotland.

And then I waited…

The content of the mission within the Happy Bright Travelling Books read as follows.

Page One — Instructions

“Hello and thank you for picking up one of the Happy Bright Travelling Books (there are 4 in circulation).

I suppose you are wondering what the hell you have picked up. Well, welcome to my random inspiration ripple.

As I look around me in daily life, I see people following routine and order. Not many people do things for the sheer hell of it. We tend to stick to social constraints.

To make a stranger smile is one of the greatest honors we can be graced with. I hope this set of Happy Bright Travelling Books will work their way around people from all walks of life, and provide you with enlightenment, humor, and inspiration. It will give you a chance to pass on some of your sunshine and unburden some of your shadows. In return, I hope you feel privileged and honored to read the intimacies of other people.

My request is simple

• Please answer the questions overleaf in the next free section of the book.
• Then, and only then, turn to the last page in the book.
• In order to keep the flow, please try to have the book in your possession for no longer than a week.
• Once you have completed a section, please leave the book in a random location, if convenient, a minimum of 20 miles from where you first found it.
• If possible could you drop an e-mail to: [email protected] (e-mail now out of commission) and tell me what color your book is, where you found it and where you are leaving it.

We can not stay in touch with everyone we meet in life. However, our hearts are like the sand on a beach, and the footprints of those who have inspired or influenced us will remain forever.”

Questions

1. Complete the sentence, I wish I could…
2. What three things are guaranteed to make you smile?
3. What is the best feeling in the world?
4. When was the first time you said: “I love you”?
5. Describe your first kiss.
6. Tell us about the best day of your life.
7. What are the most important things in your life?
8. How would you describe human beings to aliens?
9. Have you a motto or a favorite quote, which you try to live your life by?
10. If you could be anyone or anything in the world, what would it be and why?
11. If you were stuck in a lift for a day, what 3 songs would you want on repeat?
12. How often are you reminded how special you are? And by who?
13. If you are sad or down, what do you do?
14. Tell us about a time you cried from happiness.
15. Tell us a joke, anything…
16. Describe yourself in 3 words, now ask both a close friend and a family member to describe you and share each of the descriptions.
17. The platinum rule is that everyone should treat others as they think they want to be treated. How do you like others to treat you?
18. Have you a favorite poem or song lyric? Please share it with us or just tell us the title and artist.
19. Life is too short to do everything you want. Tell us 5 things you wish you had done in your life.
20. Tell us about your favorite place in the world.
21. Who is the most special person in your life? Describe them.
22. What puzzles you most about the world?
23. What do you secretly pray for?
24. Tell us something you have never told anyone?
25. How would you like to be remembered in life?
26. What motivates you? What gets your adrenaline going and your zest for life soaring?
27. What do you admire most in your closest friend?
28. Tell us 2 of your bad habits.
29. What characteristics do you pride yourself on most?
30. If there was an extra hour in the day what would you do with it?
31. If you could come back in life as any animal, what would it be and why?
32. What film best summarizes your life?
33. What is the most embarrassing thing to have happened to you?
34. As a child, what did you want to be when you were older?
35. What book has had the greatest influence on your life?
36. If there is space, do a small self-portrait or stick a photo in

Page Three — The Finale

Thank you for completing the questions.

I hope you have been inspired by the HAppy Bright Travelling Book. My request to you is simple.

• Tell the person you declared as the most special to you in question 21 exactly what they mean to you.
• Do at least one of the things you said you wished you had done in question 19, it is never too late.
• Once a week spend a whole hour doing exactly as you desired in question 30.

Keep a bounce in your stride and a twinkle in your eye. Remember, no matter what life throws at you, you have the power to overcome it.

Keep Bouncing

I had high hopes for this project. I fantasized about the books traversing around the world, not just the UK. I dreamt of the human connection the books would weave, as they passed from one random person to the next, with serendipity and fate.

But they vanished.

They simply disappeared into thin air and I didn’t hear a single peep. I checked the e-mail account obsessively and nothing, nada, empty.

Are they lying where I left them, 20 years on, weathered and forgotten? Or have they been discarded as trash? Did they bring anyone joy? Even 1 single person? I will never know.

Project fail!

But, maybe it isn’t project fail after all.

Stumbling upon the file with the notes from the Happy Bright Travelling Books inception, I still feel that familiar urge to instigate meaningful conversations and connections.

Do you think you can help?

Maybe you feel inspired to answer the Happy Bright Travelling Book questions in your own story. Or base a story around just 1 of the questions. Perhaps by interlinking a couple of the questions you have grounds for a thought-provoking piece of writing.

Let’s send the Happy Bright Travelling Books around the world via this amazing platform. All you have to do is:

• write a story in answer to all the questions or a select few, use them as a writing prompt
• include the tag #HBTB
• tag me
• tag 2 other writers to encourage them to write their own story in response to these questions
• link to this story to encourage others to get on board the Happy Bright Travelling Books adventure.

Check out this list with all the Happy Bright Travelling Book stories. If you ensure to tag me in your story, I will add your story to the list.

Let’s weave a thread of happiness and connection.

p.s here are a few of my own answers.

Question 1 — I wish I could … FLY!

Question 9 — “be somebody, who makes everybody, feel like a somebody” — Brad Montagu

Question 18 — my favorite poem is “The Invitation” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. It is exquisite, a beautiful blueprint for life. Read it and savor it.

Question 36 — this is me 😉

I challenge both Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, and Yana Bostongirl our beautiful editing, writing legends, to get on board the Happy Bright Travelling Book bus. (Of course no pressure ladies, it’s just a bit of fun and I appreciate you are swamped with your own editing and writing.)

And now, for the moment you have all been waiting for. As is customary here in Coffee Times, we rise when we lift others up. I subscribe to the stories of this inspiring lady; Sarah M.

She writes with vulnerability, passion, power, and soul. She goes where not many people dare to go. She faces injustice head-on. And boy, does she do it with vigor. Her writing is compelling and captivating. Sometimes her work is a difficult read, but an essential read nonetheless. Her writing invokes emotion and reels you in.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Sarah M with “I Could Be His Granddaughter: American Culture Loves Attractive Little Girls”

Thank you for reading

Ali Hall

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