Writers Tricks of the Trade Volume 6 Issue 3 | Page 26

THE HAPPY ART OF SADNESS

(Cont’d)

non-fiction,.
Pick
your spots and engage meaningfully. A gift for solitude and a grasp of
sadness are valuable social skills. The person incapable of being alone is hard pressed to understand the value of togetherness; the man who has never
struggled with sadness is at a distinct disadvantage in understanding his fellow
man’s blues.

When you sing of a sad moment, focus on the moment, not just the
sadness. Recognize the specificity of your story, the objects and the injuries, the
loved ones and the damage done, what the weather was like on the best and
worst days of your life. Remember the smell of the air, of the food, of her
perfume. Remember the autumn yellow of the grass on the Saturday morning
when Jimmy DiGiorgio’s slide tackle broke your leg. Remember the whole vast
kaleidoscope, and you’ll see the shards of suffering merge into the image of life.
Fragments fuse on impact, forming new ideas, new pictures in your head, newly
discovered elements on the emotional periodic table. Your dreams grow vivid;
your mornings begin earlier. You find your way to the keyboard.
Tell me now: Do you feel happy?
Well, do ya?
Greg Blake Miller, Ph.D., is the director of Olympian Creative Education and the
author of Decemberlands. He teaches writing and media studies at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas. A version of this article originally appeared in Vegas
Seven Magazine.

JULY-AUGUST 2016

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WRITERS’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE