Ava Miles - The Happiness Corner: Reflections So Far

2015 Ava Miles

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In 2013, Ava left a successful, six-figure career working as a conflict expert rebuilding war zones to launch herself as a writer.

What most people don't know is that choice was born on a transformational night of self-discovery in war-torn Sierra Leone when Ava realized writing made her happy-something she hadn't felt in a long time. Living on the street of Just Okay wasn't good enough. She made a right turn at what she calls The Happiness Corner and never looked back.

In these reflections, Ava shares how she dared to say no to negative people and patterns in her life that drained her natural positive energy, remained positive with a best friend with cancer, discovered pursuits that increased her happiness like dancing and play dates with the neighborhood boy, and, most of all, how she chose to stay happy and spread her happiness message as a bestselling author.

Some reflections include:

Happiness is Finding Your Voice

Happiness is Trusting the Vision

Happiness is Saying No to Approval

Happiness is Thriving

To all my teachers.

Table of Contents

As I write this, it has been two years since I walked away from a successful, well-established, six-figure career to launch myself as a published author.

Why did I do such a radical thing? Well, it has to do with the theme of these reflections. I did it because writing makes me happy. I was reminded of this feeling when I was knee-deep in the writing of a book that simply wouldnt let me stop working on it despite the demands of my sixty-to-eighty-hour-a-week job. On those long, sleepless nights, I realized I was happy.

Truth be told, I hadnt been that happy for some time. And I wanted more of it.

My old career was exciting, dont get me wrong. I traveled the world as a conflict expert, and as you know from reading the news, theres a lot of conflict out there. I was busy. Insanely so. And the rewards were often compelling. I had the Pyramids almost all to myself one day after 9/11. I was able to see the mighty ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon. I saw parts of Africa few Westerners will ever glimpse. Most importantly, I was helping people and changing the world in my own waytwo powerful themes in my life that even now are the currents that nurture and fulfill me.

But it wasnt enough. I was dealing with some long-standing physical issues that had corrugated into one gigantic, tangled mess. At fourteen, I broke a hip and was told I would never walk again. At twenty-six, I contracted a life-threatening illness overseas and was a few weeks away from signing up for a clinical trial when I was healed. At twenty-eight, I tore my ACL in my knee and developed complications, which took three surgeries and over six years of physical therapy to rectify. And then I hurt my back and learned another level of agony. Most of my life had been spent in chronic pain, so I knew all about lifes limitations. Each time, I found a way to keep going and beat the odds.

But that wasnt happiness. That was fortitude.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I could feel something different. Something lighter. And like a moth to the proverbial flame, I was willing to follow it wherever it led. When I finished that first book, I didnt expect it to go anywhere. Like other hobbies, I was doing this for mebecause it made me happy. But we want to share our greatest gifts, and so I asked my mom and three sisters to read my novel. Now, I come from a no-holds-barred family, and when they said Nora Roberts Land was good, I knew they meant it.

And so I began to dreamand act. I queried dozens of literary agents and finally found a wonderful one after a pile of rejections. She believed in Nora Roberts Land, but she could not sell it. I knew my book would resonate with readers, so when a senior vice president called me on a busy Wednesday and asked me to work on Sudanadding another war-torn country to my already bulging portfolioI knew it was time to move on.

I dove into launching myself as an author with the intensity and bravery of a cliff diver. Not always fearless. Sometimes giddy with joy at my newfound freedom. I started to write these reflections on happiness right after I formed a plan to publish my first book. They were originally seen on my Happiness Corner blog, which I mostly publish every Friday.

These reflections are my journey after I made the choice to make happiness the number one priority in my life. During this time, Ive learned that happiness has a lot of facets; its a choice, and we are always led to the things that will bring us more of it if we only are willing to ask.

A lot of readers and aspiring writers ask for my secrets to a now-healthy body they deem beautiful, my phenomenal success as a writer, and my growing social media following. My answer is happiness.

I hope you are able to find yours in your own way as you journey through life, and that my reflections of the past two years will inspire you, perhaps give you new wisdom, and bring you hope that you too can be happy.

With lots of light and blessing,

Ava Miles

Kicking off my first reflection today seems fitting since I have just made a major decision regarding my own happiness. I just left a successful career to pursue writing full-time. Friends commented its a brave, bold move. But mostly, it boils down to one thing:

Happiness is a choice.

And since writing books makes me happy, I have made the choice to fill my time with itand not the sometimes fulfilling, fascinating, but soul-draining job of working in conflict zones overseas. I gave that profession my best, and while there were moments of happiness, the work didnt sustain it.

As a writer of fiction, I marvel at how much a characters journey can parallel real life. Many of us have those moments where we suddenly realize we need to make a choice. There needs to be a change. Either this sensation has been building inside us for years, or it comes to us in a major moment of inspiration, what weve all heard called that epiphany thing. When were honest enough to admit we arent happy, were opening the door to finding out what will make us so. And when we start exploring, oh, the places well go, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss.

Then the decision comes. Are we going to choose to be happy?

I did, and even though I dont know exactly where its going to go, Ive made my choice. Im going to live in my bliss. Like the early parts of a novel, theres a sense of a new adventure awaiting the heroine.

And her goal is happiness.

A week has gone by in this new life. And the truth is clear to me. When youre living in your bliss, your happiness knows no bounds.

Weve all heard some variation of this comment, but until I experienced the truth of it for myself, I couldnt fully absorb its meaning. Id had glimpses. Whenever I stole a moment to work on my novel, time disappeared. I didnt mind losing track of it. Sometimes a sister would call me while I was writing and say, Wow, you sound so happy.

Now imagine living that day in and day out.

Does it sound cool? Well, it is.

A few years ago, a wise woman told me that when were fulfilling our lifes purposeour true calling, the one burning desire deep inside uswe dont feel the same about our duties and obligations. It isnt like, poof, all our duties and obligations have disappeared, but something magical happens. When were choosing them, we feel differently. Rememberhappiness is a choice.