Month-long Events Help Customers Find Happiness

If you can breathe, you can meditate,” writes Sharon Salzberg in her recently released book, Real Happiness (Workman). In it, she outlines a 28-day meditation program designed for anyone, including those who are looking to relieve stress, break bad habits, or simply strengthen relationships between friends and family.

To Rob Dougherty, manager of Clinton Book Shop, in Clinton, New Jersey, the 28-day program seemed to be a perfect way to liven up the short month of February.

“I just thought, ‘Well, February kind of sucks,’” Dougherty said. “How I can make it better?”

His answer was to present customers with “The Happiness Challenge,” a month-long program based on Salzberg’s book. The 34 people who signed up read Real Happiness “page by page, day by day,” he said, and came together in person on Sundays to meditate and compare their experiences. Dougherty also created a private Facebook page where they could virtually discuss the process.

“I don’t want to make it sound like it was a support group, but in a way, it kind of was,” said Dougherty, who has since decided to make this an annual event. “At the end of our last session, one of the people in the group came up to me and said, ‘This was the best February I’ve ever had.’”

Next year, Dougherty plans to make a slight modification in the name of the event – changing it from “Happiness Challenge” to “Happiness Invitation,” so it sounds less intimidating, and more true to the feel of the weekly meet-ups.

A highlight for this year’s “Happiness Challenge” participants was an in-store appearance by Salzberg. About 50 people attended the open author event, where Salzberg did a reading, led a meditation session, and signed copies of her book. Before the open program, however, Dougherty was be able to arrange a more intimate meeting with the group of customers who completed the “Happiness Challenge.” The author agreed to sit with the participants, who had the opportunity to share their experiences and ask questions. “It was really nice of her,” said Dougherty, “What a gracious woman. And very, very humble.”

Dougherty said he sold a significant number of Real Happiness throughout the month, not just to the participating group, but also to customers who were interested in meditating on their own.

“When we do something like this, the goal is to engage a handful of new customers that walk away saying, ‘You know what? Indie bookshops rule.’ And I think we got them,” he said.

Dougherty encourages other booksellers to hold Real Happiness events in their own stores.

“I was surprised that more independent bookshops didn’t do this,” he said. “I didn’t think it was that unique. People were commenting on it at the Winter Institute, and I was like, ‘Great, take my idea, take it word for word.’“

Laura DeVault, manager of Over the Moon Bookstore, in Crozet, Virginia, did just that. “Oh, we totally stole their idea,” she said. “And it was a great thing.”

After a successful appearance by Salzberg at Over the Moon, DeVault decided to form the group.

In the same way Clinton organized the meet-ups, about a dozen people came to Over the Moon on Sundays to meditate together and discuss Real Happiness.

“The participants were overwhelmingly and unanimously engaged,” DeVault said. “A lot of them found a time for meditation on a daily basis. It was a very supportive group.” The store sold more than 100 copies of the book, she said. “And we’re a tiny store in a very small town. So that was big.”

Members of the group exchanged e-mail addresses after the 28 days were over, so they can continue to meet up quarterly, said DeVault.

Since February, Over the Moon hosted a similar event with Sandra Savine, a teacher and Zero Balancing practitioner, who presented a workshop entitled Balanced Hedonism: Practicing the Art of Happiness.

“It seems clear, to me at least, that happiness is a theme of the moment,” said DeVault. “People are really looking at ways to find greater happiness and this book, along with several others, have been selling really well. Happiness is the new black.”