Feature Section
Choosing happiness changed Michelle Golz’s life
Article by DC Johnson - February 17, 2022
This article originally appeared in print in the Princeton Times-Republic on Thursday, February 17, 2022. It has been translated to a blog post, due to a lack of an online presence.
It may not seem surprising that a woman who is the current Friends of the Library President and a former Library board President has been published in a book. However, Michelle Golz was surprised and finds the publication of her story in When Love Speaks to be an astonishing event.
When Love Speaks: A Collection to Inspire by Maya Comerota hit the stacks on December 7, 2021. Golz is thrilled and amazed, but it is important to understand that her success and affirmation are the results of rising from the ashes of self-doubt with the power of self-love.
Example of happy mail
Golz started this journey in the depths of depression. She had just retired from her profession in a statement of self-preservation and, as a result, lost her friends and her way.
“I am just here for me, “ Golz told herself. “I don’t have anything else to do. I need to find me because I lost myself somewhere along the way.
Golz returned to her passion for making art. "I was so sad I was just making all these pieces of little media art with positive sayings. I had to do something. I had to get myself out of my depression,” explained Golz.
Golz started following a now nonexistent Facebook page called Love Club in 2012 to help herself find a positive spin on life. In December 2020, Maya Comerota, the administrator of Love Club, sent Golz a personal email inviting her to attend a free three-day "Born for this Challenge" retreat.
“The theme of the retreat was if your life ended today, what story would you leave behind? Are you leaving a message that you would want other people to know?" said Golz.
"After the weekend, I was gifted year long transformation coaching program called *Born for this Mentorship. “I wasn't sure what was pulling me towards this experience. I just knew I had to do it after the weekend retreat. I wasn't working and I didn't have anything else to do.
Since she was gifted the retreat, Golz decided to spend the value of the gift to upgrade to the platinum retreat package. Golz said, "We met every week on Zoom. We had homework. We got to know each other like we were family, despite being distributed throughout the world. We all connected. The connection allowed me to find myself again after a very long time.”
"Because I am 62, and the long journey of being a mom, a grandma, a wife, and a nurse and caring for all these other people, I really got burned out and lost myself. I was really lost; this retreat helped me find me. This retreat helped me to get back to the happy side of life, said Golz. "It was a very interesting year."
"I learned,” continued Golz, "there is a higher power leading me. We all are here with our own light to bring to the world. I learned love is within.”
"I had been making all this art. It was piling up, but I had to do something. I had to do something to get myself out of my depression,” said Golz. "I was inspired by the retreat. I decided that I should send this art around the world. Giving art to people makes me happy, so I created the Happy Mail project."
Michelle (center) with Maya Camerota (right)
"I asked everyone I knew if anyone wanted some Happy Mail, but nobody knew what they were getting,” said Golz. "When I first started the Happy Mail project, I didn't know enough about the people until I pinpointed." Then I started getting messages after people received their Happy Mail.”
Judit, who lives in Hungary, sent Golz this message, “I love you; I am so excited for you and thank you again for your beautiful card. I love it."
Terese Parkin sent this message to Golz after receiving her Happy Mail, "Receiving your Happy Mail filled me with beautiful gratitude. To have someone make and send a handmade customized for me work of art is such a joy. Thank you for all the goodness and connection you are cultivating."
Golz learned from these replies that she has a knack for making and sending the right art to the right person. She said, "I didn't know what to send to people at first, I just knew I wanted to send Happy Mail. So, for each person I just sat and thought about them in my head."
"Then maybe after a day or two, something would come to me. My mind doesn't create these ideas by itself. Some power has been telling me what to put in the Happy Mail I send out." concluded Golz.
Linda Scherer-Martuge (left) and Terese Parkin (right) smiling with their happy mail!
Linda Scherer-Martuge sent this message to Golz after receiving her Happy Mail, "Today, I received your Happy Mail! I'm absolutely blown away. Not only it is gorgeous, but it's also SO me! OMG, how did you know that I have that exact quote displayed in my house, that my animal energy is a bird and that I speak often about how one must first love oneself. Did I tell you? I don't think so. You, my dear, are in my head and feeling me! Thanks again from the bottom of my heart. I cherish and treasure my Happy Mail."
Golz received more positive feedback on her Happy Mail from California recipient Jennifer Cavender who said, "Michelle sent my Happy Mail sometime in the spring or early summer of 2021. It was just before I left my career as a CPA at a firm that I had been with for 21 years, to start my own consulting practice. I hadn't shared with anyone my ideas of what my business would look like or what I would offer because, honestly, I wasn't sure myself. What I did know, is that I wanted businesses and organizations to understand that work could be joyful and that there were good reasons for fostering joy in the workplace. What I ended up creating was a teams and leadership program that focuses on reigniting joy in the workplace through the design of effective teams and leaders."
"When I returned to look at my Happy Mail from Michelle, I noticed that she included two phrases in the design she sent me that included joy. "Joyful heart" and "always be joyful" were both incorporated into the design. She even used the colors of my logo, which I had not shared with anyone. To me, that is proof that Michelle Golz is a World Class Happypreneur! Now I am having Michelle send Happy Mail to all my clients.”
Other people started contacting Golz asking for Happy Mail. Golz said, "After sending out a few Happy Mail packages I got a message from a friend that said, ‘You make this happy mail art. I have a going away thing. I am willing to pay you money to make Happy Mail and bring it to Chicago for my event.' So, I did."
"It was perfect, she loved it. now she wants three more," continued Golz. "That is where I am at, I am starting a company. I am building a website. All because I had nothing to do after my early retirement. It has been a very interesting year. I don’t know of anything better to do, anything better that I have ever done. It turned out to be lifesaving and life-changing for me." said Golz.
Best-selling book When Love Speaks featuring Michelle’s story
"Having a story published in the book, When Love Speaks, has only been part of the transformational results from the retreat and yearlong coaching."
"When we did the When Love Speaks book launch, some of the story writers met in Chicago, some met in California. The Europeans were with us live on Facebook. The stories that these other people wrote are just mind-blowing," said Golz. "In my mind this transformational coaching is like therapy on steroids with your girlfriends."
"I met so many people who are really inspirational. I made so many friends around the world. It's been incredible to be able to find a happy side of life and try to share that happiness with others through art and Happy Mail."
As of the writing of this article, 55 Happy Mails have been sent and 15 more are in the works. The Happy Mails have been sent all over the world: Australia, Canada, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. When Love Speaks, the book her short story was published in, was an instant international best seller online and was featured in the 2021 Rolling Stone Holiday Gift Guide.
Golz concluded, "I learned that there is a life force. Life is about the choices you make. You choose to leave what doesn't serve you and it is like amen on a Monday. And I was able to start getting back to the happiness I used to know in the world.”
Happiness postcard created for Mail by Michelle