This book is the story of Gretchen Rubin’s happiness project. What she tried, what she learned and how she spent one year of her life researching happiness and creating fun in her life. She had a wonderful life before she started, but thought she might be even happier. She chose 12 resolutions and focused on a different subject each month. Her topics, by order of months were: Boost Energy, Remember Love, Aim Higher, Lighten Up, be Serious about Play, make time for Friends, Buy some Happiness, Contemplate the heavens, Pursue a Passion, Pay Attention, Keep a Contented Heart and Boot Camp Perfect.
I like how Gretchen draws not only on the recent research in the field of positive psychology but on the wisdom of ancient philosophers and thinkers.
In a humorous way, Gretchen shares practical tips and gives fun ideas to create more happiness in life. For example, some of her tips for “Be Serious about Play” are: Take time to be silly, go off the path, and start a collection. I loved reading the whole book and applying it to my life and now it is simply sitting on my nightstand and I open a random page and read whenever I need a “Happiness Boost”.
Here is something I learned from the book:
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy.
One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
I remember watching the movie starring Will Smith “The Pursuit of Happiness”. Chris Gardner is a salesman who was, at times, homeless. Eventually he worked his way into becoming a stockbroker. Is the premise of the movie that happiness is something to be pursued? Or maybe the idea is that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic dreams?
I think that any life experience can turn into an opportunity for growth and we can make a choice to look for the positive side of it. In fact, our mind is the true source of happiness. You can look at any given situation and ask yourself:
