So I just read The Happiness Project, a great book by Gretchen Rubin. Over the course of a year, she focused on different aspects of her life to improve her happiness. Like many of us, she was inspired by people like Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love, and wanted to improve her life in the same way. But unlike Elizabeth Gilbert, Gretchen Rubin has a husband and two young daughters and couldn’t just move to India or Italy or Indonesia to find her happiness and rejuvenate her life. Instead, she decided to make all her improvements as part of her daily life.
This is something with which many of us can identify. Moving to Italy for a year sounds like a great idea – and indeed I’m sure it it. (Though I’d move to France, if I could!) But how many of us can actually make that happen in our lives right now. Thus, The Happiness Project!
Gretchen focused on things like being more patient with her family, overcoming her need to always “get a gold star” when she did something well, and writing a novel. She tried to remember to take the time to have fun and to de-clutter her apartment. Most importantly, her underlying mantra was “Be Gretchen”; not the Gretchen she thought she should be, but the authentic person that she actually is. And all while still being a great mom and wife, daughter and sister, and friend and author.
If you think you might be interested in starting your own “happiness project,” Gretchen has a toolkit with accompanying website where can develop your project and, hopefully, grow your happiness. Or you can start with the book.
Now that I’ve read the book, I think I might start with the toolkit to improve my own happiness.
If you are thinking about doing a happiness project, what would your top three “action items” be?
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