Self-Love Book Club - The Happiness Project

I have heard many great things about this book and was extremely excited to read it!

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is inspirational and motivating. It offers many terrific ideas and ways to introduce more happiness into your every day life. While some of her goals obviously don't match up to my life, many of them can be altered to better suit my needs.

One nice thing about her Happiness Project is that some of the changes are so small, yet have such a big impact. For example, hugging her husband more to help relieve stress and tension while boosting feelings of closeness. Or even remembering birthdays and taking the time to send short emails to wish friends and family a happy birthday. When you think about it, it's a small gesture but I know that I personally love when people remember my birthday. It makes me feel special.

Sometimes I often wondered how she managed to fit so many tasks into her daily life. All of her different clubs and organizations, making time for projects and new hobbies, added exercise, blogging every day, on top of work and raising a family. It seems so overwhelming.

One thing I've learnt by myself is that you never know what you are capable of until you try. I assume that if I were to design my own year-long Happiness Project, that adding new things to my schedule and workload gradually could actually work out.

All in all, this was a great book. It got me thinking about my own life and the different things I could work on to make myself happier.

For example, near the beginning of the book Gretchen wrote that she needed to take the time to figure out what made her happy, what she was truly interested in and who she really is, in order to design a plan that will actually work.

I think that is a really good idea, and so I've begun to ponder my own likes and interests to figure out what will make me happier.

I also liked that she decided to do this project not in a time of stress or grief, but during a time when she felt she was already happy. It just goes to show that you can begin your own Happiness Project at any point in your life. Gretchen also talked about how she felt guilty sometimes, like she didn't have the right to complain when she already had it so good - loving family, dream career, caring husband, enough money, comfortable home, etc. - but she felt that it would be easier to try and be happier before a crisis struck, so when/if one did she would be better prepared to handle it. Which is a really fantastic way to look at it.

This is a terrific book and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to find ways to bring more happiness into their own lives.

Have you read this book? What makes you happy?

Thanks,
Cole

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