The Happiness Project

Have you read it?

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin?

If you haven't, I highly recommend it. Per her inspiration, I have decided to start my own Happiness Project, and will be spending the next twelve months working to make myself happier in a myriad of ways.

In Gretchen's words,

"I want to change my life without changing my life."  

I want to dissect my everyday life and find ways to be happier.

After all, research shows that happy people are:

more altruistic

more productive

more helpful

more likable

more creative

more resilient

more interested in others

more friendly

more healthy

I mean, if those aren't good reasons, what are?

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Gretchen's book starts off with her saying she doesn't want to "fail to comprehend the splendor of what I have" and her stating that she truly believes it is possible to make herself happier.  Happiness, she tells us, is 50% genetics, 10-20% life circumstances (age, gender, ethnicity, occupation, income, health, marital status, religious affiliation) and the remaining 30-40% is how a person thinks and acts.

She chooses eleven areas of focus, one for each month, reserving the last month for reflection.

Energy

Parenthood

Friendship

Mindfulness

Marriage

Work

Play

Passion

Eternity

Attitude

Money

Then each month she reflects on her goal area, creates some goals to work on within that topic, and creates constant reminders for herself so she can breed success.

She says good goals need to be:

concrete

measurable

with structured accountability

and positive reinforcement

Keeping these in mind, I have created my own schedule of Happiness Boosting for the next year, from April 2014-March 2015.

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Two of my favorite parts of the book are Gretchen's "12 Commandments"

and her "Secrets of Adulthood".

To understand fully, you just have to read the book, but basically the 12 commandments are her new "life rules" and her "Secrets of Adulthood" are truths she has learned or picked up along the way, such as "It is easier to complain than to be satisfied" referring to the difficulty we find when trying to be happy.

So I have created my own lists.  I will keep adding to these as the project grows.  I will be posting my own personal commandments and my own "Secrets of Adulthood" in the coming days.

I am so excited to be on this journey and hope it inspires you to find more joy in your life as well!