{"id":149370,"date":"2010-01-07T10:47:40","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=8527"},"modified":"2010-01-07T10:47:40","modified_gmt":"2010-01-07T15:47:40","slug":"the-happiness-project-or-why-i-spent-a-year-trying-to-sing-in-the-morning-clean-my-closets-fight-right-read-aristotle-and-generally-have-more-fun-by-gretchen-rubin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/149370","title":{"rendered":"The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Before I even finished the book, I had already preordered multiple copies of Gretchen Rubin<\/a>\u2019s latest title, The Happiness Project<\/a>: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun<\/em>. Which means if you\u2019re looking for an enlightening, laugh-aloud read, get the book and forget the rest of this\u00a0review. If you need more convincing, let me count the monthly ways….<\/p>\n

Gretchen Rubin already had a pretty good life. She\u2019s married to the man of her dreams, has two \u201cdelightful\u201d daughters, is a bestselling author with a Yale law degree, is healthy, and lives in her favorite city surrounded by supportive family and friends. But she\u2019s also prone to misbehavior that undermines her well-being: she loses her temper over trivial things, and fights melancholy and insecurity, not to mention that unshakable guilt.<\/p>\n

One morning on a city bus, Rubin had a startling epiphany: \u201cI was suffering from midlife malaise \u2013 a recurrent sense of discontent and almost a feeling of disbelief … \u2018Is this really it?\u2019\u201d Asking herself what she really wanted, her answer seemed simple: \u201cI want to be happy.\u201d Like most of us, she \u201chad never thought about what made [her] happy or how [she] might be happier.\u201d But unlike most of us, she actually figured out how: \u201cI decided to dedicate a year to trying to be happier.\u201d And she gives the rest of us great hope because she did so without making radical changes like running off to Indonesia. Rubin assures us, \u201cI wanted to change my life without changing my life, by finding more happiness in my own kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

First she planned and prepared. She compiled her own \u201cTwelve Commandments,\u201d which begins with the all-important \u201cBe Gretchen,\u201d and her \u201cgoofier list\u201d of \u201cSecrets of Adulthood,\u201d which includes tried-and-tested gems like, \u201cBy doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished,\u201d and Luddite-loving zingers like, \u201cTurning the computer on and off a few times often fixes glitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armed and ready, Rubin set off on her year-long journey. Superbly organized into amusing step-by-step months, Happiness Project<\/em> is a definite success \u2013 just reading it will make you happier. Rubin manages to offer plausible, solid suggestions for what worked for her; she\u2019s great at navigating that delicate line between \u201cjust do this,\u201d and \u201cyou might want to try that.\u201d As self-help books go, Rubin\u2019s works because it\u2019s filled with open, honest glimpses into her real life, woven together with\u00a0constant doses of humor. She begins the year boosting her energy to be better prepared for the next 11 months: In January, she sleeps more, exercises better, and cleans out her closets. February is spent working on her marriage: She vows to nag less, fight right, and \u201cnot to eat a half pound of M&Ms on an empty stomach.\u201d …[click here for more<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: Christian Science Monitor<\/em>, January 7, 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

Tidbit<\/strong>: Hee hee ho ho … a dear friend emailed me to let me know that apparently I made Gretchen Rubin pretty happy … scroll down to bottom of her post on her Happiness blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2009<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I even finished the book, I had already preordered multiple copies of Gretchen Rubin\u2019s latest title, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Which means if you\u2019re looking for an enlightening, laugh-aloud read, get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2824,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2824"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}