The Happiness Project

         

Do you have the ability to make yourself more happy? That was the question Gretchen Rubin asked herself a few years ago. She wasn’t depressed. In fact she viewed herself as a fairly happy person. She had a good life, was happily married, had two young daughters, she lived in her favorite city, New York and was a full-time writer. One day she realized life goes by fast and she didn’t think she appreciated her life very much. She complained and nagged too much. She wanted to be grateful and enjoy her life more. So, she decided to start a yearlong Happiness Project.

She came up with a list of areas in her life which she thought could use more happiness. They were Marriage, Parenting, Friends, Eternity, Attitude, Work, Play, Passion, Energy, Money and Mindfulness. She decided she would work on each one for a month and then add in the next area. For the month of December she would practice all the areas together.

She didn’t have much support when discussing this project. At first her family members, friends and even her husband thought it was a waste of time because she appeared to be happy enough. She decided to persevere anyway. She researched each area, created charts to mark her progress, and came up with some over arching principles she would incorporate into each month.

In January she began with the area of Energy. She wrote out what she could do to increase her energy. She thought she would need more energy to get through the rest of the areas and she knew she would be happier with increased energy. She made a list of things to do and then checked off each day as she did them.

Her action steps for January were:

         Go to sleep earlier.

         Exercise better.

         Toss, restore, and organize.

         Tackle a nagging task.

         Act more energetic.

It was interesting reading about her experiences and how she made a conscious effort to improve in these particular areas. Sometimes it came easy and sometimes she had to force herself to do things. She tried something and then reported whether it worked or not and at the end of each month she asked herself if she was happier than she was at the beginning of the month.

At the end of the book she encourages people to start their own Happiness Project. Each person is different and would have different areas of their life that are important to them, so each monthly list would be unique. She offers helpful resources on her website (gretchenrubin.com). 

         If you would like to increase your happiness, which area would you want to work on? Would you choose one of Gretchen Rubin’s categories? I would not have thought about Energy as a means to more happiness, but after making a concentrated effort to improve in that area, she decided having more energy did improve her happiness.

The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy.

 My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. John 10:10

 (This is part of a 31 day writing challenge, to write on the same topic everyday in October. This series is Joy in the Journey. To read others in this series, click here.)

 Joyfully,