The Happiness Project – It was Heather’s Pick!

Who the heck IS this Heather at my local bookseller? I picture her small and stooped over, with sexy librarian glasses and orthopedic shoes. She likes books, obviously, and when she does, a golden sticker graces it. I was going to complain how difficult it is to peel off… er… accept, it peeled off my copy just fine. Go figure. Well! It turns out, Heather is a real, live person and not at all like I pictured! See and read about her HERE.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is perfect as one of Heather’s picks… because… it’s just so darned HAPPY. Duh, right?

On her website, Rubin explains that The Happiness Project is no longer “just” a book… it is A MOVEMENT. I can understand that! I think… once you read it… you almost CAN’T NOT (ugh! double negative!) seek happiness… at least for a little while!

The book itself is lovely and has those neat cut pages I adore, along with the cover that folds in on each side and can be used as a kinda/sorta-bookmark. The contents are just as good and include a quiz, project guide and of course, the original book.

My mother will be happy to see this quote from her book: “Never start a sentence with the words ‘No offense.” ― Gretchen Rubin

In the late 1970’s – and yes, I know I’m dating myself, which sounds really weird, like I’m going out with myself when I mean “time-stamping”… I think… anyway, back in the day, we said, “No offense but… ” so many times that my mother actually wrote it into the household rules. As in, “No beginning a sentence with ‘No offense but.'” Know that the penalty was stiff, indeed. It may have included unloading the dishwasher but I can’t remember. Point is, I never said it again. Anyhow, it must have come back into vogue since this book is only nine years old and the quote is in it. It is a horrible thing to say, isn’t it?

No offense but your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. Sorry Monty Python.

So this project of Rubin’s lasted one year and she pretty-much went month-by-month. She tried all sorts of things and the list is more extensive than I would dare to list in one post… but I will say there is singing, sleeping, cleaning, loving, letting go of stuff and reading… and lots of other things. You may read aaaallll about it on her blog. Here is her first post, twelve years ago. As you can tell by the timeline, the blog came before the book. 🙂 Cool, right?

In her book, I especially like her Manifesto. I’m so in love with that word! Although, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post about Edie Weinstein’s book Womanifesto is even better! I want to take the word away from terrorists and let only happy people make these kinds of declarations!

My favorite declaration from Rubin’s book is this: Best is good, better is best. Let that sink in.

This book is super fun, joyous, optimistic and practical… which sounds funny to say, considering the subject matter… but ya know, being happy is a practical way to live your life, so it stays. I love this book and you will, too!