Erin's Book #21: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

For one year, Gretchen Rubin attempts to improve her life and make herself happier. After spending several months researching (Rubin is clearly very Type A), she identifies twelve commandments, most notably "Be Gretchen" and "Act the way I want to feel". Each month has a different focus - marriage, parenthood, work, friendship, etc.

It might sound a bit hokey, but I'm now inspired to do my own variation; nothing quite as rigid as this, but I think we can all benefit from trying to be happier. Rubin spends a lot of time contemplating the validity of her quest - is it selfish to focus so much energy on your own happiness? Ultimately she decides that the only way to make others happy is to be happy yourself. "One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself."

There's a lot I related to in this book - "Be Gretchen" most significantly so. She likes the idea of certain hobbies more than she enjoys actually participating in them, she doesn't approve of her own music taste, she worries about not feeling legitimate. But as she keeps telling herself, the important thing is to just recognize what she genuinely enjoys and embrace it. I think it can be all too easy to focus on the way we think we should be, without just worrying about how we are.

She takes on a lot of projects, both large and small, tracking her resolutions on a chart as she goes. She writes a novel in a month (based on a book called No Plot, No Problem! which I will most definitely be checking out), takes a drawing class, starts a blog and a children's literature reading group. But she also makes small personal resolutions - learn to laugh (especially at yourself), savor the moment, etc.

The Project is full of great little nuggets. Here are a few of my favorites:

• "There is no love; there are only proofs of love"
• Enjoy the fun of failure
• Imagine the eulogy: how do I want to be remembered?
• "It's easier to complain than to laugh, easier to yell than to joke around, easier to be demanding than to be satisfied." Or in simpler terms, "It's easy to be heavy; hard to be light"

There's a lot to draw on. It's interesting to read about someone else's journey (especially as her's was so fully researched; she could quote someone for nearly every topic she mentions), but mostly it really inspired me to do my own. It's by no means a typical self-help book, if it would fall into that category at all. Perhaps self-exploration would be a better label? Regardless, I'll definitely be starting my own and I look forward to increased happiness!