The Happiness Project {Book Review}

I recently read and finished the book, The Happiness Project. It really was a good read and gave many good ideas of how to slow down, be in the now, and enjoy life. The author, Gretchen Rubin, made a plan and monthly resolutions for one year to achieve a higher level of happiness in her current life. She came up with many tasks and projects to expand her world and bring more happiness to herself.
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It really is up to us to create a happy life. Life is all about attitude and how you choose to spend your time.

As I read, many statements stood out to me, ones that really hit home or made me think.

• To eke out the most happiness from an experience we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory.

• You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you like to do.

• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make others happy; one of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy yourself.

• Do good, feel good; feel good, do good.

• Act the way you want to feel.

• Always remember, there is an I in happiness.

• The days are long but the years are short.

• If you don't believe you're happy, you're not. Publilius Syrus observed, "No man is happy who does not think himself so."

• Gratitude is important to happiness. Studies show that consistently grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their life; they even are more physically healthy and exercise more. Gratitude even brings freedom from envy because when you are grateful for what you have you are not consumed with wanting something different or something more. That, in turn, makes it easier to live within yours means and be generous to others.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially to someone who feels in a rut and needs a wake-up call or different prospective on how to think about and treat their current situation.