Non Fiction
THE HAPPINESS PROJECT
Gretchen Rubin
Published: Dec 25, 2015(Revised Edition)
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Pages: 368
For some, happiness means a cold glass of beer on a hot summer day. For others, it might be a good cup of coffee and a book to the pitter-patter of rain outside. Sleeping in late during the weekends is also said to make quite a lot of people extremely happy. What makes you happy today might not do so tomorrow, and what makes one person happy might have no effect whatsoever on someone else. But one thing is certain: We are all in our own little quests for happiness, and the pursuit of happiness is a never-ending one. That is where The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin can come to your rescue. This book is a great read to, in a way, understand happiness and try to devise your own pathway to bliss. Rubin, an author, wife and mother of two, felt she had lost her ability to find happiness in day-to-day life despite having everything she could ever want—a loving husband, wonderful kids, good health, and a career she was content with.
However, one day she had an epiphany of sorts when she was on a bus. She felt she was just going through the days without truly enjoying them. Rubin wanted to know what it was that was stopping her from being truly happy, and she decided to devote a year to what she called ‘The Happiness Project’.
The book is the outcome of Rubin’s own experiments in trying to improve her life, one resolution at a time while putting to test classic advice on happiness, from Thoreau to Oprah, to find out what works and what doesn’t. From boosting energy and making time for love to pursing a passion and being lighthearted, Rubin tackles one aspect of her life every month and works on it before moving on to another. This allows you to reflect on your own life and take in little nuggets of wisdom, learning from Rubin’s experiences. You are saved the hit and trail run that Rubin had to go through.
The memoir style writing is what makes The Happiness Project an engaging read and, because Rubin is never preachy, it’s unlike any other self-help book you have ever read. She never tells you what to do.
She just shows you what she did and how it affected her life, and implores you to identify areas in your life that you would like to work on (just like she did) and create your own happiness project in the process. Her book is just a rough guideline to get you started. And, believe us, it works.
For more of Rubin’s advice, you can visit her website that has podcasts and blogs as well. Her other works on happiness include The Four Tendencies, Better than Before, and Happier at Home.
