WHAT’S THIS BOOK ABOUT?
“ What is happiness and how can we bring more of it into our lives? Gretchen Rubin asked herself this question because although she fulfilled all the prerequisites for a happy life – an intact family, a good job and enough money for a rainy day – she found herself frequently unhappy. During her year-long Happiness Project, she read about various techniques and theories on increasing happiness and tried to become happier with their help.”
Besides reading the Blinkist (summary) to this book, I also actually purchased and read the entire book. Gretchen does an amazing job at pointing out little things that we can do to shift our life satisfaction and happiness. While a lot of them are basics (like getting enough sleep and exercise), the way she honestly shares about how she struggled with implementing these habits made me feel like I wasn’t alone. She also added tangible tips on how she was able to incorporate different lifestyle changes in a fun and fresh way.
I’m so excited to share with you 3 lessons I learned from this book! There’s so many nuggets of wisdom but these are some of my favs! Let jump in!
3 LESSONS:
- Pay attention to your energy and anything that drains it
Focus on what improves energy. Things like exercise, sleep, good nutrition and make sure to implement these into your daily routine. This helps your brain and body function properly and boosts serotonin which helps you feel happiness. Get rid of outer and inner clutter. Donate or sell things that you don’t use, need or love. For mental clutter, try to get nagging tasks completed or don’t have them on your to-do list in the first place. - Focus on your relationship with your partner, it impacts a lot of the other areas in your life
You can’t change your partner. All you can do is focus on working on yourself. Communication is important but don’t think nagging is a part of the solution. For every 1 bad encounters, counteract that with 5 positive encounters. What you do everyday is more important than what you do once in a while. Remember that! - Become aware of happiness in the here and now
“the days are long but the years are short.” this quote helped Gretchen understand that her life is not infinite and to bring her attention back to the present moment. What really helped her with this was keeping a gratitude journal and writing about a memories or events that she loved from the day. This gave her an instant boost of happiness and fulfillment.
The Happiness Project REVIEW:
I’m a big fan of this book and the personal stories that are scattered throughout. I love it even more because the author uses science and research so it’s credible but also easy-to-read and fun. If you plan on picking up this book, I think it’d be so fun if you started it in January since the whole point of the Happiness Project was to focus on one area of her life– month by month.
Want more of these reviews? Let me know! Or better yet, join Blinkist!
with love and good books,
Bella
