This month we read 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin. We had a very small group tonight, just four of us to discuss, it's a busy time of year to try and coordinate schedules with everyone. We had three people give the book a 4 and a stick in the mud who didn't like the book. This book is very comparable to a Eat, Pray, Love (Which I loved)type book.
The book is about Gretchen, a woman living in New York who has it all. A loving husband, a job she loves, two kids and makes a good living. But one day decides though she isn't unhappy, is she really at her happiest potential, and doesn't quite appreciate the good life she has enough.
Researching the crap out of anything with happiness she decides to start her own happiness project. Every month for a year she will dedicate the month to something new to up her happiness level, from finding a hobby, focusing on love to lightening up a bit she uses the guidance of others to explore what really does happiness mean, and is finding ones own happiness a selfish thing to do.
You could categorize this as a self help, I like to call it more a self awareness book. Some of the things she brings up are duh! no brainers and others make you think a bit and reflect on your own life a bit. I like books that make me think about things in a different way or reflect how I feel about certain things. It's always nice to feel not alone in something.
You can check out Gretchen's blog http://www.happiness-project.com/ that she started as one of her resolutions.
There are lots of things I took away from this book, I dog-eared several pages of things that struck me as interesting and things I want to look into a little more.
I know I've been away for well.. a week. But my brain has been mush. Reading a book like this has lit a fire under my butt once again... sometimes you just need a nudge in the right direction or a little bit of inspiration from unexpected places.
In the book Gretchen starts a one sentence journal, because she's too busy to write the novel like entries we all associate with good journalers. So bear with me, but on days where the brain is too much mush I think I can at least write one sentence about my day or list my favorite part of my day because even though I may have had a crappy day, there was someone or something that made it worth it. Even if it's just sharing a laugh, that's at least something.
"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." - Frederick Keonig
I cant wait to read this!
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