Happiness

I was planning to write about sci-fi first because of some re-reads I finished recently but then I finished The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. So to keep my thoughts a little more current I wanted to talk about it first.

Happiness is one of those big overarching ideas that is the hidden drive behind many of our actions. We do this or that because we think it will make us happy. From ordering off a menu to committing to a person for a lifetime. Personally, being more of a critic, I am constantly having to remind myself that happiness is not something that some one achieves and then doesn't have to worry about anymore. It is not a single goal but a constant give and take. My biggest illusion is that happiness is waiting somewhere for me to find and if I haven't found it or can't carry it around with me that it is a fault of my own. That is of course a false assumption. Happiness can be mitigated by several factors in ones life. I think that Gretchen Rubin's reasoning, by the end of the book, for attempting a happiness project really resounded with me. Mainly because it was about wanting to take control of the things in her life that made her feel bad and to focus more on the good.

I think it is particularly important that she kept coming back to the idea that each person's project would be completely different. Especially because my critical perspective kept pointing out that she is an extrovert and being an introvert myself I don't feel I have as much energy available to me on a daily basis. I could be simplifying it and I am in a bit of a hibernation/hermit phase at the moment, but if I tried that much I would not make it a week. Which is fine because I am not her and the strongest idea in the book was really to be true to yourself.

Would I start a happiness project? Probably not to that extent but I have been walking more and I started this blog so it seems something has rubbed off. Anyway as a book it was well organized and interesting (one of my favorite catch-all words). I actually think I would enjoy reading the research books that she used as background for her project. I've been feeling kind of science-y lately.