The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin (2009) | Book Review
The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin Genres: Non-Fiction
Original Publication Date: 2011
Source: I purchased this book
Goodreads
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon
Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but the years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account, Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent pursuing current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.
Table of Contents
The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun is about the author’s attempts to create a happier life for herself.
Gretchen Rubin realized that despite having a seemingly “perfect” life she was not as happy as she should be.
She had a kind and loving husband, two beautiful daughters ages 7 and 1, and a law degree.
Rubin knew that she appeared to have it all but was discontented.
She had left the law for working full-time as a writer because she loved to write, but started wondering why she wasn’t happier.
I had everything I could possibly want – yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing crises, weary of struggling with my own nature, I too often failed to comprehend the splendor of what I had.
She also realized that “I wasn’t as happy as I could be, and my life wasn’t going to change unless I made it change.”
The Happiness Project
So Rubin started “The Happiness Project”, because she was trying to find a way to make herself happier and find out what is important to her.
Rubin not only wanted to make herself happier but those around her as well.
She de-cluttered her closets, ate better, and exercised more. Rubin also slept more, and tried to stop nagging her husband and children.
She also decided to not only be a better friend but to keep making new friends.
Rubin drew up charts, came up with her own solutions to her problems (including The Four Splendid Truths), and shared these solutions on her blog.
She sang in the mornings and collected bluebird figurines.
She also tried not to always expect others to appreciate her efforts, because she always expects “gold stars”. This was one of the hardest things for her to do.
Many of her ideas are quite sensible. Having a clean, orderly environment is essential.
Helping others and being a good friend are clearly important to true happiness. She realized “one of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy.”
Then we got to a sticky subject:
One of her solutions was about using money wisely. She says: “Prosperity allows us to turn our attention to more transcendent matters-to yearn for lives not just of material comfort but of meaning, balance, and joy.”
Final Analysis
This is where I stopped. Something had been bothering me.
I wondered when she said that her daughter would have lunch with her father-in-law in his office. I realized that he must have a pretty important job.
Rubin seems to wander around Manhattan without the children.
She seems to go on an endless round of cocktail parties, book clubs, and mysterious “meetings.”
Rubin’s husband is a big-time hedge fund manager.
Her father-in-law is Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary, big honcho at Goldman Sachs, and former director of Citigroup.
He’s worth over $100 million.
It must be nice never to have to worry about money. That would make me happy, too.
However, even the extremely privileged have their problems. Her husband suffers from Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal disease that attacks the liver.
Eventually, he will need a kidney transplant. He has participated in clinical trials for new drugs, but nothing seems to work.
So Rubin has also become involved in boosting the number of organ donations. She realized that helping others leads to happiness, too.
Rubin is clearly sincere about helping others find happiness. Her blog has inspired many others to start their own happiness projects.
You can read her blog here.
You can also read my review of Paris in Love by Eloisa James.
Thank you for reading The Literary Lioness!
No Comments
Silversolara
GREAT COMMENTS.
NEW FOLLOWER.
Stopping by from Cym Lowell's Book Review Party.
Elizabeth
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
The Literary Lioness
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Jessica@Team Rasler
I'd been following Gretchen's blog for a while before the book came out. I enjoy the blog and liked the book, but definitely found myself a bit irked by the same thing. She seemed to have plenty of money and free time. She has two young kids and so do I, and I promise I *never* have that kind of time that she did to take on new projects and read huge stacks of books. I felt a little guilty for being irked, but there it was.
The other thing that bothered me about the book was how often she quoted her blog comments in it. I wanted to read her words, rather than rereading things I'd already read in the months prior to its release.
Great review, thanks!
Alyssa Bornhorst
I really enjoyed your review! I did not know all that about Gretchen and her family, but I found it interesting nevertheless. Money would be something that would help, but I think that Gretchen shows a really good understanding of whee money plays in happiness.
savvyworkinggal
Found your blog thru SocraTeas. I was a regular reader of The Happiness Progect blog and wasn't planning on reading the book. After reading your interesting points about Gretchen, I'm crossing this book off my TBR list for good. Not worth my time.
The Literary Lioness
I do think the book contains a lot of the information that is already on the blog.
The Literary Lioness
Yes, she does. She does have good points to make in her book. I still wish that I had a lot of money, though. I would love not to have to worry about money. It would make life easier.
The Literary Lioness
She seems to have plenty of free time especially with two small children.