A quotation from Anthony Trollope.
A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules. --Anthony Trollope.
Twelve Personal Commandments
Four Splendid Truths
- First: To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
- Second: One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
- Third: The days are long, but the years are short. (click the link to see my one-minute movie)
- Fourth: You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
What Started Me Thinking
- "The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer somebody else up." Mark Twain
- “There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” Robert Louis Stevenson
- "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:41-42
- “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.” Simone Weil
- “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” Colette
- “It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light.” G. K. Chesterton
- “A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.” Joseph Addison
- “Best is good. Better is best.” Lisa Grunwald
- “Order is Heaven’s first law.” Alexander Pope
Happiness Theories I Reject
- Flaubert: "To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless."
- Vauvenargues: “There are men who are happy without knowing it.”
- Eric Hoffer: “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
- Sartre: "Hell is other people."
- Willa Cather: “One cannot divine nor forecast the conditions that will make happiness; one only stumbles upon them…”
- Alexander Smith: “We are never happy; we can only remember that we were so once.”
- John Stuart Mill: “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.”
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Gretchen Rubin is the best-selling writer whose book, The Happiness Project, is the account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier. Here, she shares her insights to help you create your own happiness project.
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One Minute Movies
Wednesday Tips
- August 3: Looking for some reading suggestions in children'
- July 27: 7 books that changed the way I see the world.
- July 13: 7 tips for making happy decisions about how to spend your time, energy, and money.
- July 6: If I can't accomplish anything else today, I can do these 10 things.
- June 29: How to keep reality tv from ruining your life.
- June 22: Want to feel happier by the end of the day? Your menu of options.
- June 15: 10 widespread myths about happiness -- do you believe any of these?
- June 8: 7 tips for minding my own business.
- May 18: 6 tips for battling loneliness.
- May 11: Are you always late? 7 tips to arrive on time.
- May 4: 8 reasons why Twitter can boost your happiness.
- April 27: 7 tips for giving effective praise.
- April 20: 8 reasons why waiting in line drives us crazy.
- April 13: 9 Tips To Quit Nagging.
- April 6: Quiz: Are you a moderator or an abstainer, when trying to give something up.
- March 23: 11 happiness paradoxes to contemplate as you think about your happiness project.
- March 16: 7 ways I violate some standard happiness advice.
- March 9: Quiz: What's your personality type -- for play?
I keep appreciating your posts contributing to happiness.
I usually read your blog in bloglines, I had not seen your twelve commandments. I appreciate the cogent commandments and wish you all the best on being Gretchen.
David
Posted by: David Zinger | March 03, 2007 at 06:13 PM
This quote totally rocks!! I will use it with my clients as I assist them in learning new habits. Awesome awesome awesome! Thanks!
~Monica
Posted by: Monica Ricci | March 03, 2007 at 10:09 PM
When I saw Trollope's name, I had to comment. I was born in Banagher, County Offaly, Republic of Ireland (my email address)and came to the U.S. in 1956. A nugget that I brought with me is that Anthony Trollope was the Postmaster of Banagher for approximately three years. I used to walk past his former house on Cuba Avenue daily on my way to the Banagher National School.
Posted by: Brendan Loonam | March 06, 2007 at 01:51 PM
I agree with the quote, but the Herculean tasks are so much more interesting. Daily maintenance is boring (you can see how well I empathize with my clients!).
Posted by: Alex Fayle | March 09, 2007 at 08:52 AM