The Happiness Project: This Wednesday: Seven tips on how simultaneously to boost your happiness and safeguard the environment.

My Twelve Commandments

1. Be Gretchen.
2. Let it go.
3. Act as I would feel.
4. Do it now.
5. Be polite and be fair.
6. Enjoy the process.
7. Spend out.
8. Identify the problem.
9. Lighten up.
10. Do what ought to be done.
11. No calculation.
12. There is only love.

Secrets of Adulthood.

By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished.
People don’t notice your mistakes and flaws as much as you think.
It's nice to have plenty of money.
Most decisions don't require extensive research.
Try not to let yourself get too hungry.
Even if you think they are fake holidays, it's nice to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day.
If you can't find something, clean up.
The days are long, but the years are short.
Someplace, keep an empty shelf.
Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch.
It's okay to ask for help.
You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you LIKE to do.
Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy.
What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.
You don't have to be good at everything.
Soap and water removes most stains.
It's important to be nice to EVERYONE.
You know as much as most people.
Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.
Eat better, eat less, exercise more.
What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.
People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry.
Houseplants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.
If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.
No deposit, no return.

Month-by-month goals for the Happiness Project.

December: The way of perfection.
November: Take the extra step.
October: Try hypnosis.
September: Write a novel.
August: Contemplate the heavens.
July: Buy a white t-shirt; throw away a white t-shirt.
June: Eat a peach.
May: Laugh out loud.
April: Remember birthdays.
March: Start a blog.
February: Sing in the morning.
January: Clear my closets.

Happiness theories I reject.

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.”
G.K. Chesterton: “Happiness is a mystery, like religion, and should never be rationalised.”
Solon: “Let no man be called happy before his death. Till then, he is not happy, only lucky.”

StatCounter2

Every Wednesday is Tip Day.
This Wednesday: Seven tips on how simultaneously to boost your happiness and safeguard the environment (in your own small way).

Monday was Blog Action Day, and bloggers across blogland posted about environmental issues. In honor of the occasion, I posted this week's tip early. Here they are in their proper time slot -- tips for the pursuit of happiness with a green twist:

1. Walk a mile instead of driving. Walking means you’re not adding gas fumes and rubber particles to the air, and at the same time, studies show, even a ten-minute walk lifts your mood and gives you a burst of energy.

2. Skip the bottled water. Fact is, there is no evidence that you need to drink eight glasses of water a day—this is a myth, folks! And you CERTAINLY don’t need a fresh plastic bottle each time you want some water!

3. Pause before you buy anything. Do you really need that gadget or gizmo? One study suggests that the average household could cut back on 40% of housework by cutting back on clutter, which almost certainly would boost your happiness considerably. And by not buying, you save resources that would be spend in production, transportation, and disposal.

4. Buy a gas-efficient car. Because of the hedonic treadmill, you quickly adapt to changed circumstances. Although you may fall in love with a gas-hog in the showroom, once you’ve had the car for a while, you’ll take it for granted—but stopping for gas is annoying every time.

5. Carpool. Unfortunately, a bad commute is something to which people never adjust; it’s a pain every single day. Studies show that we enjoy activities more when we do them with other people, so carpooling is better for your happiness as well as for the environment.

6. Pick up other people’s litter. Do good, feel good is a happiness truism that really is true. Act like a considerate citizen of the world, and you’ll boost your self-esteem.

7. Work in your garden. Research suggests that working with soil may boost mood by strengthening your immune system and flooding your brain with serotonin.

*
New to the Happiness Project? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top righthand corner.
If you're starting your own happiness project, please join the Happiness Project Group on Facebook to swap ideas. It's easy; it's free.

What started me thinking.

"Whoever is happy will make others happy, too." 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
“For the love of God and my Sisters (so charitable toward me) I take care to appear happy and especially to be so.” St. Therese
“Best is good. Better is best.” Lisa Grunwald
“All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.” Samuel Johnson
“I must do the work that I am best suited for…” Edward Weston daybook
“Order is Heaven’s first law.” Alexander Pope
“How slight and insignificant is the thing which casts down or restores a mind greedy for praise.” Horace

Comments

May I also suggest decluttering. Our planet contains roughly the same amount of particles for billions of years. Hoarding any kind of resources will have an effect on the environment. Studies have also shown that 40% of housework can be eliminated when we get rid of clutter. Less dusting = happy.

Posted by: adora | October 18, 2007 at 09:42 AM

Yes, I agree! See #3. We clearly read the same study!

Posted by: Gretchen Rubin | October 18, 2007 at 04:56 PM