The Happiness Project: Happiness interview with me.

I’m working on a book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, a memoir of the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happy--from Aristotle to Martin Seligman to Thoreau to Oprah. On this daily blog, I recount my adventures as I grapple with the challenge of being happier. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT will hit the shelves in December 2009 (Harper).

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

"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
“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.”

Happiness interview with me.

Carriedanielle_2 A few days ago, I interviewed Carrie and Danielle – and they just did an interview with me.

It was a lot of fun. It’s always interesting to see how different people pose questions about happiness. Everyone comes at it from a different angle and emphasizes different aspects.

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Posted July 10, 2008 in Interview

Comments

I would love to read the interview, but their choice of light gray type on a white background is too low contrast for my eyes. Too bad; chances are good that their site would be interesting to me but the design stopped me cold!

Posted by: Louise | July 10, 2008 at 01:14 PM

Louise, When I find websites difficult to read, I copy and paste the type into a word document and change the font color and/or size. This article would be worth the effort!

Best Wishes.

Posted by: Frances | July 10, 2008 at 02:56 PM

Louise, I agree that a lot of people don't think about the readability of their Website and assume everybody has great vision or a high-quality screen. White (or yellow) on a black background is even worse than gray on white.

Posted by: HuntGrunt | July 10, 2008 at 11:35 PM

Your site is fabulous! Especially for women as we tend to neglect ourselves and negate our thoughts.

1. Golden Rule: Treat others as you'd want to be treated.
2. Listen to God every minute of the day. He has you next to someone for a reason. I learned that when speaking with someone, and have said something God wanted me to say - I GET chill bumps every time.
3. Listen hardily; speak slowly.
4. Include all of your sisters in this life; in your life. DON'T forget them.
5. We're all angels with one wing; we cannot fly without each other. It's okay to ask for help.

I shall work on my further commandments for happiness. Thanks for listening.

Posted by: Carol Anne | July 13, 2008 at 05:38 PM

Hi Gretchen,
If you are interested in emotion theories, you can see mine at:
http://subjectsandrelations.com/
I believe there are five different types of happiness. Although my theory isn't actually about how to be happy, it places happiness in context with the other most common emotions.

Posted by: John Huber | July 22, 2008 at 02:02 AM

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Gretchen Rubin is a best-selling writer whose new book, The Happiness Project, is an account of the year she spent test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier. On this blog, she shares her insights to help you create your own happiness project.