book plug

I have been a member, albeit a silent member, of a book club.  The first book that we read was the bestseller called "The Happiness Project".  It rode on the wave of books that were written to document a year-long experience (see The Year of Living Biblically, Julie and Julia, and Eat, Pray, Love).  According to the author, Gretchen Rubin, she was a lawyer (clerked for supreme court judge, Sandra Day O'Connor) and realized that, though she wasn't unhappy, she could increase her quality of life greatly.  She did research (which apparently is her gift) on happiness and it was rather enlightening.  The research wasn't enlightening but that she took it to heart and than aligned several personal resolutions in order to increase her own happiness.  By increasing her own happiness she would thereby increase the happiness of those around her.  Also, research shows that when you feel happy you do good and when you do good you feel happy.  Pretty true and obvious but she was working to live it.  It does sound selfish upon first thought but her resolutions are about making improvements to herself that only benefit others in turn. 

This book inspired me.  The ideas freed me up to pursue goals more proactively and thoughtfully.  A few points that stood out to me that i would like to share are:

*Be Gretchen...um...I mean Guitta.  Gretchen came back to this point again and again.  Her interests are not someone else's and vice versa.  It resonated with me that there are activities and interests that I think are good and cool to like but aren't something that I truly enjoy.  There are lots of things that I wish I was interested in but would not be true to who I am.  I think it would be a very intellectual and cool thing if I were to travel to exotic places, experiencing different parts of the globe.  However, when I am honest with myself I'm not sure that I would enjoy it that much.  I enjoy the conveniences of my small piece of the world.  I've travelled enough to get it out of my system for now.  I don't yearn to travel like so many cool people do.  Global travel doesn't excite me but national travel does.  I am being me. (Stretching and trying new things is also a resolution of Gretchen's, too).

*Things you enjoyed at 10 years old are probably pretty similar to what makes you happy today.  Her example was she enjoyed cutting and gluing from magazines onto blank books.  She began to do similar projects, in grown up versions, that she enjoyed. 

This is just a very small sample of what is in store for the reader.  I hope you pick it up.  Tell me what you think, if you do.