Quote of the Day

The imperfect book that gets published is better than the perfect book that never leaves my computer.

-- Gretchen Rubin

Quote of the Day

With each passing month, too, I realized the importance of my First Commandment, "Be Gretchen."  As great minds throughout the ages have pointed out, one of our most pressing concerns should be to discover the laws of our own nature.  I had to build my happiness on the foundation of my character; I had to acknowledge what really made me happy, not what I wished made me happy.  One of the biggest surprises of the happiness project was just how hard it was to know myself.  I'd always been slightly exasperated by philosophers' constant emphasis on what seemed to me to be a fairly obvious question, but in the end I realized that I would spend my whole life grappling with the question of how to "Be Gretchen."

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 288

Quote of the Day

One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make other people happy.  One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy myself.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 285

Quote of the Day

Enthusiasm is a form of social courage.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 269

Quote of the Day

A small child typically laughs more than four hundred times each day, and an adult -- seventeen times. 

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 259

Quote of the Day

An atmosphere of growth brings great happiness, but at the same time, happiness sometimes also comes when you're free from the pressure to see much growth.  That's not surprising; often, the opposite of a great truth is also true.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 231

Quote of the Day

Gratitude is important to happiness.  Studies show that consistently grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their lives; they even feel more physically healthy and spend more time exercising.  Gratitude brings freedom from envy, because when you're grateful for what you have, you're not consumed with wanting something different or something more.  That, in turn, makes it easier to live within your means and also to be generous to others.  Gratitude fosters forbearance -- it's harder to feel disappointed with someone when you're feeling grateful toward him or her.  Gratitude also connects you to the natural world, because one of the easiest things to feel grateful for is the beauty of nature.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 202-203

Quote of the Day

The satisfaction gained from the achievement of a large undertaking is one of the most substantial that life affords.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 226

Quote of the Day

But whatever your passion might be, happiness research predicts that making time for a passion and treating it as a real priority instead of an "extra" to be fitted in at a free moment (which many people practically never have) will bring a tremendous happiness boost.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p, 223

Quote of the Day

Refusing to be happy because someone else is unhappy, though, is a bit like cleaning your plate because babies are starving in India.  Your unhappiness isn't making anyone else happier -- in fact, quite the opposite, given the fact that happier people are more likely to act altruistically.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 216

Quote of the Day

Zest and enthusiasm take energy, humility, and engagement; taking refuge in irony, exercising destructive criticism, or assuming an air of philosophical ennui is less taxing.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 216

Quote of the Day

As I became more aware of the preciousness of ordinary life, I was overwhelmed by the desire to capture the floods of moments that passed practically unnoticed.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 198

Quote of the Day

A sense of growth is so important to happiness that it's often preferable to be progressing to the summit rather than to be at the summit.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 178

Quote of the Day

Fun is energizing.  But I have to admit it -- being Gretchen and accepting my true likes and dislikes bring me a kind of sadness ... It makes me sad for two reasons.  First, it makes me sad to realize my limitations.  The world offers so much! -- so much beauty, so much fun, and I am unable to appreciate most of it.  But it also makes me sad because, in many ways, I wish I were different.  One of my Secrets of Adulthood is "You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you like to do."  I have a lot of notions about what I wish I liked to do, about the subjects and occupations that I wish interested me.  But it doesn't matter what I wish I were like.  I am Gretchen.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 122

Quote of the Day

Family traditions make occasions feel special and exciting.  They mark the passage of time in a happy way.  They provide a sense of anticipation, security, and continuity.  Studies show that family traditions support children's social development and strengthen family cohesiveness.  They provide connection and predictability, which people -- especially children -- crave.  I know that I enjoy a holiday more when I know exactly what we're going to do and when we're going to do it.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 103

Quote of the Day

Oh, well, I told myself, if it's not one thing, it's another.  If I do my project my way, I'm unspiritual and gimmicky; if I tried to do it a different way, I'd be inauthentic and fake.  Might as well "Be Gretchen."

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 88

Quote of the Day

Too much concern about whether I was getting praise or blame, too much anticipatory anxiety about what my detractors would say -- those kinds of fears spoiled my pleasure in my work and, what's more, probably weakened my work. 

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 85-86

Quote of the Day

...one of the biggest challenges posed by my blog was the doubt raised by my own inner critic...I didn't want to be like the novelist who spent so much time rewriting his first sentence that he never wrote his second.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 78

Quote of the Day

One reason that challenge brings happiness is that it allows you to expand your self-definition.  You become larger.  Suddenly you can do yoga or make homemade beer or speak a decent amount of Spanish.  Research shows that the more elements make up your identity, the less threatening it is when any one element is threatened.  Losing your job might be a blow to your self-esteem, but the fact that you lead your local alumni association gives you a comforting source of self-respect.  Also, a new identity brings you into contact with new people and new experiences, which are also powerful sources of happiness.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 78

Quote of the Day

People don't notice your mistakes as much as you think.

-- Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, p. 75