The Happiness Project

Other than Ignore Everybody, I’m not sure I have actually finished a book in over a decade. I usually read books – of any size, on any subject, like this:  first few chapters then to the last chapter and flip in between the rest until another book trumps it’s place on the side table. (Sidenote: I used to be really embarrassed about this – cause be honest, you clearly just judged me for not being able to finish what I start, right? I know! And I’m now really okay with it…because that is just how i read books!)

Until The Happiness Project hit the shelves….

I’ve followed Gretchen’s blog for quite some time. A friend read a review in the Globe and told me that “The Happiness Project is pure Corkchop”! And then while gallivanting the streets of Vancouver during the games, my partner-in-crime told me she had a coupon for Chapters, so we did what any raving Vancouver fan would do and went shopping! I left with The Happiness Project…and quite literally couldn’t put it down. After Chapter2, I began recommending it everyone I spoke with.

It’s written by a lawyer, who lives a wonderful life in the Upper Eastside with a caring husband and two beautiful daughters. Nothing was wrong in her life, per say, but she thought she could be happier. And what I love the most, is that it is her story, told straight from the hip – about her journey to a higher level of happy, written as any good lawyer would write. In fact, it almost feels like you are in a court room and she’s defending happiness! She determines 12 Resolutions – one for each month of the year – and builds off of them, so by December she is now living with 12 enhancements to happy. Oh Snap!

Because I think you should read this book, I will not spoil the stories, but I will share my favorites (cause they are fabulous!):

* 12 Commandments: to keep her in check while pursuing her resolutions (not goals, because goals have an end date – resolutions do not!)
1. Be Gretchen. –> my absolute favorite. I will commit to “Be Steph Corker Irwin”, always.
2. Let it go.
3. Act the way I want to 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.

* “There is an I in ‘happiness’” –> Hello, Self-Responsibility! It’s so nice to meet you!

* On why you should keep a Gratitude Notebook? “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.” --> I started one in October 2009, because I knew that in one year, I’d want to look back and grin over what was once “the best part of my day”… and how it had only gotten SO! MUCH! BETTER! Highly recommended!

I just finished this book – I read it cover to cover. It made me smile. It made me feel real. It made me realize how many people really just want a lil Mo’Happy!

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. – Robert Louis Stevenson