On Sale December 29, 2009

Transcription

1 On Sale December 29, 2009 The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin On Sale: 12/29/09 $25.99

2 The Happiness Project Bonus Materials Each person s happiness project will be unique, but it s the rare person who can t benefit from starting one. Your happiness project can begin any time and last as long as you choose. You can start small (put your keys away in the same place every night) or start big (repair your relationships with your family). It s up to you. If you d like to see an example, or you re not sure where to start, check out my book, The Happiness Project. There, I describe the year I spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture I report on what worked, what didn t, and how I organized my happiness project. I hope that reading the account of my happiness project will encourage you to start your own. Whenever you read this, and wherever you are, you are in the right place to begin. To help you start your happiness project, in these materials, you ll find: The Happiness Project Manifesto: a quick summary of some of the most important observations about happiness. Top Tips: tips that people have found particularly helpful. Resolutions Chart: my own personal Resolutions Chart, for you to consider as an example. The last page is blank, so you can use it as a template for your happiness project. Also, check out The Happiness Project Toolbox for more tools to use for your happiness project, at

3 The Happiness Project Manifesto To be happy, you need to consider feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, and an atmosphere of growth. 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. The days are long, but the years are short. You re not happy unless you think you re happy. Your body matters. Happiness is other people. Think about yourself so you can forget yourself. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. G. K. Chesterton What s fun for other people may not be fun for you, and vice versa. Best is good, better is best. Outer order contributes to inner calm. Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have. You can choose what you do, but you can t choose what you like to do. There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. Robert Louis Stevenson You manage what you measure. Loving actions inspire loving feelings. The opposite of a great truth is also true.

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12 JANUARY S RESOLUTIONS: Clear My Closets (boosting my energy) Order is Heaven s first law. Alexander Pope

13 FEBRUARY S RESOLUTIONS: Quit Nagging (working on my marriage) It is easy to be heavy; hard to be light. G. K. Chesterton

14 MARCH S RESOLUTION: Launch a Blog (working on career and leisure) I must do the work that I am best suited for... Edward Weston

15 APRIL S RESOLUTION: Sing in the Morning (working to be a better parent) That very night in Max s room a forest grew and grew and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls become the world all around... Maurice Sendak

16 MAY S RESOLUTION: Remember Birthdays (cultivating friendships) Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship. Epicurus

17 JUNE S RESOLUTION: Eat a Peach (challenging myself) Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in... learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature... W. H. Auden

18 JULY S RESOLUTION: Buy Some Happiness (spending money to boost happiness) The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose. William Cowper

19 AUGUST S RESOLUTION: Contemplate the Heavens (considering matters of spirit) Contemplate the extent and stability of the heavens, and then at last cease to admire worthless things. Boethius

20 SEPTEMBER S RESOLUTION: Write a Novel (spending more time with books) The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. Carl Jung

21 OCTOBER S RESOLUTION: Try Hypnosis (finding psychological shortcuts) Action and feeling go together... by regulating action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling... William James

22 NOVEMBER S RESOLUTION: Laugh Out Loud (lightening my attitude) Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. Mark Twain

23 DECEMBER S RESOLUTION: Follow the Way of Perfection (acting with greater love) I know of no other way to perfection but love. St. Therese

24 THIS MONTH S RESOLUTION: (choose a quotation)