Books for inspiration - The Happiness Project

I love reading about other people's experiences when they have made changes in their lives and about what happened as a consequence, and as part of my blog I thought I would revisit the books that have interested and inspired me. The first one to get a mention has to be the one that inspired this blog - 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin.

In March this year I read an interview with Gretchen Rubin in The Sunday Times Magazine entitled 'Meet Gretchen Rubin, the Happiness Bully' in which In the interviewer talked to Gretchen about  her first book 'The Happiness project'. My interest piqued, I ordered the book from the library and set down to read.

In 'The Happiness Project', Gretchen writes about her quest to test of the theories of what makes us happier, taken from  positive psychology, science, philosophy and other sources or wisdom and applying them to her own life. Each month she focused on a different area and set herself challenges and resolutions that she would try to uphold.  She then examines how the changes she made affected her life and her perception of how happy she felt.

It's an interesting book to read, as Gretchen writes in an engaging and open style. She is also honest about the things that don't go according to plan, and you get a sense of a real person behind the book, rather than some idealized perfect lifestyle. She recognizes that her own needs and desires are unique to herself and that things that others might enjoy, such as socializing at parties, might not be what makes her happy - in her case she has a preference for curling up with a good book.

She covers a number of topics that research into positive psychology shows to be important for happiness including; our relationships with others, the need to exercise,  the need to find value and meaning in what we do, and to challenge ourselves. 

I enjoyed reading the book. It's not a scientific discussion of the theories of positive psychology (there are other better books on that), but rather an anecdotal and thought provoking account of her personal story, and others that share their thoughts on her blog. One of the values of hearing other people's stories is that it can inspire you to take action yourself, and when I read about her challenge to herself to start a blog, I thought 'I could do that too.' The joy of a blog is that there's very little to stop you getting started, once you have decided to be a blogger. You can set yourself a challenge to start then just get on with it! So  I have to say 'Thankyou' to Gretchen for being part of the inspiration behind my blogging about my own project of embracing the changes in my life.