The Happiness Project Analysis

I decided to read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and found it to be overall pleasing. In this book, Rubin records her yearlong pursuit to figure out what phases one can take to raise happiness. Rubin 's journey is very personal, thoroughly researched, fun, easy-to-read yet full of challenges. I found it interesting to see Rubin 's process. It was also nice to see the whole process and Rubin shows and explains the amount of energy she put into this project by constantly documenting and trying to further her knowledge on different topics. Rather than over-simplifying and dealing with things being too general, Rubin has solid and specific steps that one can take to be more happy; ("pursue a passion", "laugh out loud"), and some are more …show more content…
January Boost Energy - Vitality, February Remember Love - Marriage, March Aim Higher - Work, April Lighten Up - Parenthood, MAY Be Serious About Play - Leisure, June Make Time for Friends - Friendship, July Buy Some Happiness - Money, August Contemplate the Heavens - Eternity, September Pursue a Passion - Books, October Pay Attention - Mindfulness, November Keep a Contented Heart - Attitude, and December Boot Camp Perfect - Happiness. While many of these categories could relate back to something that was discussed in class, one thing that really stood out was Rubin’s April goal, to lighten up when it comes to being a parent. It is discussed that raising children can be hard, but many times if a child is acting out, they just want to be heard and how a child expressing bad feelings sound not be dismissed, but instead should be accepted and communicated so that the child knows it is ok to feel these things and how to better communicate these feelings. This brought me back to a video watched in class where the daughter was disrespecting the mothers house rules, as well as her mother in general. This mother had given up trying to discipline her child, but it makes one wonder, if that mother took the path that Rubin took, would things have been different? Would the daughter have a greater willingness to open up to the mother about her emotions? Personally, I feel that self-awareness is a very helpful trait. I think that without self-awareness I would not be in the place that I am now emotionally. Self-awareness helped me to realize that sometimes I need to get help before I become destructive. Like Rubin, I try to actively practice mindfulness by meditation and have found it to be very helpful. It helps me to calmly let go of whatever events may have happened that day, or whatever events are causing my body and mind to be stressed. As the textbook