I've finally finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Here are the parts that I highlighted:
"I wanted to change myself but accept myself. I wanted to take myself less seriously -- and also more seriously. I wanted to use my time well, but I also wanted to wander, to play, to read at whim. I wanted to think about myself so I could forget myself. I was always on the edge of agitation; I wanted to let go of envy and anxiety about the future, yet keep my energy and ambition."
"Hugging relieves stress, boosts feelings of closeness, and even squelches pain. In one study, people assigned to give five hugs each day for a month, aiming to hug as many different people as they could, became happier."
"'When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.' -C. S. Lewis"
"Eliza said to me, 'You know what I was just thinking? 'I'm in the pool, it's summer, I'm seven years old, I'm wearing a very cute bathing suit, and my grandmother is asking me if I want anything to eat or drink.'' By which she meant: Life doesn't get better than this."
"When I made the effort to reach out for them, I found that the ruby slippers had been on my feet all along; the bluebird was singing outside my kitchen window."
I'm going to order this book from the library right now ! I had it before but didn't really have time to read it - thanks for this post xo s + gang
ReplyDeleteI read this in January of 2011 and it was the beginning of my undoing. I know that sounds bad, but it wasn't. Reading Gretchen Rubin's account on becoming aware of what happiness was for her, helped me to identify it for myself.
ReplyDeleteSo much of what I was doing in life was counter-productive to true happiness.
I think back to her book often and will always credit it for being a catalyst in the year of change wherein I found my heart and spirit again.
Susan - I was in the same boat as you! Checked it out from the library last year, was short on time, and then my mom bought it for me recently so I could finish it!
ReplyDeleteDalyce - Wow. Isn't it great when a book resonates that way?