I’m only on page 73, but I highly recommend this book! I’m loving it ~ Gretchen Rubin is absolutely inspiring. Often times I find that the quotes on the back of a book give ‘false-hope’ or overly glorify a writer, but this is not the case here. I won’t even begin to phrase it better than others; these remarks are dead-on: “This book made me happy in the first five pages. And the more I read it, the happier I got” … “A cross between the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, seamlessly buttressed by insights from sources as diverse as sychological scientists, novelists, poets, and philosophers, Gretchen Rubin’s book is one that readers will revisit again and again as they seek to fulfill their own dreams of happiness.”
I’ve found myself several times saying to my boyfriend, “hey babe – listen to this!” I’m a quote lover, so here are a few of my favorite little snippets so far:
“It is by studying little things,” wrote Samuel Johnson, “that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible” (p. 37).
“What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while” (p. 41).
“We hugged — for at least six seconds, which, I happened to know from my research, is the minimum time necessary to promote the flow of oxycontin and serotonin, mood-boosting chemicals that promote bonding” (p. 45).
“Give proofs of love” (p. 56). “One of the great joys of falling in love is the feeling that the most extraordinary person in the entire world has chose you” (p. 60).
“My Quaker grandparents, who were married seventy-two years, said that each married couple should have an outdoor game, like tennis or golf, and an indoor game, like Scrabble or gin, that they play together” (p. 62).
“So I arrived at my final formula, and it struck me as so important that I named it the First Splendid Truth… To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth” (p. 67).
As I said before, I highly recommend this book. Even if you only have time to read a page a day, it’s worth it.
Janelle - OK, you sold me. I’m heading to B&N today to pick up a copy!!April 1, 2011 – 11:59 am
dm designs - 🙂 You’ll thank me! Sadly, I haven’t had tons of free time for leisurely reading (b/w working full-time + grad school + art jobs…phew) But I seriously treasure the little bits of time I do have to read it ~ it’s the type of book you can read two pages of & then come back to in a few days ~ every bit is enjoyable ~ and, makes for a great treadmill read too!April 1, 2011 – 9:48 pm