The Happiness Project – Simply Inspiring

On Sunday I posted several quotes from this book, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun and guess what – I have a few more today. I will probably continue to comment and include my favorite portions until I’m done reading because frankly, as I said before, if you enjoy reading, give this book a chance ~ it is simply wonderful.

“Enthusiasm is more important to mastery than innate ability, it turns out, because the single most important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice” (p. 71).

I was pleased to read one of Rubin’s goals for March was to “Launch a Blog.” I instantly felt a bit of a connection with her. I’m not really sure what exactly inspired me to start mine this past fall, but I knew I would somehow benefit from an interactive portfolio/inspiration-keeper of sorts. I’ve always, since as young as I can remember, spent time journaling, sketching and brainstorming. I love it. “My research had revealed that challenge and novelty are key elements to happiness. The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing with an unexpected situation gives a powerful sense of satisfaction” (p. 74). Like many, I had no idea what I was doing at first with this blog, but over time it became a fun challenge to design, shape, and format items to be just the way I want. “My blog gave me a new identity, new skills, a new set of colleagues, and a way to connect with people who shared my interest” (p. 79). And, yesterday I stumbled upon this neat website called Blurb that can automatically transform a blog into a book. How neat is that?! All you bloggers out there may want to take a peak.

Another March goal of Rubin’s was to “ENJOY THE FUN OF FAILURE…” (yes, you read that right) “…W.H. Auden articulated this tension beautifully: “Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is out duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature beyond which we cannot trespass with impunity” … “It’s fun to fail, I kept repeating. It’s part of being ambitious; it’s part of being creative (p. 79).

On a separate happy note, at the beginning of December, I posted a cute and quirky piece “So Very Happy” by Studio Mela. My sweet boyfriend surprised me and ordered that print, along with another. I love them! Now I just need to frame them (there’s a spot waiting on my office wall)! I don’t think I could describe enough how lucky I am to have found him ~ he is so sweet and thoughtful!