The Happiness Project Book Review

I've asked one of our members to do the review for our February book.

Below is Tanya's thoughts on The Happiness Project.   Feel free to comment about your opinion of the book in the comments section.

The Happiness Project.

The happiness project is one women’s (Gretchen Rubin) year-long journey to becoming happier. The story is broken down into twelve chapters, a chapter for each month with a new subject and resolutions for each one. I do like the idea of the monthly resolutions, she also created a check mark system, each month she set up a chart to track her progress, personally I wasn’t too keen on that. That’s the beauty of this book, It’s her journey and really can be used and interpreted in each reader’s individual way. It was jam packed with happiness facts, quotes, Gretchen’s splendid Truths, her twelve commandments and plenty of her own experiences.

Chapter 1 or January’s subject was boost energy with five resolutions to help achieve this: Go to sleep earlier; exercise better; toss, restore, organize; tackle a nagging task and; act more energetic). She included a lot of little facts to emphasize her resolutions in each chapter. January included quite a few, here are a couple examples:
• An extra hour of sleep each night will increase your happiness by the same amount as a $60,000 raise.
• According to some study, cutting down on clutter can reduce your housework by 40%.
I like how her first month was sort of the basics, getting things set up to really be able ot focus on the rest of the year’s happiness project.

Chapter 4 or April was all about parenthood. It was her month to “lighten up”. I don’t have children yet, but I spend a lot of time with my god daughter and her brother and I sometimes find myself quick to say no. After reading this, I’ve noticed that I have a lot more patience with the kids, if they want to do something that normally we wouldn’t, we give it a go.. why not? It’s makes them happy and it makes me happy that they’re happy. I think that’s one of her splendid truths, “One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy”. Seeing someone else happy and laughing brings a warmth to my heart. She had some great tips for parenting and included some really fun ideas for the kids, the kids and I are going to give pirate night a try this Friday… it should be fun.

Chapter 7 or July’s subject was Buy Some Happiness. Now I don’t necessarily agree with this statement, but I do understand its value. She talked about spending out and I have to say this is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned for myself while reading this book. I’m definitely guilty of hoarding, of “saving” something for a special day. Why? What good does it do sitting in a cupboard or not being worn, I bought it to use and I’m saving it for a special occasion? After reading that, I opened a can of guava juice I’d been saving, my favourite and hard to come by where I live, my Mom had found it on her last trip into the cities and brought it back, she continually asked if I liked it, to which I continually reminded her I need a “special occasion” to drink it. Ok I know, silly, it’s just juice, but I’m sure we probably all have a reserve of something we just can’t bare to use, be it fancy china, the expensive bottle of wine we’re keeping for the
right time. I inherited my grandma’s engagement ring and it sits all safe and secure in the safety deposit box.. that’s not what she would’ve wanted, she would want me to enjoy it… so ladies, spend out!!

There was some areas of the book that I found hard to read, I’m not sure if it was an overdose of facts and quotes or blog comments, but I did find myself “zoning” out in those situations and found it hard to get back into the book. I found the month of August, contemplate the heavens, particularily draining. This chapter talked alot about eternity, death, terminal illness and things of that nature. It felt like a very heavy chapter compared to the rest and I just couldn’t bring myself to really focus. I talked to Gabe about this and she did have a point -- we all need a reminder sometimes to be thankful for what we have and what we’re capable of. So, in that respect, it was a good reminder to appraciate the things we sometimes take for granted.

As for recommending this book, I would recommend this for a first read as well as a reread. I borrowed this from the library, but it is now on my list of buys and I hope to reread it at the beginning of each new year. It’s amazing how reading a good book can, well, make you happy!

- Tanya Cumming