Lawyer-cum-writer attempts to improve her happiness quota
A lot of us feel the way Gretchen Rubin once did: that despite general economic stability, physical health and domestic bliss, we’re still not happy. Determined to make a change, the lawyer-cum-writer applies various methods to see if she can improve her happiness quota, embarking on a monthly project of outlining and list-making. Some tips are practical and easy (get more sleep, clean out her closet), whereas some are a little more touchy-feely (gratitude journals, anyone?). Rubin is honest about the fact that her life, as it is, is already happier than many people’s, but works with a “use it or lose it” philosophy, hoping to strengthen her happy muscles for when the time comes for her to need to exercise them.
Rubin’s explorations of happiness work best when she tackles the everyday parts of her life: how to avoid squabbling with a loved one or getting frustrated with whiny children. Listeners might be easily confused, however, by one element of the actual book that doesn’t translate entirely successfully over to audio: Rubin’s tendency to quote comments from her blog. While the comments are often insightful (and occasionally risible), sometimes it’s difficult to decipher when Rubin is reading her own-first person work or quoting an anonymous commenter.
