Retro Review: The Happiness Project

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

OUR RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: The Happiness Project, published by Gretchen Rubin

WEB ADDRESS: http://thehappinessproject.com

BLOG'S DESCRIPTION: I'm working on a book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT--a memoir about the year I spent test-driving every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study I could find, whether from Aristotle or Martin Seligman or Oprah. On this daily blog, I recount some of my adventures and insights as I grapple with the challenge of being happier.

OUR REVIEW: There's not a lot of happiness in the world today, unfortunately. Of course, with all the earthquakes...in Haiti and Chile, the lousy economy, the conundrum of global warming (is it or isn't it man-made?), everyone is just a bit tense, if they're paying any attention at all to what's going on in the world. But even those who aren't - teenagers who spend all their time playing violent video games, or even just practicing their skateboarding skills... are they happy?

Then there's girls...hard to be happy when you're going to be teased at school for being overweight, or for not having a boyfriend, or any of a hundred things some clique finds it necessary to tease you about. Then there's the fact that girls start obsessing over their weight at the age of six, and this new government "anti-obesity" project is just going to exacerbate matters.

Oh...there's lots of things to feel tense about, which is why The Happiness Project is so important, and why I recommend it highly.

Here's a few sample paragraphs:

I’ve always been a bit of a humbug when it comes to “personal development”, happiness fluff and life-changing inspirational yaddayadda…

That’s because I’ve known for a long time that all these damn lists, personal improvement systems and anti-systems, productivity tips, self-righteous self-help gurus and on and on are mostly just more noise added to the online eco-system of “average” — more stuff to read and follow, more stuff to “TRY” when really you should be out there cutting your teeth and “DOING.” I’ll talk a bit more on my own experience with this, but first let’s get to the point:

There ARE a number of exceptions to the rule of general mediocrity and fluff online…
One of the true stand-outs is Seth Godin. It’s been remarkable for me to watch Seth in recent years, as he dives deeper and deeper into his own real natural genius. His short, brilliant, and to the point 14-page manifesto, Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself is indispensable for anyone who’s struggling to change the world, grasp their own genius, and stand in their greatest personal power...

I highly, highly, recommend this blog.

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