The Happiness Project

I nearly interlibrary-loaned the book, The Happiness Project, several times but each time put it off. While I am a fan of self-help books since, like Ben Franklin, I think trying to be a better person is a worthwhile endeavor - not to mention that setting little goals and meeting them can feel quite rewarding, the idea of it felt a little too kissing cousin to Eat, Pray, Love and a long list of change your life in a year books that vaguely annoy me.
I worried that it was going to be another book insisting I quit my job and move to some wild place and follow my bliss when in fact my job, which is being a children's librarian - is on the scale of don't you wish you could play with puppets and read to wee ones everyday, too? kind of awesome - also supports my family.
Sure, there are days I entertain the vision of being a writer by a wild sea, thank you very much, however, most of my self-help projects involve decluttering and being less cranky. And like that old Liza Minelli song (probably only I remember)- "say yes". Cause it is just too darn easy to say no and just watch Dancing with the stars (not that I am knocking that - go Kirsty was my motto for weeks).
I was pleasantly surprised when I finally broke down and took The Happiness Project out (and this is a link to her blog which I just looked at today having wanted to wait until I finish the book, don't ask me why) out of the library how useful it was. I found myself reminding myself of useful things like "cut people some slack" (helpful at work and at home, and also nice to apply to myself) and trying to choose a "happier" approach to situations - and saying yes more often - and these little actions made for little rewards made for little moments of increased happiness - which add up.
Have I thrown myself into it and made a chart and the whole shebang? No. But I might. Or at any rate, jotting down thoughts concerning her first splendid truth (read the book already) and starting to try to really figure out my good, bad, and rights and places of growth are interesting thoughts to ponder at the very least. So five stars to Gretchen Rubin and her very good idea.