21 Ways to Be Happy and 14,000 Things to Be Happy About

Last month, I was blogging about chapters from Gretchen Rubin's book, The Happiness Project. As part of that project, I started watching for articles and blog posts about happiness, and I'm happy to report, there have been a lot! I came across one on BeliefNet today:

21 Simple Ways to Be Happy

Now I've modified the list a bit.. For example, #6 in the article was listed as "Expect a Miracle." I don't really like to "expect" good things, but rather "find" good thing unexpectedly! The article has a photo and little summary of each, but below is the quick list:

1. Be Your Own BFF
2. Smile, Giggle, Laugh
3. Warm socks
4. Sing out loud
5. Eat Dark Chocolate (in moderation)
6. Notice good things each day (modified from "Expect a Miracle")
7. Meditate, Pray, Chant
8. Laugh at your shortcomings
9. Sleep
10. Make gratitude a habit
11. Wake up early with happy thoughts
12. Enjoy at least 20 minutes of sunlight
13. Think, read, say, sing Positive Affirmations
14. Pat yourself on the back when you do something good
15. Surround yourself with happy, positive people
16. Watch plants grow
17. Have some "quiet time" to "just be" (No TV, magazines, or Internet!)
18. Set goals and take action!
19. Accept what you can't change
20. Take a 10-minute nap to rejuvenate
21. Love everything - yourself, your friends, your enemies

I think these are great reminders. I especially like #21 -- Love, love, love!!

But this is just a start!

I remember perusing the book 14,000 Things to Be Happy About several years ago, just FILLED with all kinds of little things! Here are some examples from a random page:

• eight hours of sleep
• making snow angels
• paintboxes
• building a bed frame
• spinach and sour-cream omelets
• an idyllic quiet broken only by the ripple of stirring water...
• stickpins

As Gretchen Rubin mentions several times in her book, each of us are unique and we have different things that make us happy, so my list would be different from your list. Every day we can add to that list as we notice things that bring us happiness.

What's something that would be on your list today?

Book Club: Money - Buy Some Happiness

In the seventh chapter of The Happiness Journal, Gretchen Rubin describes the relationship between money and happiness. Though money can't buy happiness, it can buy things that will lead to happiness. And, speaking from personal experience, when we aren't bringing in income, it can lead to major stress!

I have thought a lot about the relationship between money and happiness recently. Most of my life, I haven't had to worry at all about finances. Both my husband and I had great jobs in high tech. In 1999, if you looked at all our stock options, we were downright rich. Then came the dot bomb era and all our stock options were worth nothing. No big deal. I only thought of it as "funny money." Next was the divorce. I lost a husband and my financial security. I bought him out of the house and still had all the bills with a third of the income. But I still had a good job. I tried not to panic. Then the stock market dropped and I lost a major chunk of retirement savings, along with the rest of the world. The final kicker was last summer when I lost my job. This time I started to panic. I couldn't even get low paying jobs because the employers figured I'd keep looking. I did end up getting a job that is half the salary of my old job so I'm no longer panicked, but I'm definitely a lot less wealthy than I once was.

While I was unemployed, I did some serious thinking about what it was like to have no money. Every time I turned around there was an expense and a finite amount of cash. Food, housing, utilities, transportation. I became obsessed with spending as little money as possible. Of course, I could have survived for quite a long time... I had savings and even a severance. But I got a little taste of how scary this is for people that don't have those resources! This wasn't about happiness, it was about basic security!

While I was unemployed, I had a goal to find something that didn't cost money that made me happy each day and I found a lot: hikes, picnics, time with friends, playing, learning, biking. There was a huge world to enjoy. But I was always worried about money. I never had a sense of security so it was hard to feel completely happy.

Now that I'm working again, it's much easier to be happy. I don't spend as much on "stuff" but more on experiences. Even though I'm making a lot less than I used to, I'm making a whole lot more than nothing, so I often feel rich. I have more compassion for the unemployed and I don't take financial security for granted any more. In many ways, I'd say I'm happier now, making a lot less money, than I was when I was "rich." Sometimes it takes losing something to realize it's worth. It's not the money as much as the security.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. (I'd spend more, but I've become very cheap!)

What do others have to say?

It just so happens, in my Google Alerts for Happiness today, I found two articles about money and happiness: Money Doesn't Buy Happiness, But a Trip Might and Finding Happiness Along the Way to Long-Term Financial Goals.

How about you? What are your thoughts about money and happiness?

Book Club: Make Time for Friends

Gretchen Rubin writes about friendship in the sixth chapter of The Happiness Project. Her goals around this include:

• Remember birthdays
• Be Generous
• Show up
• Don't gossip
• Make three new friends

I know that since my divorce, I have learned much more about the intimacy, love and happiness that we can get from deep and meaningful friendships. Those of us that don't have a "partner," often depend on our friends for that emotional intimacy that we all crave. If we're lucky, we find friends that will love and accept us completely, regardless of our quirks. It's much easier for me to find a friend to love deeply than it is to find a "romantic partner." With a romantic partner, I want sexual chemistry. I also want exclusivity and can feel jealous or hurt if I'm not a priority to a partner. I'm always wondering if marriage is a possibility and when red flags surface I feel we need to break up, even though it can be so hard.

I don't have to worry about most of that with friendships! With friends, I have a much easier time accepting them and not worrying about chemistry or compatibility and I certainly don't think about marriage! I've tried to see potential romantic partners as friends first, but that sexual chemistry just gets in the way!

Gretchen writes:

One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people
happy.

One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

This is so true! People love to see other people happy. When you do something nice for a friend, they're happy. Then you're happy. Then they're happy that you're happy. You're happy they're happy you're happy... You get the picture. Happiness is contagious among friends.

One of the best blogs about friendship I've come across is MWF Seeking BFF (Married White Female Seeking Best Friend Forever) by Rachel Bertsche. It looks like Rachel has her own book coming out in 2012! I'm seeing a theme here... Gretchen Rubin explores happiness, Rachel is exploring friendship, and I'm exploring love. They're all related, but not entirely the same. Perhaps the common thread is the "connectedness" that we all want to feel. As we read in The Happiness Project, there are many things that make us happy, but several of the chapters talk about the happiness we get from people... our spouse, our children, and in this chapter, our friends.

Book Club: Be Serious About Play

In the fifth chapter of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin writes about happiness through play.

Before I get too critical, I want to give Gretchen credit for recognizing that 'play' is different for different people. Throughout her book she has made a vow to 'Be Gretchen' and for Gretchen, "fun" meant forming a book group that focused on children's literature. Her goals for "being serious about play" included:

• Find more fun


• Take time to be silly


• Go off the path


• Start a collection

Now, the collection thing did not sound like she was "being Gretchen" and she admits it really wasn't her "thing." She is not the kind of person that likes clutter. She gave it a try, though. What she means by "going off the path" was to try new things. For her, that was reading new magazines. Though she was learning by reading, she says she "dreaded reading the unfamiliar magazines." The only goal that sounded remotely "fun" was "take time to be silly" and Gretchen only mentioned one moment of silliness when she made "google eyes" with a couple of clementines while unloading groceries. A big chunk of this chapter were blog comments and even those did not seem related to "fun" or "play."

This chapter didn't seem to have much about happiness from 'play' at all. It was about learning and growth, which can bring happiness, but in my mind, 'playing' is stuff like snowball fights, tickling, big belly laughs, and dancing without inhibition. Play is all about getting in touch with your inner-child. Of course, even as a child, I was wrapped up in books and I would guess the same is true of Gretchen. So maybe people like us never got in touch enough with our inner-child even when we were children! But I have to tell you, I have learned to enjoy my inner-child (sometimes with the help of an especially good margarita or lemon drop martini) and I wish I'd done a lot more playing in my life.

I really understand Gretchen's goal-setting habits so I understand why, despite the irony, she would want to "be serious about play." But I don't think she quite accomplished this goal -- at least not from what I read in the chapter. To really accomplish this, I think she needs to throw away the goal sheet, grab herself her favorite alcoholic beverage, get with the people she loves the best, and smile, joke, tease, cuddle, tickle, laugh and really play.

Those goals and books will be there tomorrow, Gretchen. Forget about being serious about play. Forget (for a little while anyway) about being serious at all. Just play! Now that is what I call fun.

Book Club: Parenthood - Lighten Up

In Chapter 4 of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin starts by telling us about a study in which experts found "child care" only slightly more pleasant than commuting. I remember reading that study, too, and thinking it surprising. But then I remembered when my children were toddlers and how stressful it was to be taking care of them full time... I'd taken a year-long leave of absence and was surprised to find that child care was much more demanding than my job as a software engineer. And no one was paying me! Although I had a lot of mixed feelings about it, and I never would have admitted it, there was part of me that was relieved to get back to work when my leaves were over. One of my co-workers asked if I'd enjoyed my "vacation." I just about jumped down his neck when I answered, "Taking care of babies is no vacation!"

Gretchen agrees that children, though a major source of happiness, can also be "a tremendous source of worry, irritation, expense, inconvenience and lost sleep." She explains that she feels the happiness of having children falls into the kind of happiness that could be called 'fog happiness.' She explains: "Fog is elusive. Fog surrounds you and transforms the atmosphere, but when you try to examine it, it vanishes. Fog happiness is the kind of happiness you get from activities that, closely examined, don't really seem to bring much happiness at all -- yet somehow they do."

I would say this thing that Gretchen describes as 'fog happiness' is not 'happiness' but love. Loving someone does not always bring happiness. Love is about putting someone else's happiness above our own. Sometimes you sacrifice, as we do when we care for children, but we do it gladly, because we love them. When someone we love is happy, so are we. When someone we love is sad, hurt, scared, or angry, we often feel those same emotions... so we are not always happy when we love someone. But even though we are not always happy, we could not imagine a world without this person we love.

Of course, if we're talking about teens, we do get to a point where we're happy when they move out of the house.

Book Club: Aim Higher - Happiness Through Work

This month we are reviewing The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin in the Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club. Today's topic is Chapter 3: Aim Higher.

In this third chapter of The Happiness Project, Gretchen explores the happiness and fullfilment we get from our work. She starts out by telling us that happier people do better at work. They also make better leaders. "They're viewed as more assertive and self-confident than less happy people. They're perceived to be more friendly, warmer, and even more physically attractive."

One thing I always wonder when I read things like this is whether we do better at work because we're happy or if we're happy because we're doing well at work. Like many things in the "self-help" arena, this seems to be one of those things like "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." If you are friendly, warm, attractive, smart, and have a good job, you are probably going to do well at work, and you are probably going to be happy. But what about if you lose a job you love? Can you still be happy?

I happen to have experienced that last summer. I lost my management job at Sun Microsystems when Oracle purchased Sun. I really loved my job. I loved the people I worked with. I had everything that I ever wanted... a great salary, flexibility, a short commute, challenge. It was a perfect job. But I had survived several layoffs and I knew that when my time came, I'd accept it and move forward.

Scott McNealy, the former CEO at Sun, once said something like, "It's easy to be happy when things are going well. It takes someone special to be happy when things are going badly." I always remember that, and look at challenging times as an opportunity to really show what we're made of. Can we overcome the hardships and keep plugging along? Can we continue to maintain a positive attitude, even when the chips are down?

Gretchen talked about blogging in this chapter, and that's one of the things that boosted my spirits during my unemployment and what ultimately got me a new job. It was thanks to my blogging about QA Management that I got a job as a Site Editor searchsoftwarequality.com, a Technical Website at Tech Target. I agree with Gretchen that we need to continue to challenge ourselves and keep growing. I had plenty of disappointments as I was job-searching, but it was important to stay motivated. As long as I was blogging, I was learning, growing, and meeting new people. That gave me the knowledge, skills, and confidence I needed to get the new job.

What challenges do you have in your work? What parts of your job bring you happiness?

Book Club: Remember Love

This month we are reviewing The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin in the Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club. Today's topic is Chapter 2: Remember Love.

Since the purpose of this book club is to learn all about love, I was particularly interested in how this chapter might tie together happiness and love. Can you have one without the other?

Gretchen wrote mostly of "married love." I was married for 19 years and I recognized many of the things she described... the familiar place we reach with our spouse where we start to take them for granted. Gretchen's goals for the month included

• Quit nagging.


• Don't expect praise or appreciation.


• Fight right.


• No dumping.


• Give proofs of love.

Most of her examples were stories about her relationship with her husband, Jamie. She also shared a story of planning a birthday party for her mother-in-law, but even in that story, the relationship she continued to explore was that with her husband. She talked a lot of wanting a "gold star" of recognition and was particularly pleased when Jamie surprised her with a necklace to thank her for all her efforts in planning his mother's party.

Giving and getting love from a spouse is a luxury that I don't have right now. That lack of intimacy has been one of the most difficult things to accept of my single status. The quest to find love was the biggest reason for my own experiment, documented in The Laptop Dancer Diaries - A Mostly True Story About Looking for Love Again.

It's funny how the ups and downs we have with love exist, whether we are single or married, but in such different ways. When we are single, a new relationship can bring the thrills of early love. We have the fantasies and tingles. But we also have insecurities. And those of us that are divorced have "baggage." Many of us had had our hearts broken so deeply or so often that we are very cautious about loving again. Still we try. We go through the motions of chit-chat and dating, wishing we could skip over that and just move to that familiar mature love of marriage.

But our married friends have their problems with love, too. There are compromises that must be made. There are annoyances that are inevitable when you live with someone. I know there are many people who feel very lonely in their marriages. I would prefer to be single than to be in a bad marriage. Of course, the chapter also reminded me of many of the joys of marriage. Finding creative and fun ways to show your love, giving each other strokes, having a partner who you can share your day with.

For the first few years following my divorce, I felt that I could only be fully happy if I were married again. Without a husband, I felt unloved and incomplete. I somehow needed a spouse to prove to myself that I was loveable. If it wasn't a "spouse," I needed at least to be in a relationship. If I didn't have some sort of boyfriend or partner, it felt like I didn't have love.

But I have learned that there are so many people in the world that will accept my love and will give me some back in return. I have parents, kids, siblings and friends who I can show "proofs of love" as Gretchen calls them. In many ways, being single has allowed me to expand my friendships and connections and find and share love with so many more people than I'd be able to if I were married. It's different from the married love that she describes, but it's love.

This article from Psychology Today says that some people are happier than others, but marriage does not seem to be a factor. That is my experience as well. There were times in my marriage when I was happy and times when I was not, just as there have been times since my divorce that I was happy and times I was not. Overall, it probably all averages out to about the same.

I feel love is a huge part of happiness. They are intertwined. As a single Mom, my goals related to love would be different from Gretchen's, but I still would focus very much on love in my own Happiness Project. Perhaps my goals might be:

• Remember birthdays and holidays, putting extra effort into personal gifts for loved ones


• Share emotional intimacy with my close friends by dinners, walks, phone calls, etc


• Be open to accepting new people into my life, always looking for something to love about them


• Don't be afraid to show love to friends, even when you aren't interested in romance

Whatever our relationship status, we all need to give and receive love. What are your personal love goals that will bring you more happiness?

Book Club: "Sleep is the New Sex"?

This post is part of the Virtual Book Club. Please join!

Sleep is an essential component of energy, health and happiness. Even Laptop Guy has a Sleep Mode!

In Chapter 1 of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin writes about boosting energy. She writes about several methods of doing this, including her goal to Go To Sleep Earlier.

Gretchen starts off this section by quoting a friend that told her that "Sleep is the new sex." Well, I got very distracted with that statement and could hardly read the rest of the chapter. My thoughts included:

1. In that case, it's time for a nap...
2. The person who is making this statement has a partner who is probably frustrated.
3. The people who think "sleep is the new sex" probably fall into one of these categories:

• Very old
• Have young kids
• Must be having some awesome dreams
• Might benefit from one of those toy parties
• Got confused in early childhood about the meaning of "sleeping together."

Looking at this from a single perspective, I can tell you that we like our sleep, but it is in a whole different category than sex! Those of you people that have opportunity for regular sex: Do not take it for granted! If there is a choice between sex and sleep, go with the sex and sleep later! I'm just sayin'...

But I digress. The chapter is really about sleep, not sex, and the point Gretchen was trying to make is that getting sleep can be a absolutely wonderful experience and it's essential for energy! When we are energetic we tend to be happy. Or is it when we're happy, we tend to be energetic? Well, the two do seem to go hand-in-hand.

As a long-time insomniac, I can absolutely vouch for the importance of sleep. Way back in 2006, I was blogging about insomnia and depression. When I'm stressed, it usually comes out in the form of sleeplessness. That, in turn, leaves me drained and depressed. Then I don't sleep because I'm more stressed about all the stuff I'm not getting done because I'm too tired and depressed. And the cycle continues until I feel like a walking zombie. The human body needs sleep!

During one of my worst periods of insomnia, I ended up getting a prescription for Ambien and ended up having a sleep-driving incident! Yikes! There have even been all kinds of weird side affects of Ambien including incidents of sleep-eating. So, when Gretchen says on page 21 that she sometimes gave up on sleep and took an Ambien, I just want to warn her and the rest of you: Make sure someone is guarding your car keys and refrigerator!

Though Gretchen tried to get more sleep by getting to bed earlier, I don't know if that method would work for me. It seems like the earlier I go to bed, the more likely I am to wake up in the middle of the night. I have found that what works best for me is to keep a book (or my trusty laptop) around and do a little reading/writing for an hour or so if I wake up at night. Doing that helps put my mind to rest and then I'm usually able to get back to sleep. The biggest thing I've learned is to try not to worry about my lack of sleep, because worrying just makes it worse. I try to feel grateful about that extra time of consciousness. After all, we have a finite number of hours we are going to be alive. It's such a shame that we are sleeping away about a third of our life! So instead of fretting about being awake in the night, sometimes I even enjoy it.

One of the big benefits of all the new social networks that are popping up is that if you have a problem, you can almost always find someone else with that problem. Then you can compare notes and solutions or at least have a support network. So, just for grins, I did a search for insomnia social network and found this one: Insomnia Chat 24/7. A downside of social media is that you may end up getting addicted and chatting 24 x 7, rather than getting sleep! What works best for me is to go ahead and do some kind of comforting activity, but just do it for an hour! Then at least try to sleep again.

Do you ever have trouble sleeping? What works best for you?

Join Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club: http://bit.ly/dakO0T%20

Book Club: Happiness Project - Boost Energy

Today is the first day of the new Virtual Book Club, and as always, when starting a new project or resolutions or even a new month, I get a boost of energy! And sure enough, that does make me happy!

The first chapter of The Happiness Project is about Energy or Vitality.

First, I must say, I feel quite the kindred spirit with author, Gretchen Rubin, because of her ultra goal-oriented behaviors. I, too have this very organized approach to just about everything I do, which can tend to go a bit overboard. However, we "goal freaks" (and I use this term affectionately) get a big sense of satisfaction from having plans and working through our To Do lists, seeing progress as we get closer to our goals.

In the "Getting Started" section of the book, Gretchen suggests that everyone create their own personal Happiness Project. She tells us about her own project, filled with tips and notes from experts and all her research, but reminds us that we each are unique. Some of these suggestions for finding happiness will resonate more for some people than with others.

In this first chapter, Gretchen describes five things she did in the first month of her "year long happiness experiment" to boost her energy:

• Go to sleep earlier.
• Exercise better.
• Toss, restore, organize.
• Tackle a nagging task.
• Act more energetic.

I'd like to write about each of these, but that would make this one very long blog post! And even if I write a blog post each day to cover each of these, I will get totally off schedule... something unacceptable for goal freaks! We are already scheduled to be discussing Chapter 2 on Tuesday!

I blogged in a different post about sleep, but, book club participants, you are going to have to help me out in order to get full coverage of Chapter 1. Even if you haven't read the book, you'll be able to do this assignment. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do one or more of the following:

1. Blog or add a comment about any of the above topics or energy and happiness in general.
2. If you blog somewhere, add a link to the comments. I'd be happy to add a link to your blog in my blog roll under book club participants.
3. What ways do you boost your energy?
4. Of the ways to boost energy that Gretchen mentions in the first chapter, what works well for you? What doesn't?

Do you know others that blog or might be interested in participating in this Virtual Book Club? Spread the word by sending the following to your network:

Join Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club: http://bit.ly/dakO0T%20

Book Club: Preparing for The Happiness Project

I'm really excited about the start of my new Lessons of Love Virtual Book Club. I've documented everything in a new static page, so that I can continue to advertise it. For bloggers that want to get started, here's the topic list and schedule:

June Book: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

• Tu June 1 Vitality Boost Energy
• Th June 3 Marriage - Remember Love
• Su June 6 Work - Aim Higher
• Tu June 8 Parenthood - Lighten Up
• Th June 10 Leisure - Be Serious About Play
• Su June 13 Friendship - Make Time for Friends
• Tu June 15 Money - Buy Some Happiness
• Th June 17 Eternity - Contemplate the Heavens
• Su June 20 Books - Pursue a Passion
• Tu June 22 Mindfulness - Pay Attention
• Th June 24 Attitude - Keep a Contented Heart
• Su June 27 Happiness - Boot Camp Perfect
• Tu June 29 Book Review and Learnings

And, guess what? I got a couple of emails from Gretchen Rubin, herself! I'd let her know what I was doing and she emailed me back and included a "Tips Sheet Thank You" ... a .pdf file filled with tips for happiness. If any of you want me to pass it along, leave a comment in the blog or send me an email at yvette.francino@gmail.com.

I asked Gretchen if I could send her a copy of The Laptop Dancer Diaries, and though she couldn't promise a review, she did say she'd accept it and sent me the address to send it to! She really is an amazing woman. I'm sure she must get so much email every day, yet she keeps on top of it. On her Website, she offered free a free bookplate which I took her up on and she already sent me an email to tell me it's in the mail.

I've also found a couple of other resources for happiness. There just is so much available on the Web that it's hard to keep up with it all.

• Here's a Happiness Project Reading Group Guide
• Here's a Happiness Network called Happiness Inside. This group also has a Virtual Book Club and they already reviewed The Happiness Project, so if you'd like to read what they had to say, once you join their network, you can read about it here.
• Here's another happiness blog by Michele Moore - Make Happiness Your Habit

So much Happiness out there! That makes me.... well... Happy!

Come Join the Virtual Book Club About Love

I love books. I love book clubs. I love books about love. Put that all together and it seems obvious what I need: A book club about love books!

I was going to start a new Meetup, but I thought: Why limit this club to only people in the area? It would be great to do it virtually and get participation from people all over the world!

This will be great research for my next book: Lessons of Love from a Laptop Dancer. Research about love topics will be so much more fun if I can discuss the topics with people and get your thoughts and stories.

So, here's how I envision it working:

I'll have a schedule of books that will be reviewed and discussed. If you are interested in the book, join in the discussion! There are three ways to join in the discussion:

* Subscribe to and comment on the Lessons of Love from a Laptop Dancer blog
* Join and comment on the Laptop Dancer Diaries Facebook Page
* Write your own blog post about the topic being discussed and leave a link, either on the blog, the Facebook page, or both.

The first book I want to review is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin starting June 1, 2010. Even though it's about Happiness, rather than Love, I think the two are related. I also am using Gretchen and her wildly successful book as a model for how to write and market a book about an emotion. She researched Happiness and I'm researching Love. Her writing style is different from mine -- my book will be less academic and sillier -- but I really respect her work and her success. Maybe we can even get her to comment on the blog!

So, if you know people that might be interested, spread the word! Here's a short post that can be used to Tweet:

Join Virtual Book Club. First book: The Happiness Project starting June 1:http://bit.ly/dnBQo3

Looking forward to it!

The Happiness Project and it's success

This week's "Love Website" is The Happiness Project website by Gretchen Rubin. I discovered Gretchen and her website last summer as I was exploring happiness in the midst of my unemployment days. I'm rather proud that I blogged about her, "Facebook friended" her, and even had an email exchange way back before her book was published and now it's a number one best seller!

This morning as I was perusing the results of my Google Alerts search for "happiness" I came across this article that says that Crown will be paying $1M for her next book, Happier at Home. Wow! I know money isn't happiness, but I bet there's some celebrating going on in her household right now.

The article notes that, Gretchen Rubin got started on her happiness project "by writing a blog with the intention of spending a year test-driving studies and theories about how to be happier."

I bought the book and it's a good self-help type of book exploring different areas of happiness. Gretchen took a theme each month and focused on that theme. For example, in January, her theme was "boost energy" and she focused and wrote about getting more sleep. Her February theme is "Remembering Love" and explores ways in which she focused on being a better wife. The months continue with her thoughts on happiness in many areas: work, parenthood, leisure, friendship, money, eternity, books, mindfulness, and attitude. Gretchen notes that we each have our own things that bring us happiness and encourages everyone to create their own customized happiness project.

As I noted once before, I'd rather have love than happiness, but certainly happiness seems to be a component of love, so my thinking is love is happiness, mixed in with a bunch of other rather complicated emotions. I'd call it Happiness+.

The article also says, "Ms. Rubin continues writing the blog, which has become its own phenomenon, and is widely considered a textbook example of how to build an audience for a book in the digital age."

Ah ha! I'm totally going to copy Gretchen Rubin's idea except my blog/book/project will be The LOVE Project. I already documented my year of learning about love in The Laptop Dancer Diaries, which also just happens to be split into month-by-month "lessons of love" (yeah... I'll call them that.) Now I just have to get in touch with Crown and get my million dollars!