Little Miss Sunshine

Last week’s post was kind of a small taste of what’s to come today. I recently read The Happiness Project, and feel like it’s made a positive impact on my life. I’m more aware of my happiness and lack of happiness, and am making steps to have more of the former.

While I may not agree with all of Gretchen Rubin’s tactics, I enjoyed this book for helping me to be more aware of my happiness and what I could control. As she discusses, this isn’t a book for the clinically depressed, but those average people who just aren’t getting everything they think they can from life.

I’ve been an optimistic person as long as I can remember. I have a Little Miss Sunshine cup on my desk, “Life is good” on my wall, and had an obsession with smiley faces as a child. But recently, I had been feeling really down. A few life events had happened, and I must have sent a really sad email to my college friends, because they ended up sending me a gift! While completely unnecessary and over the top (how CUTE is this beach bag?? And these placemats?!), it shows how wonderful my friends are, and really and truly, how great my life is.

Beach Bag from my lovely friends!

Adorable chevron placemats

Gretchen also talks about how making small changes, not big ones, can have a positive impact on your happiness. I have friends volunteering in places around the world (here and here), and most of the time the emails I get from them about their experiences are about the little things. They feel like they are doing the most good, making the biggest difference, with their one-on-one interactions with the kids and the caretakers. These are small selfless acts, ones which we can all easily do to make the world a better place and to bring more happiness into our lives.

Some other tips for increasing your everyday happiness:

Act the way you want to feel.

When I was little, I would pout about doing chores because I wanted to watch more cartoons. I distinctly remember my dad telling me I still had to do them, and telling me I had to do them with a smile (hi Dad!). Dad must have known that acting the way you want to feel would really make a difference- and he did not want me to be grumpy all afternoon.

Gretchen agrees that you can actually trick your mind into getting out of that funk or feeling happier by starting to make yourself feel that way. When you start to get frustrated with someone or are having a bad day at work, make yourself try to see the good things in the situation. I’m not saying you have to lie about your feelings, but in those moments, do your best to put on a happy face.

Soon, you’ll forget you were in a funk at all.

Be you.

Just because other people find things fun, doesn’t mean you have to. Do the things you find fun.

I loved this advice because I think it’s so important not to compare yourself to others or believe you should be doing something that just doesn’t feel right. What makes one person happy might not make another person happy (except of course chocolate). I don’t really enjoy reading the newspaper or cooking large elaborate meals, so I’ll stick to my books and my crockpot, which I enjoy. I’d rather watch The Voice then watch a documentary. Sorry, I’m not sorry, I’m just trying to be me.

Grow.

Gretchen talks about her specific principles for happiness, and her first focuses on how a part of happiness is growth. If you think about many of your most rewarding projects, they might be things you didn’t really enjoy during, but have a sense of accomplishment afterwards. I had this experience when getting a job, taking the GMAT and hosting my blog, because they were all longer projects with a lot of work that eventually paid off.

Do you think you could be more happy? How are you going to get there?