Happiness can seem like an abstract, transcendent notion, but in fact, I found that getting enough sleep (very important!!), getting exercise, not letting myself get too hungry, not letting myself get too cold (I'm a person who is always cold), made a big difference. Partly because I felt happier, partly because feeling physically comfortable makes it easier to keep other difficult happiness-boosting resolutions like biting my tongue.

Gretchen Rubin

Categorized in : Sleep Exercise Differences

If I pretend to myself that I'm different from the way I truly am, I'm going to make choices that won't make me happy.

Gretchen Rubin

different choices way

Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but every day is a clean slate and a fresh opportunity.

Gretchen Rubin

succeed opportunity sometimes

Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have.

Gretchen Rubin

You really have to begin by figuring out what kind of person you are. The tip is to really take a look at yourself.

Gretchen Rubin

look-at-yourself kind looks

Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they’re big, flashing signs that something needs to change.

Gretchen Rubin

loneliness play happy-life

Focus Not on Having Less or Having More, But on Wanting What You Have.

Gretchen Rubin

focus

Focus not on doing less or doing more but on doing what you value.

Gretchen Rubin

values focus

Self-knowledge makes me happy.

Gretchen Rubin

self-knowledge make-me-happy self

It's about living in the moment and appreciating the smallest things. Surrounding yourself with the things that inspire you and letting go of the obsessions that want to take over your mind. It is a daily struggle sometimes and hard work but happiness begins with your own attitude and how you look at the world.

Gretchen Rubin

struggle letting-go attitude

Turns out that people who try new things, go new places, learn new skills, etc. are happier. This can be tough, because novelty and challenge also bring frustration and irritation - but if you can push through that, novelty and challenge can bring enormous happiness rewards.

Gretchen Rubin

irritation frustration skills

When I thought about why I was sometimes reluctant to push myself, I realized that it was because I was afraid of failure - but in order to have more success, I needed to be willing to accept more failure.

Gretchen Rubin

accepting sometimes order

Think about what kind of person you are and shape your habits, and your happiness, to show what's true about you instead of thinking that you can just import the right answer from the outside.

Gretchen Rubin

shapes answers thinking

One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take photos of happy occasions, they weight our memories to the good.

Gretchen Rubin

happy-times memories past

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.

Gretchen Rubin

mma happiness people

Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life.

Gretchen Rubin

invisible architecture everyday

I'm doing a lot of speaking and talking about habits, which is this subject that obsesses me. That's a lot of fun.

Gretchen Rubin

habit fun talking

Never start a sentence with the words 'No offense.

Gretchen Rubin

tact offense sentences

I am living my real life, this is it. Now is now, and if I waited to be happier, waited to have fun, waited to do the things that I know I ought to do, I might never get the chance.

Gretchen Rubin

real fun might

September is the other January.

Gretchen Rubin

january september

Your unhappiness doesn't help anyone else - and in fact, as I mentioned in another answer, happy people are more altruistically inclined. So happiness is not a selfish goal.

Gretchen Rubin

selfish goal people