Happiness Project Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning Clean My Closets Fight Right Read Aristotle & Generally Have More Fun

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her — and what didn't.

Her conclusions are sometimes surprising — she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference — and they range from the practical to the profound.

Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable. Gretchen Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.

Each month, Gretchen pursued a different set of resolutions — go to sleep earlier, tackle a nagging task, bring people together, take time to be silly — along with dozens of other goals. She read everything from classical philosophy to cutting-edge scientific studies, from Winston Churchill to Oprah, developing her own definition of happiness and a plan for how to achieve it. She kept track of which resolutions worked and which didn't, sharing her stories and collecting those of others through her blog (created to fulfill one of March's resolutions). Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness in her life.

The Happiness Project is the engaging, relatable and inspiring result of the author's twelve-month adventure in becoming a happier person. Written with a wicked sense of humour and sharp insight, Gretchen Rubin's story will inspire readers to embrace the pleasure in their lives and remind them how to have fun.

Award-winning author Gretchen Rubin is back with a bang, with The Happiness Project. The author of the bestselling 40 Ways to Look at Winston Churchill has produced a work that is “a cross between the Dalai Lamas The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilberts Eat, Pray, Love.” (Sonya Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want) In the vein of Julie and Julia, The Happiness Project describes one persons year-long attempt to discover what leads to true contentment. Drawing at once on cutting-edge science, classical philosophy, and real-world applicability, Rubin has written an engaging, eminently relatable chronicle of transformation.

In 2009 veteran journalist and eight-time Emmy award winner Lu Ann Cahn was feeling angry and frustrated. The economy was tanking. Her job was changing. Budgets were being cut. She resented the new technology and social media she was being asked to embrace at work. In a word, she felt “stuck.”

Cahns daughter encouraged her to try blogging, and after some thought, she decided to write about trying something new every day for a year. Little did she know, that "Year of Firsts" would change her outlook on life.

For 365 days Cahn made a point of doing something she had never done before, some as simple as performing an old task in a new way, some creative and extreme:

Riding a mechanical bull Eating a scorpion

Speaking to a complete stranger on the street

Smoking a cigar

Shoveling horse manure

Zip-lining across a crocodile-infested Mexican lake

Spending a day in a wheelchair

Walking her dog backwards

Taking a drum lesson from a famous 80s rocker

In the process she discovered that "firsts" were the antidote to “stuck.” I Dare Me is Cahns journey, but it's more than just a memoir. It challenges readers to confront their own fears, and encourages them to try their own "firsts."

Veteran journalist and cancer survivor Lu Ann Cahn was feeling angry and frustrated. The economy was tanking. Her job was changing. In a word, she felt “stuck.”

Something had to change. Her daughter helped convince her to start a “Year of Firsts.” For the next 365 days, Cahn made a point of doing something she had never done before, every day. Before she knew it, her whole perspective on life had changed. In this inspiring book, Lu Ann recounts how a new “first” everyday brought excitement and wonder back into her world. And more than that, she helps readers see how they can do it too.

• Participate in a Polar Bear Plunge

• Speak to a complete stranger on the street

• Zip-line across a crocodile-infested Mexican lake

• Spend a day in a wheelchair

• Learn to Hula Hoop

The Gratitude Diaries follows journalist and former Parade editor in chief Janice Kaplan as she learns to gain a positive perspective and improve her life by becoming more grateful every day. In her fresh and witty journey, Kaplan discovers that gratitude isnt the same as happiness (which can be fragile and fleeting) but has deeper emotional roots, is longer-lasting, and is impervious to change or challenges.

Relying on both amusing personal experiences and extensive research, Kaplan discovers how gratitude can transform every aspect of life, including marriage and friendship, money and ambition, and health and fitness. She interviews dozens of experts—including doctors, neuroscientists, researchers, academics, and philosophers—and gathers extensive data from the national gratitude survey she conducted, to offer surprising findings about why gratitude changes your outlook in any situation. Through interviews with real people including celebrities like Matt Damon, Daniel Craig, and Barbra Streisand, Kaplan discovers why gratitude matters in everything from our success at work to our childrens happiness.

With warmth, humor, and vision, Janices journey seeks to empower readers to start thinking positively and change their lives. 

Praise for One Good Deed:

andldquo;Her memoir will inspire you to flex your do-gooder muscle without being preachy or a Pollyanna.andrdquo; andndash;Fitness

andldquo;7 Good Deeds That Could Change Your Lifeandrdquo; andmdash;Redbook

andldquo;Engaging, funny, wise, and winning. One Good Deed is a measure of humanity and of McHughandrsquo;s own striving towards it.andrdquo;

andmdash;Susan Orlean, author of Rin Tin Tin and The Orchid Thief

andldquo;This instructive, funny, utterly relevant book reminds us that the simple (but not-so-simple) act of paying daily attention can make a profound differenceandmdash;to the world around us, and to our very selves.andrdquo;

andmdash;Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion: A Memoir

andldquo;The best book in the world...because it makes us our best.andrdquo;

andmdash;Nichole Bernier, author of The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.

Cahn is an honorary board member of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and serves as the annual emcee of the foundations main fundraising event, the Renaissance Ball. She also works extensively with Living Beyond Breast Cancer.