{"id":1537,"date":"2010-02-20T09:30:22","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T14:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:42:25","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:42:25","slug":"what-are-you-doing-to-be-happier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/what-are-you-doing-to-be-happier\/","title":{"rendered":"What are you doing to be happier?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If happiness is good for your health, what are you doing about it?
\nYesterday I blogged<\/a> about new research that shows a connection between mental and physical health. Deborah Kotz at U.S. News and World Report blogged about the same topic <\/a>— but took it much farther by interviewing Gretchen Rubin, a New Yorker who spent a year working on making herself happier then wrote about it in The Happiness Project.<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>Here is\u00a0a quick excerpt:<\/p>\n

While I love the idea of a happiness project, the whole thing sounds a bit daunting. In just the first month of your project, you worked on exercising more, improving your sleep habits, and decluttering your closets. How can the average working parent do all of that?<\/strong>
\nIt’s true I do hundreds of resolutions, and maybe that’s not realistic for someone who doesn’t have this project as her day job. But most of the things that I found to be effective don’t require hours of work. For most people it’s just about turning off the light a little earlier at night to, say, get more sleep and energy. Pick out a few things that you think will make you happier and stick with those; seeing that they do indeed make you happier will give you the incentive to try other things.
\nThe million-dollar<\/span><\/a> question is: How do you stick with all these resolutions? Are you keeping yours?<\/strong>
\nEvery day is a new test. I also consider it a fresh start so if I screw up one day, I can start anew the next. By and large, I’m following these resolutions because they’ve made me a lot happier. I also keep a resolutions chart\u2014an idea I got from Benjamin Franklin\u2014and every night I review my list and check off the ones that I’ve followed. I think it’s important to hold yourself accountable to keep commitments from falling by the wayside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Happiness<\/a>Check out Deborah’s interview to read more<\/a>.
\nAnd if you’re inspired to try your own happiness project, Gretchen offers resources on her Web site<\/a>.
\nThe main ideas I took away from the interview were:<\/p>\n