Happier At Home (Aug 17, 2016)

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Over the last two years or so, I have discovered Gretchen Rubin and hopped onto her happiness train.  When her first book, The Happiness Project,  caught my eye a number of years ago, I resisted reading it because I worried that her happiness experiments would end up being another thing on my "should do" list.  At that time, my expectations of myself were high enough.  I needed to work on accepting myself.

That season of my life passed, and now, in my thirties, I have a solid foundation.  I know myself better- my strengths and my flaws- and I have settled into my identity and my life.  From this place, Gretchen (yes, I'm going to refer to her by her first name- I am that kind of fan) speaks to me, encouraging me to be more self-aware, test out new behaviors, and challenge myself to keep growing while being true to Molly.  Her first personal commandment, after all, is "Be Gretchen."  

Over the last year or so, as I read "Better Than Before" and avidly listened to her podcast with her sister, "Happier," I often catch myself repeating her mottos in my mind: "The days are long, but the years are short"; "The opposite of a profound truth is also true"; "Assume the positive"; "Just because something makes someone else happy, doesn't mean it will make me happy"; "Know Thyself."  

Her work definitely inspires me to experiment creating new habits in different areas of my life.  In her book "Happier At Home," Gretchen gives every month a theme and works to create habits in that area.  For example, one month, she focuses on her marriage.  Scary topic, sort of.  In her book, she is very critical of herself and challenges herself to focus on the ways that she can change to improve her marriage, not her husband.  When a relationship needs improvement, it's easy to blame the other person, or try to come up with a solution that both partners need to attend to.  Gretchen believes that you can't change anyone but yourself, but in changing yourself, often the behaviors of those around you change too.  I think this is important advice for me.  Even though

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