Don't worry, be happy now

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this, but I’m a self help feign. Really, when anything is going wrong in my life or I’m trying to break a bad habit or I just need a general pick-me-up, the first place I turn is the self help section of Barnes and Noble. The way I see it, it’s worth the $15 spent to have someone else tell me in 300 pages or less how I can help myself. So, imagine my happiness when I stumbled upon The Happiness Project, a blog that is essentially an evolving self help book.

Gretchen Rubin, the blog’s author, is a lawyer turned writer who is working on a memoir about the year she spent test driving every principle, tip, theory and scientific study on happiness that she could find to see what works and what doesn’t. Her blog chronicles her adventures. Her memoir is due out in late 2009.

I think the main reason I was immediately drawn in by Gretchen is because she’s a girl who knows her weaknesses and her strengths and knows herself good enough to know when her weaknesses are getting in the way of her strengths and keeping her from happiness, which is all in all what I pretty much strive to do on a daily basis.

According to Gretchen, “to be happier, you need to think about FEELING GOOD, FEELING BAD and FEELING RIGHT, in an atmosphere of growth,” and while this may sound a little fancy, the foundation of her happiness plan is made of simple things like getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods and exercising regularly, all things that regular folks like me can easily do.

So, if you have a few free minutes and you find you’re in need of some easy, step-by-step (just like I like ‘em) tips on just about anything, check out The Happiness Project, and come on, folks, let’s all get happy.