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EQUANIMITY
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Fall editioN 2012
balance advice
Happiness
On the happiness side...
Gretchen Rubin
An interview with Gretchen Rubin, Author of The Happiness Project,
reveals this:
A few years ago, Gretchen Rubin was riding a bus, when she asked
herself what it was she really wanted out of life. Her answer to that
question was that she wanted to be happier. As a result, and in search
of a way to acquire greater levels of happiness, she began her very own
happiness project and chronicled the process over the course of a
year. Each month, she focused on a different aspect of life she believed
would bring her greater levels of happiness.
Ronda Lee Roberts' question to Rubin: I'm sure that even with having a book about
happiness, you experience moments that are, let's say, not so happy. How do you
combat this?
RuBin's answeR: I have a whole list of emergency 9-1-1 things that I do. I am much more
tuned into what I can do. Getting enough sleep makes a huge difference. Things look better
in the morning, so sometimes I will go to sleep early. I will reach out to family or friend. I will
kiss more, hug more, and touch more. I will read children's books and give myself a treat or
a break. I have become obsessed with the smell of hay. It's beautiful and I decided to save it,
so when I am feeling blue I will smell and enjoy it. A lot of times you can comfort yourself by
telling yourself you're going to do something that will make you feel better. If I'm feeling guilty,
I will make amends or do something nice for someone else. I jump up and down or go outside
for a walk; I have a whole list of things to use that needing can just be plugged in. So much of
happiness is being mindful. If you know what you need to do, then you can do it.
Follow Gretchen Rubin at www.gretchenrubin.com
Best Selling Author Karen Salmansohn Wants Us to "Be Happy Dammit".
Salmansohn has sold over one million books, one of which is entitled, "How to
Be Happy Dammit". Karen is also a columnist for Oprah Winfrey, consultant,
designer, and a new Mommy too! All this after retiring at the age of 27 as a
senior VP award winning ad writer/creative director!
sam Mcfarland's question to salmansohn: Why do we wait for things or money or people to
make us happy?
saLMansoHn's answeR: A lot of us feel that happiness comes from the outside not from the
inside and happiness is definitely an inside job. When we depend on happiness coming from external
circumstances our external world is always shifting and changing and we wind up on a roller coaster
ride if we let ourselves become too attached to the outside world. This is why you have to make sure
that your happiness is an inside job. So you are not tossed topsy-turvy as the world goes through
changes around you.
Follow Karen Salmansohn at www.notsalmon.com/
Karen Salmansohn
ThIS COuLD BE yOu.
Be in our Global Happiness Edition.
what does happiness mean to
you? have a story to share?