In the spirit of her blockbuster #1 "New York Times" bestseller "The Happiness P
roject, " Gretchen Rubin embarks on a new project to make home a happier place.
One Sunday afternoon, as she unloaded the dishwasher, Gretchen Rubin felt hit
by a wave of homesickness. Homesick--why? She was standing right in her own kitc
hen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. "Of all the ele
ments of a happy life," she thought, "my home is the most important." In a flash
, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on h
ome.
And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed her, and energiz
ed her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Als
o, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much h
appiness was there already.
So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin
dedicated a school year--September through May--to making her home a place of g
reater simplicity, comfort, and love.
In "The Happiness Project, " she worked
out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter f
or home, such as possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood. How can she contro
l the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family's treasured poss
essions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster.
Each month, Rubin
tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resoluti
ons--and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well.
Wi
th her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy, and experimentation, Rubi
n's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters
of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.
