People feel happier when they feel like they're progressing. When they feel like something in their life is growing or getting better. — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy.” Activities that contribute to long-term happiness don’t always make me feel good in the short… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Many people keep photos in their homes, in their office, or in their wallet, and happy families tend to display large numbers… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One of my key realizations about happiness, and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists, given its emphasis in popular culture, is… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
They say that people teach what they need to learn. By adopting the role of happiness teacher, if only for myself, I… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Your unhappiness doesn't help anyone else - and in fact, as I mentioned in another answer, happy people are more altruistically inclined.… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
The number one resolution that people mention to me as something that's made them happier is - to my surprise - making… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Although people sometimes assume that the happy are self-absorbed and complacent, just the opposite is true. In general, happiness doesn't make people… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“couldn’t just jump into this happiness project. I had a lot to learn before I was ready for my year to begin.… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“I had everything I could possibly want -- yet I was failing to appreciate it. Bogged down in petty complaints and passing… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One thing that makes me very happy is to have a complicated idea and to feel that I've expressed myself clearly. I… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Happy people generally are more forgiving, helpful, and charitable, have better self-control, and are more tolerant of frustration than unhappy people, while… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
If I can do something in less than one minute, I don't let myself procrastinate. I hang up my coat, put newspapers… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
According to current research, in the determination of a person's level of happiness, genetics accounts for about 50 percent; life circumstances, such… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One of the things that you see ancient philosophers and contemporary scientists agree on is that strong relationships are a key to… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One of the things that surprised me the most is how often we assume that because something's fun for someone else, it… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Think about what kind of person you are and shape your habits, and your happiness, to show what's true about you instead… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“In fact, in what’s known as “rosy prospection,” anticipation of happiness is sometimes greater than the happiness actually experienced.” — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, and a significant element of happiness. If we have habits that work for us,… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“...perhaps the most acute source of happiness from writing was the happiness of expressing a very complicated idea–the kind of idea that… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
I think self-knowledge is a key to happiness.We can build happy lives only on the foundation of our own natures, our own… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity,… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Second Splendid Truth One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Happiness is a critical factor for work, and work is a critical factor for happiness. In one of those life-isn’t-fair results, it… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Another study suggested that getting one extra hour of sleep each night would do more for a person's happiness than getting a… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“My research had revealed that challenge and novelty are key elements to happiness. The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
A book is a better way to develop a complicated idea, or to tell a big story and to show how ideas… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Although we often assume that feelings inspire actions, in fact, actions also inspire feelings. By pushing myself to act happier, I make… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“People have an inborn disposition that's set within a certain range, but they can boost themselves to the top of their happiness… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Sometimes I think it's easier to think about being happier, for what ever that means to you then worrying about what is… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
While television is a good servant, it's a bad master. It can swallow up huge quantities of our lives without much happiness… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
Each week, I post a video about some 'Pigeon of Discontent' raised by a reader. Because, as much as we try to… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
The First Splendid Truth: To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“I often learn more from one person's highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal practices or cite up-to-date… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
One major challenge within happiness is loneliness. The more I've learned about happiness, the more I've come to believe that loneliness is… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
I'm constantly on the hunt for insights about happiness or ideas about how to be happier - which probably makes me a… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share Image
“Second Splendid Truth One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
Knowing what you admire in others is a wonderful mirror into your deepest, as yet unborn, self. — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
Being taken for granted is an unpleasant but sincere form of praise. Ironically, the more reliable you are and the less you complain, the… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
“one Secret of Adulthood is “Never start a sentence with the words ‘No offense’”? “And” — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
One of the findings that really interests me is that, although we think we ACT because of the way we FEEL, we often FEEL… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
We all want to get along well with other people, and one way to do this is to help people feel good about themselves.… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
During my study of happiness, I noticed something that surprised me: I often learn more from one person's highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
There is a preppy wabi-sabi to soft, faded khakis and cotton shirts, but it's not nice to be surrounded by things that are worn… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
“There are times in the lives of most of us,” observed William Edward Hartpole Lecky, “when we would have given all the world to… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
“I started thinking more about music. I thought I'd accepted the fact that, as part of "Being Gretchen," I didn't really like music, but… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
If you've had something for more than six months, and it's still not repaired, it's clutter. — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
“The pleasure of doing the same thing, in the same way, every day, shouldn't be overlooked. The things I do every day take on… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
Although we often assume that feelings inspire actions, in fact, actions also inspire feelings. By pushing myself to act happier, I make myself feel… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
“After someone's death, how strange to see the value drain away from his or her possessions; useful objects such as clothes, or dish towels,… — Gretchen Rubin Copy Share
