Happier at Home
Some interesting books bearing on the science and practice of happiness Argyle, Michael. The Psychology of Happiness. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2001. Bloom, Paul. How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like. New York: Norton, 2010. Burkeman, Oliver. Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. London: Canonga
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Some works in the history of happiness and in the study of home Aristotle, The Ethics of Aristotle: The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by J. A. K. Thomsom. New York: Penguin, 1976. Bacon, Francis. The Essays. New York: Penguin, 1986. Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus. The Consolation of Philosophy. Translated by Victor Watts. New York: Penguin, 2
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On house and home Alexander, Christopher. The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe. 4 vols. Berkeley: Center for Environmental Structure, 2001. Alexander, Christopher, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. Bachelard, Gaston, The Poetics of Space
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The Eight Splendid Truths First To be happy, I need to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth. Second One of the best ways to make myself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy myself. Third The days are long, but the years are short. Fourth I
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My home was a reflection of me: It would be serene, festive, loving, and welcoming only if I brought that spirit to it.
Gretchen Rubin • Happier at Home
One of the persistent follies of human nature is to imagine true happiness is just out of reach. The “arrival fallacy” describes our tendency to believe that once we arrive at a particular destination, then we’ll be happy.
Gretchen Rubin • Happier at Home
My happiness project was my effort to stop the days from flowing away, unheeded and unappreciated.
Gretchen Rubin • Happier at Home
Find my own Calcutta
Gretchen Rubin • Happier at Home
These weren’t major acts of kindness; they were the minor, nonrandom equivalent of paying a stranger’s toll or putting money in a parking meter. Nevertheless, even minor acts of kindness are worthwhile.