The Happiness Project

My takeaway from "The Happiness Project" by  Gretchen Rubin :

The days are long but the years are short

Never start a sentence with the words 'No offense'.

One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.

The things that go wrong often make the best memories.

Studies show that aggressively expressing anger doesn't relieve anger but amplifies it. On the other hand, not expressing anger often allows it to disappear without leaving ugly traces.

I can DO ANYTHING I want, but I can't DO EVERYTHING I want.

However, if you want to know how people would like to be treated, it's more helpful to look at how they themselves act than what they say.

Although we presume that we act because of the way we feel, in fact we often feel because of the way we act.

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.