The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

by Gretchen Rubin

As I mention above, coming up with this "First Splendid Truth of Happiness" was extremely difficult. It seems like a very basic goal for someone writing about happiness, but I really had a tough time -- it was challenging to sum up all the elements of a happy life in one sentence. I tried and failed with many formulations, and it was a real thrill to figure this out. And even then, when I thought I had it right, I realized that I'd left out an important element! The atmosphere of growth is so important to understand, for happiness. It's a Secret of Adulthood: A true test of understanding is the ability to summarize. As I've talked to people about their own happiness projects, I've noticed that people focus on different elements. Some people work on getting more "good," some like me work on eliminating "bad," and so on.