Everything Anlala: The Happiness Project

I picked up this book because the cover drew my attention. I have this weakness for really cute covers with #1 New York Times Bestseller written on it. I wasn't particularly unhappy or looking to improve my life but it made a good light reading for my flight to Taipei from Seattle.

This book feels a little bit more self-help-y than my liking. And there are a lot of "scientific studies said this; scientific studies that". Not that I care about the correctness of the points made in the book but it reminded me of John Oliver's segment last week about scientific studies being incorrect and useless most of the time.

The Happiness Project did confirm some of my theories about happiness though. For example, "Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing." I have become aware of it as I started learning Japanese and guitar, and started reading more. Even though I always get anxious about not having enough time to do everything I want to accomplish (oh, btw, Gretchen Rubin mentioned in the book "if you feel you don't have enough time, stop watching TV"), I feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at the learning streak and the reading challenge progress bar.

What I liked about the book is that it led me to a series of questions I need to ask my self and think more about. I am going to start my own happiness project. And it starts here.