In my study of human nature, I find it useful to distill my conclusions into concise statements. Whether I’m exploring happiness, habits, the five senses, or anything else, this process clarifies my thinking, and it’s also a creative, absorbing exercise. – Gretchen Rubin
- To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
- One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy, and…
- One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
- The days are long, but the years are short.
- You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
- You can build a happy life only on the foundation of your own nature.
- The only person you can change is yourself…
- But when you change, a relationship changes, and others may change.
- Happier people make people happy, but you can’t make someone be happy, and no one else can make you happy.
- Now is now.
- No tool fits every hand: there’s no magic, one-size-fits-all solution.
- It’s easier to change your surroundings and your schedule than to change yourself.
- Do good, feel good.
- Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life.
- Act the way you want to feel.
- Be polite and be fair.
- Keep aims manageable and measurable.
- The best time to start a happiness project is ten years ago. The second-best time is now.
- What you do most days matters more than what you do once in a while.
- Focus on actions, not outcomes.
- Choose the bigger life.
- You’re unique, just like everybody else.
- Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happier.
- Justice.
- The things that go wrong often make the best memories.
- By giving something up, you may gain.
- Sometimes you can minister to the spirit through the body; sometimes you can minister to the body through the spirit.
- When you give more to yourself, you can ask more from yourself.
- You won’t make yourself feel better by doing something that ends up making you feel worse.
- Accept yourself, and expect more from yourself.
- Something that can be done at any time is often done at no time.
- Temporary becomes permanent, so start the way you want to continue.
- Go outside.
- What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you—and vice versa.
- Be Gretchen
Ze zegt dat ze een ‘upholder’ is. Als ik thuis ben vind ik een manifest van Gretchen Rubin. Start the way you want to continue. Ik luister Iain McGilchrist, waarmee ik gisteren de dag eindigde. Het is 6.00 uur en donker op deze helft van de aarde. De kat staat bij de deur en wil naar buiten. Zolang de linkerhersenhelft ten dienste staat van de rechter is er hoop, het heilige, kunst, de grotere context, betekenis, begrip van wie we zijn. Dat ik me vaak negatief voel, zie ik als een goed teken: mijn rechterhersenhelft is actief. Soms denk ik dat ik een tumor heb, maar vandaag volg ik het denken van McGilChrist. Links is altijd positief, dramt door, abstraheert, representeert, reduceert. Er is niks mis met 1 + 1 = 2. Er is niks aan te begrijpen. Wiskunde drukt zichzelf uit, is exact. De realiteit is complex, asymmetrisch, helt over. We hebben twee hersenhelften die verschillende dingen doen, twee hartkamers die verschillende dingen doen. We hebben altijd één been waarop we makkelijker balans vinden als we in de zweefstand gaan staan, als een vliegtuig op een stokje. ‘Science can not tell us everything, but what it can tell us is pure gold.’