10/8 (Sat)The Happiness Project with Gretchen Rubin(Host : Rosie)

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Rosie
YOYO member
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註冊時間: 週四 1月 12, 2012 10:18 am

10/8 (Sat)The Happiness Project with Gretchen Rubin(Host : Rosie)

文章 Rosie »

Hi All,

The topic of happiness may sound cliché.

Nevertheless, it is worth to be discussed. According to research, genetics comprises about 50% of happiness levels; Life circumstances is 10-20%%, and the other 30-40% comes from the thoughts and actions of the individual. This means that by changing your mindset, you can increase your happiness.

I want to share with you the book “The Happiness Project” written by Gretchen Rubin which is different from other motivational books. It is the author' one year experiment on becoming a happier woman. It is a tool. I have followed the book' direction and took small steps since July this year. For instance, in the first month, I organized my house 15 minutes per day before bed. I recycled my unused books and clothes. In the second month, I practiced to stop nagging, hold back on criticizing to my husband. In the third month, I took time to be silly and sang songs with my daughter. The results are that I feel more organized, productive and connected with my sweet home and family members. Besides, I lose 5kg by doing so.

Websites:
https://www.getstoryshots.com/books/the ... t-summary/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diZOX7ja2vY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzuawrFE1xM
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Book Summary

What if you could change your life without really changing your life? The Happiness Project is Gretchen Rubin’s one year experiment on becoming a happier woman with simple daily action and without crazy changes such as quitting jobs, moving to another continent or giving up all material possessions.

On the outside, Gretchen Rubin had a good marriage, healthy children and a successful career, but she knew something was missing. Determined to end that nagging feeling, she set out on a year-long quest to learn how to better enjoy the life she already had. Each month, Gretchen Rubin personal happiness project consisted in focusing on a specific area of her life she wanted to improve.

JANUARY: Boost Energy (Vitality)
- more sleep, more exercise, mental and physical declutterred

FEBRUARY: Remember Love (Marriage)
- stop nagging, criticizing, asking for appreciation; give without expecting anything in return

MARCH: Aim Higher (Work)
- enjoying the fun of failure, being ambitious and creative, asking for help

APRIL: Lighten Up (Parenthood)
- Sing in the morning, become more tender and playful with children

MAY: Be Serious About Play (Leisure)
- work on your play, make plans for your leisure time, take time to be silly

JUNE: Make Time for Friends (Friendship)
- helping friends to think big and feel good, make three new friends, visit your friends' newborn baby

JULY: Buy Some Happiness (MONEY)
- spend wisely, buy yourself some happiness (ex. gym, personal trainer, children’s book collection, organic food)

AUGUST: Contemplate the Heavens (Eternity)
- read memoirs of catastrophe, keep a gratitude notebook, imitate a spiritual master.

SEPTEMBER: Pursue a Passion
- recognize your passion and make time for it

OCTOBER: Pay Attention (Mindfulness)
- cultivation of conscious, nonjudgmental awareness, yoga and drawing classes.

NOVEMBER: Keep a Contented Heart (Attitude)
- cultivate a light-heart, loving, and kind spirit. It’s easier to complain than to laugh, easier to yell than to joke around, and easier to be demanding than to be satisfied

DECEMBER: Boot Camp Perfect (Happiness)
- after piling on resolutions for 11 months, follow all of her resolutions all the time

Questions for discussion
Session one
Q1.Each month, Gretchen Rubin personal happiness project consisted in focusing on a specific area of her life she wanted to improve: boosting energy, marriage, work, parenthood, leisure, friendship, spending money, eternity, pursue your passion, practice mindfulness, keep a contented heart, etc. To enjoy your life better, which personal areas do you want to improve? According to the article, what are the top 3 useful tips for you?

Q2. Taking 10,000 steps every day keeps most people from gaining weight, not to mention how good you feel after hitting your target for the day; The evening tidy up is another great tool to keep your environment clean. There really is very simple you take 15 minutes before bed to do simple tidying. Tidying the up at night can make your mornings more peaceful and pleasant. These steps usually just take a few moments but the cumulative impact is impressive. Have you tried something constantly and make you differently?

Q3. Gratitude is important to happiness. Consistently grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their lives. Gratitude brings freedom from envy, because when you're grateful for what you have, you are not consumed with something different or something more that makes you easier to live and also to be generous to others. Now a good practice is to note three things each day. Let’ starting practice. Please share with us three things you are gratitude which happened yesterday.

Session two

Q4. A good marriage/ relationship with your beloved is one of the factors most strongly associated with happiness since it shapes one’s daily existence. When you quarrel with your beloved over trivial matters, are you the person who does not like the feeling of losing the fight? Is that easy to hold back on nagging and criticizing?

Q5. Can you cultivate yourself being kind, loving, and peace spirit? Do you think people can really change themselves? If you have magic to change one thing on you in a second, what it would be? Would you become happier after changed?

Q6. Will you like to spend one year to try proposal of the happiness project? Please list up 3 things. In human nature, we admit that we could never reach perfection when execute the project, because we have emotions, at least it still made us a better person.

***********************************************************************
Agenda:
3:50 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Small Group Discussion (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:20pm Regrouping & Break
(Session II)
5:20 ~ 6:00pm Small Group Discussion (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks

On-site meeting:
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $80)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘

Online meeting:
Zoom meeting ID: 875 5256 1813
Password: loveyoyo
Link: https://tinyurl.com/yoyobest

Important Notes:
1. We advise participants to print out the discussion questions and bring them to the meeting for reference. As for the supporting articles, feel free to print them out, as well, according to your preference.
2. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
3. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion. The host may also ask you to give brief feedback about the meeting at the conclusion of the meeting.
4. We conduct the entire meeting in English. All participants should have at least moderate English-conversation skills and be able to articulate your ideas for each discussion question.
5. We welcome newcomers and other guests to attend the meetings and join the discussion freely for twice (including on-site and online meetings). After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1500 lifetime membership fee.
最後由 Rosie 於 週六 10月 08, 2022 12:10 pm 編輯,總共編輯了 2 次。
Kooper
YOYO member
文章: 2725
註冊時間: 週三 4月 11, 2007 11:40 pm

Re: 10/8 (Sat)The Happiness Project with Gretchen Rubin(Host : Rosie)

文章 Kooper »

The first thing I learnt from the Happiness Project is that increasing one’s happiness boils down to changing one's habits, especially those little ones that we have fallen into mindlessly. A second take-home message is that changes wouldn’t be made without focus and priority; as the saying goes, “If everything is important, then nothing is.” To achieve tangible outcomes, the author focused on changing one aspect of her life a time and gave every attempt one month. Why does it have to be one month? I guess it comes from the popular idea that it takes at least 21 days to make a habit, assuming you engage the new behavior every day.
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