This post was written by Heather Rae.  Follow me on Twitter or StumbleUpon.

It’s been a while since I reviewed a non-fiction book.  What can I say, I love stories.  Today, I’m departing from my usual novel paradise, and for good reason.  I’ve got a great book to tell you about.

Those of you that know me or have read my blog for a while, know I’m often seeking ways to improve my happiness.  Thus, The Happiness Projectby Gretchen Rubin seemed a great place to get some insight.

After an epiphany that helped her to realize she should be spending more time on the things that really matter, Gretchen decided to dedicate a year to improving her happiness.

As she explained, she wasn’t an unhappy person — she had a good life.  But Gretchen feared she didn’t appreciate her good fortune enough; she realized that she should actually be a much happier person than she was.  Gretchen wanted to improve her happiness, not through a complete overhaul of her life, but by making small changes, those that are easy to incorporate into each day.

And so, Gretchen embarked on reading and researching everything on happiness that she could get her hands on.  (She found some great stuff.  The suggestions for additional reading at the back are worth getting the book, if you ask me.)  After soaking in all the tidbits of the art, science and research of happiness, she set out on her year-long venture.

Gretchen’s method for attacking this happiness project was quite practical.  She formulated twelve commandments, or guiding principles, by which to live (i.e., be Gretchen, let it go, act the way you want to feel, lighten up, enjoy the process, etc.).  She identified areas in her life she wanted to work on, then developed resolutions that were concrete and measurable.  She created a daily scoring chart on which to grade herself and record her successes and failures.  Once this was complete, Gretchen assigned these areas for improvement to each of the next twelve months.  Each month, she would focus on a different area.

At the end of it all, she evaluated her progress and whether or not she was, in fact, able to improve her happiness.  Spoiler alert:  yes, she was.  This is great news for the rest of us.  She’s loaded the book with her own insights on happiness, concrete action items to use toward creating your own fulfilling life and tools to create your own happiness project.

For those of you looking to improve your everyday life (and who, perhaps, don’t have the means or inclination to quit your job, sell your possessions and move half-way around the world) this book will give you ideas to improve your happiness from the comfort of your own home, without upending your entire life.  I highly recommend this book.

photo credit: Billie Hara