In which I write about a book I can't make up my mind on.
The Happiness Project. This book is about a year-long self-improvement project to increase happiness, satisfaction and contentment. It's a lot Ben Franklinesque than I thought it would be and I think I can learn a lot from reading this book (although my reading this book has been conveniently scanning the pages and the months because I can't get myself hooked). I'm not really sure if I'm up for a year-long project of my own though. I'm not even sure if I like this book or not, so I will ramble.
I do appreciate the book's message of simplifying our lives and finding the joy in the small stuff but I can't help but wonder what made her life so stoic and unsatisfactory anyway? She seems to be doing well to me. I'm not sure if it's just me and my thing against First World Problems. Here in Manila, a lot of people live with less than a dollar a day. We really have no room for taking it easy and simplifying our lives because life is tough and simple is what we can afford, most of the time. I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love and Catcher in the Rye but I've always had a thing against the Western world and its lack of resiliency. I got the same vibe when I read this book. Where I come from, people suffer from really devastating tragedies and they just go on with their lives because they need to. Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective. I did like the quotations and the lists. I thought they were pretty crafty and most of the time, the insights made a lot of sense. I don't know. I need to read this book again but if you think you could afford to chase happiness and find out if there are certain things in your life that need to be fixed, pick up this book. It might be helpful.
