Make your bed

Gretchen Rubin spent a year test driving theories on Happiness, and then put these all together in a book entitled 'The Happiness Project'. One of her simpler suggestions which was taken up in this article in the 'New York Magazine' on '50 ways to simple happiness' is just to make your bed.

I haven't read her book yet, but it is on my wishlist. A friend recently posted the question on his facebook status, 'Is happiness an art or a science'? I responded that I think it is a trade.

There are a few people who are lucky enough to be born very wealthy, with a happy disposition, are surrounded by loving people, happen to be blessed with healthy genes and fall into something for which they have a special talent and natural zest. On top of that they are a touch lucky.

For the rest of us, there are parts of life we can control and parts of life we can't. I think happiness comes from accepting the things you can't change, and accepting responsibility for the things you can. The great news is I think we have a lot more control over our happiness than most of us care to admit. Maybe this doesn't come across as great news because it means you can't really point your finger at anyone.

I like the idea of the happiness project. Everyone has different tastes, different passions and different buttons... but actually taking the chance to test things out and see if they work seems to be a step in the right direction.

I am no good at making my bed. But I really love it when I have made my bed (or when I happen to be in a hotel where my bed is made, which in truth is more often than I make my own).

I am going to make a concerted effort to make my bed this week... lets see how it goes.