Courtesy of Gretchen Rubin Moment of Happiness
In 1970 I felt so lonely that I could not give; now I feel so joyful that giving seems easy. I hope that the day will come when the memory of my present joy will give me the strength to keep giving even when loneliness gnaws at my heart.
HENRI NOUWEN
The Genesee Diary
Any man who supposes the moon is always the same, regardless of the season, and is therefore unable to detect the difference in autumn, must be exceedingly insensitive.
YOSHIDA KENKO
Essays in Idleness
The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.
JEAN ANTHELME BRILLAT-SAVARIN
The Physiology of Taste
Each meal should be a treat and one ought to bless every day which brings with it a good digestion and the precious gift of hunger.
IRIS MURDOCH
The Sea, the Sea
Those who are not grateful soon begin to complain of everything.
THOMAS MERTON
Thoughts in Solitude
It is much easier to extinguish a first desire than to satisfy all of those that follow it.
FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Reflections
The sacrifice of pleasures is of course itself a pleasure.
MURIEL SPARK
Loitering With Intent
Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them.
TREVOR NOAH
Born a Crime
Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.
GEORGE ELIOT
Middlemarch
In the shapeliness of a life, habit plays its sovereign role.
MARY OLIVER
Long Life
Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me… .
WALT WHITMAN
“Song of the Open Road”
A house has a physical definition; a home has a spiritual one.
JAMAICA KINCAID
My Garden (Book)
I realized I was as happy as I’d ever been in my life. It was the happiness of the right-before, when everything is potential and no branch on the tree of possibility has yet been closed off by action.
DAWN DRZAL
The Bread and the Knife
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
EMILY DICKINSON
“If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking”
He was like a man owning a piece of ground in which, unknown to himself, a treasure lay buried. You would not call such a man rich, neither would I call happy the man who is so without realizing it.
EUGENE DELACROIX
The Journal of Eugene Delacroix
Focus on actions, not outcomes.
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
Without delay is usually the easiest way.
GRETCHEN RUBIN
Suggest
What are your comfort movies or books? Our Instagram community shared theirs:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Dan in Real Life
Yesterday
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
Summer Magic
My Best Friend’s Wedding
Holiday
Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
It’s a Wonderful Life
Gilmore Girls
Friends
I Miss You When I Blink: Essays by Mary Laura Philpott
Parenthood
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
Suggest
What are your rules around using technology? Members of our Instagram community share their resolutions:
“Stick a timer on my phone to mark not to touch when I need to focus”
“Less is more”
“Shut down your laptop when you log out from work and don’t turn it on until you have to work again”
“No electronics in the bedroom”
“On silent from 9pm-8am, or whenever out for coffee/lunch/doing a mental task”
“I can only have one game on my phone”
“My kid slaps phones out of our hands if we use them at the kitchen table. She holds the boundary!”
“Don’t look in the morning. 1 hour of social a day”
Suggest
What seasonal sensory experiences bring you joy? Our Instagram community shares their favorite ways to engage their senses:
“Walking during the first big snow storm. It makes everything quiet and private and magical.”
“Playing favorite holiday albums and baking chocolate chip cookies we decorate every year.”
“Smell of autumn: smell of earth and leaves, spicy and crisp”
“The fragrance of a real Christmas tree in the house”
“Stepping into my backyard on a warm summer morning and hearing the magpies warbling (Aussie bird)”
“Surprise copper sunset peeking through dripping grey clouds.”
“Christmas lights”
“Taking a nap in a tent during the summer with the sun heating the tent”
“The sound of fallen leaves crunching under my feet”
“The smell of snow threatening to flutter down from the sky”
