We talk about why it’s such a happiness-booster to raise your hand to organize an event or undertaking—to realize that if you don’t do it, no one will. We also share a hack for making it easier to take medication, and why it’s a good idea to “suffer fools gladly.”

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Shop the Black Friday Sale in the Happiness Project Shop
• Use the gift guide for thoughtful and easy gift ideas 
• Elizabeth: is catching up on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: Rules for Visiting by Jessica Francis Kane (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app. 

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The awe-inspiring true story of “Mountain Man” Dashrath Manjhi is an example of how we can transform pain into action that can help others. After his wife died for lack of medical care, Dashrath Manjhi spent more than twenty years single-handedly carving out a path to make his remote village more accessible.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I joined Kim and Penn Holderness on their podcast "Laugh Lines" for a funny, thoughtful talk about parenting after the kids move out—a great listen as families come back together for the holidays.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app. 

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s easy to get swept up in a cycle of holidays that feels more like a relentless to-do list than a source of joy. In this Celebration Roundtable, we talk about how to embrace the holidays as opportunities for intentional connection and meaning.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Francis Lam
• Priya Parker
• Kate Bowler
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
• Stone Soup by Marcia Brown (Amazon, Bookshop)

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It can be a real challenge to find new, useful ideas for gifts. We suggest many of our own recommendations, plus we include dozens of ideas from listeners. 

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Request bookplates now to get them in time for the holidays!
• Sign up for The Happiness Project Revisited and get 40% off enrollment 
• Florist Wire
• Electric Foot Warmer 
• Whiskey of the Month Flaviar
• Uncommon Goods Pop-Up Escape Room
• Clear Case for eReader 
• Briogeo Sleek Stick 
• SK-II Facial Masks
• Surratt Makeup Brushes
• La Mer Lip Balm
• Snuffle Mat 
• Flirt Pole with Lure
• Trigger Point Cane
• Back and neck massager
• Heating pad for neck
• TOMOO 9 wheel muscle roller
• Tom Cruise Cake
• Doan's Bakery
• John Kelly Chocolates
• Boston Big-Buckle Shearling Birkenstock
• Portable light-Newmowa
• Lumify Eye Drops
• Sea Scooter 
• EcoNour tray for car
• Gift-Giving Toolkit
• Elizabeth is reading: Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a writer, I'm particularly drawn to great endings, and I read the extraordinary closing paragraphs of Lytton Strachey’s biography Queen Victoria. Strachey imagines Victoria's fading mind retracing the vanished visions of her long history—passing back through decades of memories in a poignant, poetic cascade that captures both the end of a life and the end of an era.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk about the challenge of choosing a one-word theme for the upcoming year, as well as the surprising value of gossip. Plus we talk about a fun reason to have a party.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Send recommendations for your favorite books to give for the holidays

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk to Lori Gottlieb—psychotherapist, bestselling author, and co-host of the “Since You Asked” advice podcast—about what she wishes she could tell her patients. We discuss questions like why patients lie to their therapists, how to know if you’re the toxic friend, how to handle a challenging holiday gathering, and how to end rumination.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Request bookplates now to get them in time for the holidays! 
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Elizabeth is reading: The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: A Weekend in New York by Benjamin Markovits (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes a teaching story has such a great lesson that it doesn’t even matter if it’s not true. While the famous story of the sardines and the catfish turns out to be apocryphal, it illustrates a useful truth: Being in an environment where we need to show hustle can be better for us than quiet, stagnant surroundings.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A twist on our “Clear the Decks” strategy—this episode guides you through a series of quick, one-minute tasks to help you get organized for the holidays.

Resources & links related to this episode:

• Sign up to be an organ donor!
• We mention the Five-Senses Journal, which includes spaces to do five-senses portraits.
• To make it easier to identify good gifts to give, take the Gift-Giving Quiz.
•  Outer Order, Inner Calm
• Know Yourself Better Journals
• We mention the Happier app

Get in touch: [email protected]

Visit Gretchen's website to learn more about Gretchen's best-selling books, products from The Happiness Project Collection, and the Happier app.

Find the transcript for this episode on the episode details page in the Apple Podcasts app. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.