Oxymoron alert: We talk about “new traditions” that have sprung up. We also talk about the interesting term of “house trust” and why we want it, and we discuss a gift idea that makes it easy to be creative and heartfelt—even if we have trouble putting your feelings into words.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Moment of Happiness Calendar
• Horace, The Odes of Horace  (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.

We talk to prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout about her acclaimed new novel, “Tell Me Everything.” In it, Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and other characters return in connected stories of murder, marriage, parents and children, and love. This novel is thought-provoking and compulsively readable.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
• Gift Giving Quiz: gretchenrubin.com/quiz 
• Little Happier episode
• Elizabeth is reading: Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (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.

We’re often told “Don’t put words in people’s mouths” or “Don’t tell other people what they feel,” but as these examples from “Game of Thrones” and “Terms of Endearment” illustrate, sometimes the tender thing to do is to say, “I know you love me.”

Get in touch: [email protected]

Follow on social media:

@GretchenRubin on YouTube

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Get the podcast show notes by email every week: happiercast.com/shownotes

Get Gretchen Rubin’s newest book Life in Five Senses to see how she discovered a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. Now available - order here.

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

 

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We revisit a conversation with bestselling author Susan Cain, renowned author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole. We also talk about why we should be the one to make the plan, and a listener suggests a hack for making it easier to use online recipes.

Links:

• The Quiet Life: A Journal by Susan Cain 

 

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 explore ways to make each day of the week special by recognizing small pleasures. We discuss a practical hotel checkout tip to avoid forgetting items. Also, we examine the value of allowing yourself to go into “shock” when facing big assignments or feedback, and how this pause can lead to clearer thinking and better responses. Plus we ask, “What lesson have you learned the hard way?”

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Four Tendencies Personality Quiz: Are you an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel?
• Happiness Hacks Card Deck
• Elizabeth is reading: Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand (Amazon, Bookshop) 
• Gretchen is reading: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (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.

A passage from “A Wrinkle in Time,” a masterpiece of children’s literature, holds a subtle but important lesson about human nature and the transformative power of love.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Follow on social media:

@GretchenRubin on YouTube

@GretchenRubin on TikTok

@GretchenRubin on Instagram

@GretchenRubin on Threads

Get the podcast show notes by email every week: happiercast.com/shownotes

Get Gretchen Rubin’s newest book Life in Five Senses to see how she discovered a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. Now available - order here.

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

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We discuss a useful lesson in communication drawn from “Real Housewives” drama. We also talk about why it’s such a relief to get up-to-date on photo albums, and we compare our views on the “Previously, on XYZ…” segments at the beginning of TV shows.

Resources and links related to this episode:

• Gift Giving Quiz
• What's Your Gift-Appreciation Profile
• Quotation: George Orwell, “Charles Dickens"

 

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 discuss a challenge to wear three items of clothing we are not currently using--and explore ways to overcome common obstacles. We also share creative happiness hacks for welcoming overnight guests, and examine how people who tend to be rigid can adjust their rules to reduce stress in changing circumstances.

Resources and links related to this episode:

New products

Four Tendencies quiz

Elizabeth is reading: Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand (Amazon, Bookshop) 

Gretchen is reading: Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell (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.

At Giverny, artist Claude Monet spent a lot of time, energy, and money to create the circumstances that he knew would feed his creativity. He made the pond and planted the water lilies that inspired some of his greatest masterpieces.

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.

October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and to mark the event, Yale professor Dr Laurie Santos of the Happiness Lab podcast has assembled the “Titans of Happiness”: a crew of hosts and happiness experts from the top wellness podcasts. I was thrilled to join this panel with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a clinical psychologist and host of the podcast Therapy for Black Girls, Dan Harris, host and author of the 10% Happier podcast, and Laurie Santos--and all of us were a little starstruck by another extra special guest… ELMO! We talk hacks for building relationships with others, Elmo's viral moment, and self compassion. Here’s part 2.

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.