Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Friday, 20 January 2012

Happy to Happier

Apart from an obsession with geometrics, yarn, patchwork and crafts in general, I am also an avid reader of self-help books - and usually about finding my 'true self' - whatever that may be (still reading about it!). So when Emma over at Gawgus Things posted about 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin, I knew I had to get the book. And so I did!








I need to add something straight away. I am a happy, positive person, I am - serious. OK I get grumpy at work and also I nag at home (when the house is not tidy or clean usually). So why am I so into self-help books? It is probably because I think there is more to be done, that time should be really spent purposefully (be it at work or at home). I feel that time should be spent for me and my loved ones rather than for others who do not really care about my well-being. And it is, just not enough...





So anyway the book in hand, I was off to Paris with the train journey ahead of me. The book is divided by month. So I was not sure how I was going to tackle it. Read a chapter every month, or read the whole thing (I may have different priorities than Gretchen's?). I knew though that I agreed with the January Chapter should be my first task because January is Vitality, and that should make other taxing tasks easier.




So 1.'Go to sleep earlier' - should be easy. I take my sleep really seriously (I am sure I mentioned this before) but I really want to make sure I spend time with M as well.


2. Exercise better - I may add eat better. The emotional eating has to stop as well! So I will start weight watchers again and start running regularly again. Yes I will... a whole year of it. bring-it-on.


3. Toss, restore, organise - yes, those bank statements have to find a place in the cupboard under the stairs - actually come to think about it the whole cupboard needs to be organised, as well as the garage... And we still have some bits and pieces in the house to finish (by the end of Chapter 1, I basically had a 'big item' to do list of 5 pages)..


4. Tackle a nagging task... Well the problem is prioritising only one.


5. Act more energetic - hmm, I like the theory...now did to make it happen...


So here we are the basis of my own Happiness project. I am sure loads of you have already read it or done it, would be great to hear about your experience! If you are planning to do it, let me know!

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Currently reading

My Mum and I have always swapped books (well I tend to buy her the French translation of mine) - we have similar reading taste. We read Harry Potter at the same time, Twilight, more recently the Millenium Trilogy (the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo)... And when she gave me the French translation of the Help ('La couleur des sentiments', some translations are beyond me) and told me to read it, I should have started then and there.


All my friends have already read it and loved it. But I had just started One Day by David Nicholls (highly recommended) and forgot about the book. Plus with the strange translated title I did not make the connection straight away (had to look inisde to know it was indeed The Help). With the film showing at the cinema, it was time to start reading it... And I cannot put it down. It is brilliant! It is not too descriptive, the style is really dynamic by changing the points of view and she makes you feel like you are actually there. I have just seen the trailer and I cannot wait to see the film. Hopefully the director did justice to the book...

Off to Brussels today and will be back tomorrow, so that will make 4 hours of uninterrupted reading bliss. Cannot wait!

So guys, what have you been reading recently that you could not put down. Don't you love those types of books?