Quote

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted.

Gretchen Rubin

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Gretchen Rubin
Age: 58
Born: 1965
Born: December 14
Author
Blogger
Motivational Speaker
Kansas City
Missouri
Gretchen Craft Rubin
Belief
Lighthearted
Happiness
Misguided
Happy
Selfless
Energy
Unhappiness
Generosity
Selfish
Discipline
Takes
Unfailingly

More quotes by Gretchen Rubin

Image
I have a passion for children's literature. Young adult literature. I love it. I've always loved it.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Turn off your email turn off your phone disconnect from the Internet figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Enthusiasm is more important than innate ability, it turns out, because the single more important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last, his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Your unhappiness doesn't help anyone else - and in fact, as I mentioned in another answer, happy people are more altruistically inclined. So happiness is not a selfish goal.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
People in religions that teach that believers in other faiths are condemned, for example, tend to have lower life satisfaction. People who believe in heaven and hell tend to be less happy than those believe only in heaven.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
I'm a creature of routine, and I hate feeling incompetent, so I avoided novelty and challenge. Making an effort to push myself in that way has brought me surprising boost.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
One of the things that you see ancient philosophers and contemporary scientists agree on is that strong relationships are a key to happiness, maybe the key to happiness. People who have more strong relationships in their lives just feel happier.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Act the way that you want to feel.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Focus not on doing less or doing more but on doing what you value.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
In 'Before and After,' I identify the sixteen strategies that we can use to make or break our habits. Some are quite familiar, such as 'Monitoring,' 'Scheduling,' and 'Convenience.' Some took me a lot of effort to identify, such as 'Thinking,' 'Identity,' and 'Clarity.'
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Time waits for no ovary.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
One of the findings that really interests me is that, although we think we ACT because of the way we FEEL, we often FEEL because of the way we ACT. So an almost uncanny way to change your feelings is to act the way you WISH you felt.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
I have a lucky perfume. I love beautiful smells, but I save one of my favorite perfumes to wear only when I feel like I need some extra luck.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
The 20-minute walk I take is better than the 3-mile run I never start. Having people over for take-out is better than never having people to an elegant dinner party.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
I always say you can self-medicate through closet cleaning. Everyone knows that feeling of a clear surface, and how it makes you feel you can really focus and start your work.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it's easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. There's an excitement and an energy that comes from a big transformation, and that helps to create a habit.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Writing makes me happy.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
[S]tudies show that one of the best ways to lift your mood is to engineer an easy success, such as tackling a long-delayed chore.
Gretchen Rubin
Image
Sometimes I think it's easier to think about being happier, for what ever that means to you then worrying about what is happiness and what would life be if I finally achieved this ultimate happiness?
Gretchen Rubin