It has now been a month since my husband Jamie and I dropped off our daughter Eleanor for her freshman year of college. Our “open-door” stage is well underway! For me, research is me-search, and my decision to write a book about the open door/empty nest is really helping me feel energized and excited about this new phase of life. I have so many things I want to learn and try. True, I’ve taken a few naps on Eleanor’s bed, and I’m very pleased whenever she texts or calls, but so far, so good.

Onward,

Gretchen Rubin

5 Things Making Me Happy​

I recently joined comedians and best friends Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael for a conversation on their terrific podcast, The Deep Dive. We discuss my tips on how to combat anxiety and use all five senses to get more happiness in our lives. It was so fun to talk to these two hilarious people.

Yes, I write about happiness, the five senses, Secrets of Adulthood, open door/empty nest…but I also have several writing projects running in the background. One day, when I have grown in wisdom, I hope to write a book on a mysterious subject that, in my own mind, I refer to as “symbols beyond words.” Uncanny examples of symbols beyond words can be found in Iris Murdoch’s A Severed Head; Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections; Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood; Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping; and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. If you want to hear me tell a story about this subject, listen to this two-minute “Little Happier”: “Sometimes, transcendent forces seem to enter the world.”

As a podcaster myself, I was fascinated to read this account of the origin of the word “podcast.” How fun to be the person who created a popular term for a new thing in the world!

Writing Life in Five Senses has made me very interested in knowing more about how we all see the world differently—remember “the dress” that people saw as either white-and-gold or blue-and-black?—and I was fascinated by the article “Blue or green? This viral test plays with color perception.” After a visual neuroscientist realized he and his ophthalmologist wife saw green and blue differently, he designed a very short interactive quiz to test blue/green boundaries. His test has received more than 1.5m visits. I took the quiz and discovered that my boundary is at hue 179, bluer than 82% of the population.

Check your voter registration status. Enter your state and check to see if you’re registered—never a bad idea. I checked, and I’m registered to vote. Just a few clicks—it takes less than 30 seconds. We’re happier when we put our values into the world, and if you value voting, knowing that you’re registered will give you a boost.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

New! Design Your Year: A Guide

This guide is designed to help you shape your year, season by season, with reminders to stop, reflect, and consider what changes could make your life happier. The exercises, inspired by the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast, offer many creative ways to approach building habits and accomplishing your aims for the year.

This week on Happier with Gretchen Rubin

PODCAST EPISODE: 501

We discuss why you might want to transform an acquaintance into a friend as well as specific ways to deepen that relationship. We also discuss an important happiness lesson modeled for us by our parents, and suggest a hack to make emails more efficient (and shorter).

Listen now >

Listen to the Happier podcast?
Click here to read the show notes.

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Every Friday, Gretchen Rubin shares 5 things that are making her happier, asks readers and listeners questions, and includes exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes material.