Something Making Us (More) Happier

• Elizabeth: Our hometown football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, will go to the Super Bowl.
• Gretchen:  I’m getting such an enthusiastic response to my new “Habits for Happiness” quiz that I decided to do a workshop, “Creating a Plan for Your Next New Habit,” on 2/29. I love talking about what habits we want to form, and what strategies we can use to keep them. Join in!

I’ve Been Meaning to Ask You

Inside the house — barefoot or shoes?

Spotlight on a Tool

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are some romance-related suggestions to read or watch:

• Nora Ephron’s Heartburn (Amazon, Bookshop) ; the movie is also great
• Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (Amazon, Bookshop); there are many good movie versions, but the 1995 BBC mini-series is widely acknowledged to be the best 

Or if you’d rather read about friendship:

• Ann Patchett’s Truth & Beauty (Amazon, Bookshop) — in episode 283, we talked to her about her book The Dutch House (Amazon, Bookshop)
• Patti Smith’s Just Kids (Amazon, Bookshop)

How’s That Going for You?

We talk about Determination Day on February 28 – a good day for someone like Elizabeth, who had a tough start to the year.

Quotation

Between the ages of twenty and forty we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature beyond which we cannot trespass with impunity. —W. H. Auden, “Reading,” The Dyer’s Hand and Other Essays (Amazon, Bookshop)