<p>My newest reading obsession is this website called <em><a href="http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/">The Happiness Project</a></em>.&#0160; The author is trying out every tip or theory on happiness out there and reporting the results on her blog.&#0160; It&#39;s a clever idea, and she&#39;s working on a book of the same title so I&#39;m curious to see how the blog and book compare when its all done.</p>

<p>She has posted <em>20 tips for cheering yourself up (from 1820)</em> - something that I&#39;ve been needing lately.&#0160; Who hasn&#39;t?&#0160; Anyways, here are the ones that got me right here <em>(thumps chest)</em>:</p><blockquote><p><em>1st.<strong>&#0160; Live as well as you dare.&#0160; </strong><br /><br />3rd.&#0160; Amusing books.&#0160; <br /><br />
5th.&#0160; Be as busy as you can.&#0160; <br /><br />6th.&#0160; See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you.&#0160; <br /><br />7th.&#0160; And of those acquaintances who amuse you. <br /><br />8th.&#0160; Make no secret of low spirits to you friends, but talk of them freely—they are always worse for dignified concealment. <br /><br />11th.&#0160; Don’t expect too much from human life—a sorry business at the best.&#0160; <br /><br />14th&#0160; Be as much as you can in the open air without fatigue.&#0160; <br /><br />15th.&#0160; Make the room where you commonly sit gay and pleasant.&#0160; <br /><br />16th.&#0160; Struggle by little and little against idleness.&#0160; <br /><br />17th.&#0160; Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.&#0160; </em></p></blockquote><p>Read the rest <a href="http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2006/07/tips_for_cheeri.html">here</a>.</p>

<p>I loooooove #1.&#0160; I will add it to &quot;go for pleasure, not perfection&quot; as my personal mantras.&#0160; But in order to do that, I also have to work on #14, #5 and #16.&#0160; In other words, I&#39;m in a funk, and my fingers freeze up whenever I sit down to write.&#0160; My brain is mush.&#0160; I guess that takes care of #8!</p>
