The Happiness Project

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” 

                                                                                        -- Aristotle

Has it been exactly a month since Bapa is gone...no wonder  I am the perfect candidate for books like - Why Smile, The Happiness Project...given to my bouts of melancholy and ennui this month...I struggle to fill my time with tasks, activities, friends and this elusive Joie de vivre.

I really enjoyed reading - Happiness Project, Gretchen has a wonderful style of reaching to the heart of the matter - her 12 commandments inspired me to think of my own

• Live  life on your terms
• Love Hard
• Live like there is no tomorrow
• Don't Compare
• Express Gratitude
• Enjoy your successes 
• Embrace your failures and learn from them
• It's ok to say - Bonjour tristesse sometimes because Sadness teaches you what happiness is!

Like Gretchen, I am an unadventurous soul...I live my life vicariously through books, food and movies...I  like to stay close home  - enjoying the peace and quiet, watching the roses bloom and the fluttering humming birds snuggled in a warm toasty comforter with my cup of chai. So maybe for me happiness is about...letting go...finding peace and accepting the present.I mindfully am trying to do a lot of the things Gretchen talks about in the book - build vitality, be an aware parent, be less of  a nagging wife (yeah! right)...these past two weeks I have cooked a lot and exercised a lot...incidentally here is the last food picture I had emailed to Bapa on March 10th...it was K2's dinner - Lentil Crepes better known as Adai...isn't it appropriate that the last thing I shared with him was around food and the last thing I told him was - Bapa, I love you.

Miss you Bapa....there will always be love!