One of my favorite podcasts over the years has been Happier with Gretchen Rubin. You might know Gretchen from her book The Happiness Project, which is one of those classics that I revisit from time to time. It’s the kind of book that you vow to read every year but never do.
Luckily for me, Gretchen and her sister host their Happier podcast every week, and it’s chock full of thoughtful tips, reminders and practical ways to help make life more manageable, simple, meaningful, and ultimately, happier. One of my favorite habits that they’ve introduced in recent years is identifying a theme for the year, in the same way you’d commit to a New Year’s resolution.
The theme is intended to be something simple like “Connect” or “Rest” that’s easy to remember and that captures the essence of what you want for the year. During a recent episode, they shared hacks for ways to build in daily reminders for the themes…ideas like creating a playlist or having an inexpensive piece of custom jewelry made.
One really simple idea that I love is to create a screensaver for your cell phone so that every time you unlock your screen, you’re reminded of the theme. Mine is “Joy is vulnerable,” a quote from the amazing Brené Brown. You can download the wallpaper from the link below.
