happiness

Over at The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin recently posted about a resolution of hers — "Take a Field Trip" — where she describes a recent visit to a perfumerie in New York to seek out good smells and cultivate some happy-making fragrances. It's a little touch that can make life a little happier, and it's got me thinking about how making (and, ideally, sticking to) some resolutions isn't just for January 1. Life in the spring and summer feels so different to me than it does in the fall and winter, so it's only fitting that I should have a different set of ambitions and projects.

In honour of tomorrow being the first day of summer, I have compiled a list of things that I love but usually only have access to during the summer months — just in case we're not all excited enough about the impending heat.

Have you ever thought about how where you choose to live affects your happiness? Well, apparently the impact can be sizable — and city dwellers often fare the worst. A recent story by Alice Park over at Time — "Stressed in the City: How Urban Life May Change Your Brain" — explores recent research indicating that urban living leads to greater stress, more mood disorders and more psychotic illnesses. The research indicates that living in a city can actually change how your brain functions, making you more sensitive to fear and anxiety — basically, we're constantly on the lookout for threats when compared to suburban or rural dwellers.

With all of the rain and gloom of late, as I sit at my desk staring out the window and longing to break out my tube tops and flip flops and hit the park, I've been thinking about how to raise my spirits. I've tried a number of things to compensate for the grey clouds — re-watching my favourite movies, tackling ambitious recipes (for my personal culinary skill set) and going to the gym - with mixed results.

I think it's fair to say that most women are consumed by cutting down their consumption. Even the most independent, strong-willed, confident and smart women I know will acknowledge being concerned about their waistlines - even if they're not overweight.