Welcome to a little happier. I'm Gretchen Rubin. This week we're brought to you by audible.com,

which has more than 180,000 audiobooks and spoken word audio products. Get a free 30-day trial

at audible.com slash happier. We have a new puppy, Barnaby. He's just eight months old. We love him so

much. We're a little surprised because he's already 33 pounds, which is far more dog than we

expected that we would be getting, but we love him. And Barnaby makes us happy for a lot of reasons.

But I realize that one of the reasons that he makes me happier is that he just gets me outside more.

You know, several times during the day, I take him outside. And it is very refreshing to go outside

into the sunlight or the moonlight, to breathe fresh air, to see what's going on with the weather,

to just experience what's happening outside my own apartment or wherever I'm working. This

makes sense because I know from research that just going outside tends to boost people's energy

and focus, especially if they're going outside into the sunlight because sunlight really stimulates

the brain. Even if you're in a very well lit interior, you're going to have a lot less light

coming into your face than you would on even the most over a cast day. And so there's something

about just going outside that is going to boost memory, boost alertness, boosts that feeling of

well-being. So I just want to take this opportunity to thank Barnaby for giving me the opportunity

and perhaps too frequently the opportunity to go outside. I'm Regen Rubin and I hope this makes

your week a little happier.