I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

Last week, I read a passage from Carl Uvacnausgard about a bliger rebellion, and this week I want

to mention another passage in another of his works.

And I want to apologize again to anyone who can hear my mispronunciation, I am sure, of

his name.

On a happier podcast, each week, Elizabeth and I propose a try this at home suggestion,

some concrete step that we can take, starting today, to be happier, healthier, more productive

or more creative.

Way back in episode two, we suggested a try this at home that really struck a chord with

listeners.

It was an idea suggested by our mother.

She'd made the observation that when you're in touch with a person all the time, you have

a lot to say to each other, but when you see a person rarely, you have a hard time coming

up with things to say.

So she suggested that we email each other regularly, with updates about small details

of our lives.

We instantly realized that this was a great idea, and now every several days we send each

other an email titled update, and we write about the most minor daily happenings in our

lives.

The motto of update is, it's okay to be boring.

It is astonishing how much closer I feel to my mother, my father, and my sister, now that

we're exchanging these very minor but regular updates.

...