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Life Kit

The key to happiness? Know thyself, says Gretchen Rubin

Life Kit

NPR

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Kids & Family, Education, Business

4.33.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What is happiness? How do you define it? Maybe it's feeling good, having a sunny disposition or being fulfilled, even if you don't feel pleasant all the time. Gretchen Rubin, host of the Happier podcast and author of The Happiness Project, says happiness is less about attaining joy than it is about growing in the right direction. In this episode, she explains how to make small changes that can move you toward happiness, and why knowing yourself helps contribute to this emotion.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This message comes from NPR sponsor, Fixable, a podcast from TED.

0:04.2

Here on filtered advice that will help you solve your work issues fast.

0:08.2

Everything from gaining more confidence in your role to figuring out what to do about your office crush.

0:13.4

Find Fixable wherever you listen.

0:16.1

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

0:20.7

Hey, everybody. it's Mariel.

0:23.2

Question for you.

0:24.7

How happy are you?

0:27.3

Yeah, I know. I guess I should answer it too.

0:30.6

I don't know.

0:32.7

I mean, what is happiness anyway?

0:35.4

I started my career in law, so I have many memories of spending an entire semester arguing about the definition of contract, and happiness is even more elusive.

0:45.2

This is Gretchen Rubin. She's a writer who studies happiness, good habits, and human nature.

0:50.1

She also has a podcast called Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

0:53.2

She says trying to pin it down exactly,

0:56.1

and yes, I did try to do that in our interview, isn't all that helpful? There are like 15

1:02.3

academic definitions of happiness. And I think that for the regular person, it's not that

1:08.0

useful to argue about joy versus contentment versus well-being versus

1:12.0

life satisfaction. It's easier to think about moving in the right direction. Because what is

1:18.6

happiness is a very hard question to answer, but will this make you happier is something that

1:23.5

usually we have a lot of clarity about. Another thing Gretchen has learned about happiness

1:28.6

is that it's not one size fits all.

...

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