My home is a place of unconditional belonging, which is part of its pleasure, part of its pain–as Robert Frost wrote, home is "Something you somehow haven't to deserve." At home, I feel a greater sense of safety and acceptance, and also of responsibility and obligation. With friends my hospitality is voluntary, but my family never needs an invitation.

~Gretchen Rubin, Happier at Home

How about it, friends? Let's start something new. After the great reminders and reflections in The Happiness Project I'm ready for a little more Gretchen Rubin and her latest book Happier at Home is right up my alley.

My mom and mother-in-law were both stay at home moms for most of our (hubby and mine) childhoods, and I think they both did an awesome job of creating a space of comfort, safety, and love.

For me home is my reprieve and it's also my mainstay. As a professional who works in and out of the office, my home can't always be a place of total relaxation; it must also function as deadline keeper and motivation hot box. Home is not always a clear equivalent to happy.

Every other Thursday (when I'm not chatting with Joy about turning challenge into goodness) I'll be offering you my own reflections on happiness in our homes, grown-up style, and sharing snippets of Gretchen's book as well.

Here are some of the great topics coming your way:

• Possessions and Simplicity
• Marriage
• Parenthood
• Interior design
• Time
• Body
• Family
• Neighborhood
• Now

What one thing makes you happy every time you enter your home? I'd argue that we all need something that elicits something happy right when we enter.

Mine? This silly canvas of my son with a face full of spaghetti. It's larger than lifesize and it greets me, with a smile, every time I come home.

It's good to be home.

What's yours?

XOXO, MJ

    

Welcome again, friends! We're exploring Gretchen Rubin's book The Happiness Project every Thursday here on the blog.

This week, we pursue passion. Va va va voom. Sorry, no, we explore A passion (important article there).

                      

Gretchen's resolutions are:

• Write a novel.
• Make time. (wow)
• Forget about results.
• Master a new technology.

The first step in pursuing a passion? Recognizing what you're passionate about. A helpful way to find what this is? Think back to when you were 10...or what you might do if you had a free Saturday afternoon.

Gretchen wanted to make more time...for her, reading is one of the greatest joys. She wanted to carve out more time to dive into the books she loved. To make more time she stopped reading books she didn't love.  Giving yourself permission is an important part of this chapter.

At 10 (let's see that was 5th grade), I loved to draw, craft, read, be outside... Pretty much, if I have a free Saturday (which happens so rarely as a momma of 3 kids under 7) I will start a project...something crafty for me or our home or a friend. And I find that Gretchen's reminder - featured at the top of this post - is really important. Since my time to pursue a passion really only pops up here and there, I have to be okay when I don't finish a project in one sitting or I experience DIY fail. The process is where the passion lies.

So I'll be trying to forget about the results this week, friends.

Where are you finding your passion these days? How do you allow yourself time to foster that passion? I could use some of your insight.

XOXO, MJ