Above: SYFS is inviting the community to join a book discussion this month. If you can’t (or don’t want) find time to read The Happiness Project, you’re still welcome to join them for the talk.
Southborough Youth and Family Services is trying to bring some happiness to the community for Mental Health Awareness Month.
The agency is inviting the public to join a Community Read that doesn’t require reading:
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we could all use some happiness right about now! While happiness isn’t something we can achieve continuously, we can we do things to bring more positivity into our lives.
Join Southborough Youth and Family Services to discuss Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. Reading the book encouraged but not necessary
(If you’re interested in the topic but aren’t into reading, you can always listen to the audio version instead.)
This isn’t the only initiative SYFS is promoting to celebrate MHAM. As I shared on Friday, the agency partnered to bring The Hope Walk to Chestnut Hill Farms for the month of May. (They also have one more community “happiness” initiative this month. Stay tuned for a post on that tomorrow.)
As for the Community Read, Rubin’s popular book is subtitled “or why I spent a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle, and generally have more fun”. Rubin’s website promotes:
One rainy afternoon, while riding a city bus, Gretchen Rubin asked herself, “What do I want from life, anyway?” She answered, “I want to be happy”—yet she spent no time thinking about her happiness. In a flash, she decided to dedicate a year to a happiness project. The result? One of the most thoughtful and engaging works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject.
The Happiness Project synthesizes the wisdom of the ages with current scientific research, as Rubin brings readers along on her year to greater happiness.
In fact, Rubin’s “happiness project” no longer describes just a book or a blog; it’s a movement. Happiness Project groups, where people meet to discuss their happiness projects, have sprung up across the country—and across the world. Rights have been sold in more than 35 countries. Hundreds of book groups have discussed the book; professors, teachers, psychiatrists, and clergy assign it. The book has spent more than two years on the bestseller lists, and The Happiness Project was even an answer on the game-show Jeopardy!
The Happiness Project has been a blockbuster bestseller. It spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list, including hitting #1, has sold more than 1.5 million copies, and has been published in more than thirty languages.
The community discussion organized by SYFS will be held over zoom on Thursday, May 27th at 7:00 pm. Participating is free, but pre-registration is required. To sign up, click here.
To get a copy of the book, you can contact the Southborough Library or place a direct hold using your library card and the following links:
For specific questions about this program, please email skinayman@southboroughma.com.
*Late this afternoon, the CW/MARS e-audiobooks had a waitlist. But using the pull down menu in OverDrive for “Partner libraries” I was able to find systems that had copies immediately available to download. Only one e-book was currently available (through the SAILS Library Network), the rest had waitlists.
The good news is there were plenty of hard copies of books available through interlibrary loan.
