5 Things Making Me Happy This Week (4/25)

Each Friday, I send a newsletter that includes "5 Things" that made me happy that week. Today, I'm sharing last week's list here as well. If you'd like to receive future 5 Things in your inbox, sign up?here .

Hello,

Strong relationships make us happier, and the pandemic has disrupted so many of our usual habits and routines of connecting with people.

One thing that brings me tremendous happiness is that over the last decade, every few years, five childhood friends and I have been getting together in a different city. We’ve done it four times, but no surprise, our last get-together was much delayed. But finally we’re meeting up—this time, in New York City. The minute we were all in the same room, it was as if no time had passed since eighth grade.

When my daughters were little, they sang a song, “Make new friends, but keep the old—one is silver and the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end, and that how long I’m going to be your friend.”

For me, new friends bring me a sense of energy and new possibility, and old friends helps me feel rooted in my past with the power of long connections. With these old friends, we know each other’s parents and siblings, we remember pets and grade-school bedrooms, we swap Kansas City stories … do you also find that there’s a special kind of intimacy and comfort to childhood friends? In fact, just this minute, I’m realizing that of this group, I know one friend all the way back to kindergarten, which means that other than my family members, she’s the longest relationship I’ve had in my life. Wow. I can’t wait to tell her!??

Old friends are important, and new friends are also important—relationships are a key to happiness. Because “How do I strengthen friendships?” is a question many adults ask themselves, I made our latest Jump-Start about Friendship. Click through to find friendship-building resources.

Onward,

Gretchen Rubin

5 things making me happy

1. ?I'm so happy to see that "Fantasy Island" will be back ! My sister, Elizabeth, is the show-runner, along with her longtime writing partner, Sarah. I get such a kick out of seeing their names on the screen at the beginning of every episode.

2. Poor Barnaby had to have stitches on his side, and he had to wear a collar to keep him away from the site. He was very patient about it. (Note that he’s got his favorite toy next to him, for comfort.)

3. ?Knowing my interest in the five senses, a thoughtful reader sent me?this fascinating piece ?about our sensory connection with food—how the modern world is breaking that connection, and how we can restore it.

4. The trees are starting to bloom in Central Park. Spring is so spectacular.

5. A thoughtful listener directed me to “The Nostalgia Machine ” website. You choose a year, and it gives you a playlist of top songs from American pop music. I’ve been thinking about how the five senses can tie us to our memories, and this is a terrific tool.

Updates

• I've heard from many listeners and readers about what habits they're working on, and?I've created Jump-Starts —collections of tips and tools—to address some of the most popular aims.
• Fun idea: a podcast listener mentioned that she's using her?Know Yourself Better Journal ?to connect with a friend who moved across the country. She ordered one for herself and her friend, and each week they meet over Zoom and discuss their responses to a prompt. Want to try this idea? Now through the end of April, when you buy one?Know Yourself Better Journal, you can get a second one half off. Add two?Know Yourself Better Journals?to your cart and enter code FRIENDSHIP at checkout.

Happier?Podcast

374: Refraining from Complaining, an Easy Health Hack, and We Talk about “Deaf Utopia” with Star Nyle DiMarco

Listen >

Interview with Matt Richtel: “No One Knows What’s Better for Me Than I Do.”

Read more >

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