I’ve written before about why the resolution to Join or start a group -- any kind of group -- can bring you happiness. I’ve joined or started fourteen groups since I began my happiness project, and they've added tremendously to my happiness.

Many people have started Happiness Project groups, for people meeting to discuss their own happiness projects; they swap ideas, build enthusiasm, and hold each other other accountable for their resolutions -- which is so important for making change. (Think about AA or Weight Watchers.) In fact, here are 9 reasons why starting a Happiness Project group will boost your happiness. It's also true that just the fact of joining a group, whatever the focus might be, brings happiness.

For people who interested in Happiness Project groups, I created a starter kit, to help get the ball rolling. Many thousands of people have requested one. (To receive one yourself, email me at gretchenrubin1 at gmail dot com.)

I’m extremely interested in these groups, and have wanted to be able to track and engage with them, and at last, after a few false starts, I think I've figured out how to do that.

If you’re in a Happiness Project group, or starting one, please, take this quick survey -- it’s just six questions and will take you less than a minute -- to provide some basic information.

People often ask me, “How do I find out if there’s a group in my area?” This survey will allow me to put together a complete list, along with contact information for the groups that want to provide that. I'll post the list on my here and on Facebook (but because I don't have information yet, that material isn't yet available.)

If your group is just getting started, fill in what information you can, and write a note in the "Additional comments" section to say that you're still putting it together.

Also, I know that the groups would like to be able to discuss issues among themselves. That discussion will take place here on Facebook.

I’m wildly interested to learn more about the groups! So please do fill out the survey. Thanks! I really appreciate it.

If you want to start a happiness project as a solo project instead of as part of a group, here's some information that might be useful.

Happiness interview: Natalie Taylor.

Natalie Taylor has written a wonderful, moving memoir, Signs of Life. When she was 24 years old and five-months pregnant, Natalie's husband Josh died in a skateboarding accident, and her book describes what she went through over the next few years.

I really loved this book. One of my happiness-project resolutions is to Read memoirs of catastrophe, and out of her experience, Natalie was able to convey some very profound insights into the nature of love and happiness.

I also loved this book for another reason. As an ardent supporter of organ donation, I was very moved to read how her family handled the issue: without a second thought. "Josh donates seven organs," Natalie wrote. Tears welled up in my eyes when I read that.

Gretchen: Becoming a widow is an enormous happiness challenge. How did you meet it?
Natalie: A few days after losing my husband, I vividly remember sitting in the passenger’s seat of my sister’s car telling her I could never be happy again. Three and a half years later, I don’t feel that way at all. I’m not even quite sure how or when it happened. I just know that at the time, I was desperate not to be destroyed by grief, not just for me, but for my son. So, I tried everything. I saw a psychologist, I went to spousal grief group, I went to a single mom’s group, I forced myself to go through pictures, I wrote, I read, I acknowledged anniversaries, and as much as I faked it in front of other people (man, did I get good at that), I never lied to myself. Part of me knew I needed to get in the fight early and often or else the grief could morph into a very dangerous monster. It’s not to say I’m on cloud nine everyday, but the pain of the immediate grief is like the pain of labor—you how bad it hurt, but the intensity of the moment is a memory of the past.

What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Two things: 1. Playing with my son. A lot of times I get so wrapped up in making dinner and doing laundry that I forget to slow down and just play. The best is when I turn my phone off, turn the radio off, turn the oven off and just put 100% of myself into pretending to be Han Solo.

2. Exercise. I do this thing called CrossFit where it’s a one-hour class that usually leaves me crumpled up on the floor gasping for air feeling like I am going to die. It’s awesome. But more than the workout itself, I love the people at my gym. The combination of getting stronger and having a fun community of people is totally addicting.

Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
I’m pretty sure it’s called “eating your feelings.” I’m not sure if this happens to anyone else, but when I am full of mixed emotions, I will walk into my kitchen and have sort of a black out moment and then the next thing I know there are cookie crumbs all over the counter. I can tell you from experience, this does not make me happier, but shamefully, I do it repeatedly.

Is there a happiness mantra or motto that you’ve found very helpful? (e.g., I remind myself to “Be Gretchen.”)
In the midst of my grief, a wise person told me, “you are only visiting this place.” Sometimes life has us feeling like we are stuck in a bad place forever. In my book I talk a lot about not just my bad place, but how I got out—sometimes I was gently carried by those who loved me, sometimes I was dragged by my collar, and other times I clawed my way out myself. I came to realize that no matter how dark life got, I did not have to stay there forever. Now when I have a hard day, I remind myself that it’s a visit, not a permanent residence.

Is there anything that you see people around you doing or saying that adds a lot to their happiness, or detracts a lot from their happiness?
I love being around people who aren’t afraid to speak the truth. I remember before my husband’s viewing, my best friend, Katie, who had lost her mom three years earlier, told me that people were going to say a lot of stupid things to me at the viewing about why Josh died. She said, “I am handing you an invisible stack of STFU cards” which stood for “Shut the F@#& Up” and she told me when people say things that I don’t care to hear, I can imagine handing them one of my cards. Katie’s honest and humorous approach has gotten me through a lot.

Do you work on being happier? If so, how?
I keep my ear to the ground for the little tricks on leading a happier life. The Monday after Easter, Anne, a coworker of mine with four little kids, told me she was always overwhelmed with holidays, but this year she took the advice of another mom whose kids are older now. Anne told me before her relatives and in-laws came over for brunch, she took a shot of tequila. She said it actually really helped. I’m not advocating for drunk Easter Sundays, I’m just saying, I place a high value on these black market pearls of wisdom. It’s usually the best advice.

* Sign up for the Moment of Happiness, and every weekday morning, you’ll get a happiness quotation in your email inbox. Sign up here, or email me at gretchenrubin1 at gmail dot com.

Happiness interview: Piper Kerman.

I'd heard a lot about Piper Kerman's book, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, even before I bought my copy. I was intrigued with her story: more than ten years after agreeing to deliver a large cash payment for a drug ring, she ended up spending a year in a minimum-security prison. I was fascinated to hear what she had to say about happiness -- and how to find happiness in difficult circumstances.

Gretchen: What’s a simple activity that consistently makes you happier?
Piper: Cooking. I find the combination of the measured steps of creating a meal, along with the opportunity for experimentation and novelty, to always result in happiness – and a concrete outcome! And when I’m in cooking mode, I listen to one radio show, Little Steven’s Underground Garage. When my husband comes home and hears that show blasting through the computer, he knows he’ll find me in a good mood, creating something delicious.

What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were 18 years old?
That happiness is intrinsically tied up in one’s relationships with others, not “standalone” achievements. Even one’s individual triumphs only mean something in relation to other people.

Is there anything you find yourself doing repeatedly that gets in the way of your happiness?
Procrastinating – I’m the worst! It’s an irrational behavior, but I’ve been a terrible procrastinator as long as I can remember.

Is there a happiness mantra or motto that you’ve found very helpful? (e.g., I remind myself to “Be Gretchen.”)
The last chapter of my book, Orange is the New Black, is called “It Can Always Get Worse,” and at a very difficult point when I was a prisoner this was a daily mantra – intended to ward off the worst! While this may sound very negative, in truth it reminds me to appreciate the positive that’s to be found even in awful circumstances, and be grateful for what’s good in every day. Concentrating on the positive is essential for me.

If you’re feeling blue, how do you give yourself a happiness boost?
Taking a walk always helps dispel melancholy. Freedom to move is very important to me.

Is there anything that you see people around you doing or saying that adds a lot to their happiness, or detracts a lot from their happiness? When people have the opportunity to contribute and collaborate, they feel powerful, important, and worthy. When they’re isolated from others, they feel the opposite. I think that people who feel that they have a lot to offer, a lot to give, are the most happy.

Have you always felt about the same level of happiness, or have you been through through a period when you felt exceptionally happy or unhappy – if so, why? If you were unhappy, how did you become happier?
When facing incarceration I hit some tremendous lows; I spent almost six years waiting to go to prison, never knowing when in fact it would happen, and that was a very isolating, helpless period of my life. The combination of the guilt and shame of becoming an outcast, coupled with having no control over what was going to happen in my life was very, very dark.

What’s surprising, even shocking, was that I became much happier when I started serving my sentence. Prisons are horrible places, very sad places, and yet many of the other women I met in prison became a source of great hope and happiness for me. Surviving a difficult, intense experience together with others can form profound bonds, and I and many other prisoners were determined to discover or create something good in a place that is explicitly intended to be miserable.

We would do this in simple ways: running on the prison’s small gravel track, practicing yoga with other prisoners, cooking, expressing creativity in small ways. To find moments of happiness in prison is an important act of defiance and a declaration of humanity.

Have you ever been surprised that something you expected would make you very happy, didn’t – or vice versa?
I just had a baby – something I was frankly ambivalent about – and while I fully expected to love my son, it is surprising how happy you can be to pick up a screaming baby at 3AM.

* Is your book group reading The Happiness Project? I've prepared a one-page discussion guide for book groups, as well as a guide tailored for church groups, prayer circles, spirituality book groups, and the like. If you'd like either discussion guide (or both), email me at gretchenrubin1 at gmail dot com. (Don't forget the "1.")

Zoikes, I'm so HAPPY. I just heard that The Happiness Project hit #1 on the New York Times list! Thrilling.

Thanks once again, dear readers. I so appreciate your enthusiasm and support. Hooray!

Every Wednesday is Tip Day, or List Day.
This Wednesday: 8 reasons why using Twitter can boost your happiness.

I’m a huge fan of Twitter, and I've tried to persuade several people to give it a try. (My greatest triumph: convincing my sister to use it. Seeing my sister in my Twitter feed -- that makes me very happy.)

We've all seen how Twitter can play an unprecedented role in world events and in news communication. But on a very personal, routine level, there are several (other) ways in which Twitter can boost your happiness. After all, is it just a coincidence that a blue bird is both the symbol for happiness and the symbol for Twitter? Probably yes, I know, but still, it's a happy coincidence.

1. Twitter allows you to pursue your passion – even if only in your imagination. A key to a happier life is to have fun – people who regularly have fun are twenty times as likely to feel happy. As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi noted in Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention: “When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.”

But sometimes, you don’t have time to pursue your passion as much as you’d like. But if you can’t find the time, or if you’d like to spend even more time on your passion than you do, Twitter is a great source of conversation and ideas. If you love cheese, Mad Men, green technology, college basketball, gardening, kidlit, or just about anything else, you can find other people who are interested in the same thing, day or night. And for that reason, it also makes you happier because…

2. Twitter distracts you if you’re feeling blue. Studies show that distraction is a powerful mood-altering device. (In fact, men’s greater tendency to distract themselves from bad feelings may be one reason they are less prone to depression than women.) If you’re following a bunch of people whose posts interest you, you can always count on finding something that will catch your attention. It can distract you, and also…

3. Twitter can get you laughing. If you follow some people who are very funny, you can count on getting a little boost when you need it. Reading 140 characters takes just a few seconds, but it's enough to re-direct your mood. My current favorite – forgive me, my beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder – @HalfPintIngalls.

4. Twitter helps you maintain loose relationships and strengthen strong relationships. One hot debate is whether technology will change Dunbar’s number – can you really handle more than 150 friends? Maybe not. But whether or not you can have more “friends,” technology certainly allows you to keep a better handle on acquaintances and virtual acquaintances. Far more than ever before, I’m vaguely aware of a huge number of people, some of whom I “know” and some I don’t “know,” and although that sounds overwhelming, it makes my life warmer and richer. Twitter, along with Facebook, blogs, Tumblr, and all the rest, allow me to keep a little connection with lots of people without much effort.

5. Twitter lets you help other people. Do good, feel good. If you have friends who raise money for a charity, who write books or articles, who perform music, who advocate for a cause, or otherwise want to direct attention someplace – or if you want to help strangers who are doing these things -- Twitter lets you shine a spotlight on their activities or on issues that you think are important. I periodically try to persuade people to commit to being organ donors. Writers often say to me, “I don’t want to use Twitter because I don’t want to promote my work all the time.” Fine – so support the work of people you admire! Tweet about them.

6. Twitter lets you conquer a device. Mastering a new technology – whatever the technology is -- contributes to the atmosphere of growth in your life, and that boosts happiness. Because social connections are a key (perhaps the key to happiness), the fact that Twitter technology connects people makes this effect even more intense.

7. Twitter lets you share those funny little observations that float through your head. In the same way that carrying a camera sharpens your eye, knowing that you can communicate your clever aperçus makes you more observant and wittier.

8. Twitter makes gathering information easier. If you follow people who share your passion, they’ll help you keep abreast of everything happening in that area. And if you have a general question, crowd-sourcing it to Twitter is a great way to get an answer. When I wanted a suggestion for artists who create miniature scenes, or an explanation for “steampunk,” I got answers right away. Most of all, Twitter is a super-efficient way to find out what other people find interesting.

HOWEVER...

These are ways that Twitter can boost your happiness. Now, Twitter has one major drawback for happiness: it uses up time, and time is in short supply for most of us. It’s true, it’s an efficient way to scan headlines, keep up with passions, and connect with people, but the fact is, it may tempt you to spend too much time using it, or to use it to procrastinate from other, less enticing work. It may eat up your time so that you have less time for face-to-face encounters with real people.

Like most things, Twitter is a good servant but a bad master, and you have to figure out how to keep it under control. No staying up past your bedtime to read your feed. That said, it's worth figuring out how to work Twitter into your life.

If you're intrigued, but you don’t know how to use Twitter, check out Twitip by ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse.

Once you're on Twitter, follow me at @gretchenrubin.

* My younger daughter and I were reading the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Nightingale, and it occurred to me that although I'd often read about the nightingale's song, I had never actually heard a nightingale sing. And here it is! I love the internet.