Happiness is...

What would the opposite of an evil twin be? An angelic double?
Whatever you call it, I believe I have found the parallel universe version of myself on the Internet. Her name is Gretchen Rubin, creator of The Happiness Project. She's embarked on a journey very similar to my own: Try out everything you can for a year to improve your happiness. And of course, since this is the parallel universe, she's doing a good job and having great success.
I found out about The Happiness Project from a friend named Barb, who mentioned it as we huffed and puffed our bicycles over the hills around Lake Olathe (I saw two blue herons on this trip. But I'm sure it means nothing.)
So I went right home and looked up her blog. Then I looked at her picture and clicked "about." Whoa!
Not only is she beautiful, but, "At Yale Law School I was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal and won a writing prize. I went on to clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court."

Help me. Can't. Breathe. Fighting back extreme urge for snarkiness.
There's more.
"I had a great experience in law, but I realized that what I really wanted to do was to write. Since making the switch, I’ve published four books. I’m currently working on The Happiness Project. It will hit the shelves in January 2010 (Harper)."

Oh, and she's from Kansas City. Didn't I tell you it was a parallel universe?

Okay. Someone who was editor of the Yale Law Journal and clerked for the first female member of the Supreme Court, someone who is good-looking enough she doesn't have to use a bug for an avatar--that person is as entitled to search for happiness as anyone, I guess, though it doesn't sound like much of a search. I mean, where's the struggle? But never mind. Anyone that successful probably has something worth checking out. So, jealousy aside, I decided to see what she advises.

The first of her "Twelve Commandments," is to "Be Gretchen." In other words, let go of the useless striving to be the person you wish you were and just embrace your own likes and dislikes. As an example, she says, she will never be a person who hangs out in artists' studios or visits jazz clubs after midnight. And she will try to get over not being that kind of person.
That sounds reasonable. I don't have strong feelings for the NFL. Once in a while, I envy people who enjoy Super Bowl parties and talk for hours the next day. But it never makes me wish to change myself into a face-painting cheese-hat-wearing fan.
What about the things I do want to change, though? For instance, I would like to be more optimistic. Really. But the more I study it, the more I see what a huge personality change it's going to take. In fact, the more I study it, the more impossible it looks. Does that mean I should give it up and just embrace the fact that I am a cynical outcast who can never change?
Or--here's a horrifying thought--maybe being unhappy is what makes me happiest. Maybe I'm such a sick, sick puppy that only my despondency keeps me afloat. Does that thought make me happy, or unhappy?

I've wandered too close to the trippy edge here. I think I'll make my way back with a funny movie. I wonder if our Horsefeathers VHS tape is still playable.
Here's a clip. If you want to go straight to "Whatever it is, I'm against it," it's at about 4 minutes.