Life

Radio review: Make a list and make yourself happier

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann is an Irish News columnist and writes a weekly radio review.

Nuala McCann
Nuala McCann Nuala McCann

Happier Podcast

Happy? It’s January, we’re all hangry and dieting and dry and vegan January-ing, is anybody happy?

But there are plenty of podcasts out there, should you choose to actively try to talk yourself happy.

Personally I think under the duvet is the place to be – like a brown bear until Spring time.

But failing that, you can listen to Happier with Gretchen Rubin.

Gretchen has been dropping into my inbox on a regular basis after I bought her book one New Year in pursuit of you know ... happiness.

And while I’m a fool for those kind of books – I’m on one about first starting with my sock drawer and another about cultivating emotional intelligence, Gretchen is no nonsense, practical – a bit of a Pippi Longstocking.

She hosts this podcast alongside her sister Elizabeth.

They talk about their 20 for 20 as in 2020 lists.

My mother used to make lists for Ireland, it seeps into your bones and I can’t go to the corner shop without one.

Gretchen believes in the “ta da” list for the last year and all that you achieved... award yourself a gold star and why not.

Gretchen says people get a lot of energy from looking at their “ta da” list.

The new podcast is all about choosing your 20 for 2020.

It’s the third year of the idea – apparently research shows that people who construct goals in concrete terms are 50 per cent more likely to feel confident they will attain their goals and 32 percent more likely to feel in control of their lives.

Gretchen has six categories in her list... she is going to visit New York’s Metropolitan museum every day.

Last year she had a summer of Proust, this year she’s going to have a summer of Virginia Woolf.

She also plans on booking a colonoscopy and a shingles vaccine – so it’s not all happy clappy.

Still there is a playful element and a sense of setting down hopes and dreams... that way, you never know, they might just come true.