Apartment Therapy on Happiness

I love Apartment Therapy. This is one of those blogs/sites that always amuses me and surprises me when I dip in. Today I caught up and got a suggestion for a keyboard cleaner I'm going to order for a friend at work. I might have it delivered anonymously-- I just want him to have it and don't want funny looks.

Buried in a long list of posts about the ideal kitchen design (using photos of real kitchens as examples), cherry blossoms and the value of cut flowers, links to items for sale in NYC (I always want to move after reading this site), I hit a couple posts that made me pause. In response to a post about typically American competitive more-more-mania and depression, a poster mused on his top ten toolbox for being happy.

I used to keep a Far Side cartoon on my fridge which read, "The Bluebird of Happiness long absent from his life, Ned is visited by the Chicken of Depression." How do I keep the Chicken away?

(I obviously quoted that because it's funny and about some guy named Ned, but anyway:) His list includes Review, Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously, Too Much is Not Enough, And Yet Splash Out, Don't Postpone Joy, and Clean Your Plate. And he ends with a poem that made me think of Paris, so when you read it you should think of your version of Paris, too: Apartment Therapy: On Happiness.