The Happiness Project

In January 2011 I waxed poetic about Gretchen Rubin’s book, the Happiness Project:

And as strongly as I dislike Oprah and anything that has been touted as the next best thing on her show (the only downfall of the Happiness Project book).  And as much as ‘finding yourself’ books (ahem Eat Pray Love) leave a sour taste of in my mouth, I gave Gretchen Rubin’s book a try.  Mostly because an e-copy of the book was ready for me to borrow at the Ottawa Public Library and I only had 21 days to finish it.

I’m only halfway through the book and it is inspiring me.  Her approach to tackling happiness, the way she writes, the non-pretentious nature of the tasks she undertakes (i.e., cleaning closets and collecting bluebirds) appeal to me.

I have decided to focus each week on something different that I think will bring me more happiness.  A task or activity, maybe even a belief: something that I hope to sustain in the long term because I think it will make me more content.

I will keep a list of my happiness resolutions here.

1. I’d like us to be unplugged from 12 to 1 and 4 to 6.  No iPhone, no computer, no laptop, no DS, no TV.  My feeling is that disconnecting from the distraction of technology will help me reconnect to what’s going on at home and feel less like I’m doing 14 things at once (March 14th)
2. The evenings will be mine for resting, relaxing, and spending time with my husband and friends.  My workday now ends at 6 (March 21st)
3. Say no (NO) regularly, with confidence, and without guilt!  I have a wonderful fulfilled life.  But something has got to give because I am running flat out 24/7 (March 30th)
4. I’m going to reconnect with my best friend (who lives in New York) and email her every day. Not paragraphs or long detail-filled chronicles of our life just little tidbits about the day or things that I wouldn’t tell anyone but her (April 6th)
5. My next 365 Photo Project is entitled “Brothers” and my photographic efforts will be focused on my boys.  A photo a day of the two of them together.  Candid, staged, silly, serious: it doesn’t matter, as long as they’re together (April 27th)
6. I would like a hobby but I can’t figure out if I might already have one.  I would like to do something just for the sake of doing it or to learn a new skill (May 4th)
7. I don’t just want to offload random jobs onto others: I have a few tasks in mind that I really loathe doing (dishwasher, compost, gardening).  Delegating those responsibilities would make me doubly happy because it will free up time and eliminate chores that make me snarly (May 18th)