create my own Happiness Project

I’ve been wondering about the relationship between my 43 Things postings and my happiness project. A post by Gretchen Rubin on the original Happiness Project makes it clearer, I think. She writes about the difference between resolutions and goals. You achieve a goal. You keep a resolution. So 43 Things is a good place for plotting the progress towards goals, while something else would be good for keeping track of resolutions.

In a flash of insight today, I saw why it is important to make goals as well-defined as possible. I had a mixed bag of things on my to-do list. One of them was as simple as “trim membership card” (so it would fit in my wallet) and the other was “do paperwork”. When I went to tick off the things on my list, I noticed that the things I’ve done made me glow with accomplishment, while the “paperwork” made my spirits sag momentarily. I’ve done some paperwork, but have I done enough? Have I forgotten something? A tiny dent appeared in my shining happiness.

So it appears that for my happiness, I should try to make the items on my to-do lists as sharply-defined as possible.

My Happiness Project now has its own blog

I am happy that I can now use the “post this to your blog” feature of 43 Things!

The last chapter of Undoing Perpetual Stress contains a summary of what needs to be done:

How to Rewire the Brain (In twelve easy steps.)

1. Get good at mindfullness.
2. Use mindfullness to develop a deeper awareness of your feelings.
3. Use mindfullness to recognize the biases and limits of your assumptive world.
4. Build will-power, self-control, and self-respect.
5. Control the effects of stress.
6. Be skillful about your body
7. Learn to appreciate your symptoms.
8. Think with your whole mind.
9. Construct and reinforce your support system.
10. Learn intimacy skills.
11. Learn how to be happy.
12. Practice, practice, practice.

I think Librarian wrote a very good summary of what a Happiness Project is all about.

I’ve been a fan of Gretchen Rubin for a long time now, and in my mind I have a Happiness Project. But in reality, I have nothing.

Part of the reason I have not really created a Happiness Project, is that I am (and have been from the beginning) using 43 Things as a kind of happiness project, even before I knew about it properly. I was (and still am) wary of having too many online projects. But now I think it is time to really start my Happiness Project. I don’t know how it will pan out, but we’ll see how it goes.