Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Why make a project of trying to be happy, and what is being happy anyways??

So this week the topic is why are you doing this project? What is your history in trying to be more happy? What does happiness look like for you?

Thought provoking which is good, gives me some direction which is even better (thanks Minivan Mom!)

I am doing this project because my friend blogged about it and it just hit me as a thing to do, clicked, seemed like the right thing to try at the moment! I am a big picture person, I like to accumulate the information and details to fill in the missing pieces, but I am not a details person as far as put them there physically, I like thinking about where they should go, if they belong, where else they may belong, what does belong mean anyways...and then the picture remains in my mind.

It seems to me that this project both the book by Gretchen Rubin and the lead being taken by my friend will give a little organization and accountability to doing something about my thinking. And if it doesn't well I will enjoy the thinking!

My history in seeking happiness is pretty varied. I have been through 2 depressions and PMDD and they are definitely different than being unhappy as Gretchen Rubin points out in her book. Dealing with general unhappiness is something that I work on at times...but then exams come up, work gets there, no sleep from infancy days, confusing pursuit of fun with happiness...and I derail. I have found things that definitely improve my overall level of happiness in the long haul average across the days perspective like exercising regularly, meditating daily, going to church regularly, eating healthy foods, getting enough sleep, taking time to play with my kids, date nights with my husband, and having an organized clean house...but they all seem like work at times...and work isn't fun, right?

Than there are the blissful times where it all just seems to magically flow for some unknown reason! And Wheeeeeeeeeee that is fantastic. When I just seem to 9 times out of 10 wake up happy. I go with the flow, smiles come easily, patience is there, I have energy...it's all good.

I think happiness looks to me like balance and a peaceful easy feeling. And energy, energy, energy...being tired all the time just kills the happiness and brings on the unhappiness through me being snappy, impatient and glass is half empty type of girl. I wonder if energy and unhappiness is a bit of a vicious cycle? Being unhappy makes me tired, being tired makes me bring on more unhappiness, cue the tired.

Looking forward to working on this project...been doing purging of the closets, getting house organized, almost ready to paint the kitchen (finally), and exercising a bit. Am happy to have Minivan Mom taking a directional lead to keep me going when school starts!

Kat


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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your post is such a great segueway into next week's topic! :)

And I was going to write more about Rubin's clarification between depression and unhappiness (which I think is a crucial and necessary point to make)...but I was rushing to get through the post to get back to work. SIGH. But I like that you put that in there!

10:48 AM  

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