The Happiness Project ...

If you asked me a month ago if I was happy, I wouldn't have hesitated when I said yes. In the Dali Lama's book, The Art of Happiness, he says that each person has their own baseline of happiness and that despite what happens to us, whether it be death, winning the lottery, the birth of a baby or a major breakup we always return to our baseline level. However, this level can shift if we put in a little effort. Intrigued by these words of wisdom I found a book written by Gretchen Rubin called The Happiness Project. It’s not your ordinary self help book, it's a book about the author chronicling her journey as she tries to become happier. Each month she has a set of resolutions that if she meets she thinks will bring her more happiness in her life. Inspired by this book, I have started my own happiness project. 

When I began reading the book at my parent’s house in January, my mom looked at the cover and said, but I thought you were happy, why are you reading a book about happiness? I explained to her that I am happy, but what would my life be like if I was even happier? Would it make my family's life more enjoyable, would I be more motivated to tackle problems, and most important to me would I be more present in everyday life as I watch Cyril grow? Therefore, in 2015 I have started my own happiness project. My first month of resolutions is February, as I wanted to finish the entire book before I began. Well I only have 7 days left and as I look down at my resolutions chart, full of checkmarks, a few holes where I haven't met my goals and I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever felt as happy as I do right now and this is after only 3 weeks of making small changes.

Everyone's happiness project will look different but I thought each month I would write about how mine is going in the hopes of motivating more people to start their own project. Gretchen’s monthly resolutions all have a theme, however mine are a little all over the place. For February I mostly wanted to de-clutter my life, however after having some nagging health issues after the birth of Cyril I also knew I needed to focus on the health of my body so I've combined the two. 

My resolutions:

1. De-clutter the house (Each day I remove clutter from one area of the house so the task doesn't seem so overwhelming)

2. Less than one minute do it now. (One of my favourite mantras that saves me an incredible amount of time. If a task will take me less than a minute (i.e. putting my socks away rather than throwing them on the floor) I do it immediately. At the end of the day you wouldn't believe how much cleaner our house is just by honouring this simple task.)

3. Tackle a nagging task. I have a list of tasks on my desk that I've been meaning to do for months, and some for more than a year. By the end of the month, all of these tasks should be complete. Unfortunately, sometimes tackling one task leads to five others so if I don't complete them all I'll carry this over to next month.

4. Observe the evening tidy up. Each night I make sure we go to bed with a clean house. At first I would just start doing the dishes and picking up the toys on my own because I knew that it brought me happiness, not Josh. However, without even nagging Josh, he has started picking things up. Think about it, if a room is clean, everyone tends to keep it clean but if it is dirty what's one more dish piled on top.

5. Avoid time-wasters. This is easier said then done. Sure, it's nice to sit and relax but does scrolling through Facebook really bring me any happiness? Especially if I'm neglecting other tasks on my list to do it. I have holes in this area of course, as I'm only human, and I use Facebook as a way for my family to see Cyril grow up but when I avoid this simple task it's incredible how much free time I have to tackle projects or get things organised so that my mornings aren't stressful with Cyril. Next month I'm going Facebook free to see how it effects my life.

The resolutions below have to do with the health of my mind and body:

1. Exercise Better. In other words my goal is to do some form of exercise 4-5 times per week, even if it's just walking the dog, with 2-3 days of resistance training. I'm doing very well in this area as I walk Hobson everyday but after Cyril was born I wasn't doing any resistance training and I think it's had an effect on my pelvic floor. I now do resistance training twice a week, rock climb 1-2 times a week and go to yoga 1-2 days a week and although I sometimes dread doing my exercises I always feel happier and invigorated afterwards!

2. Meditate five or more days a week. I'm managing to meditate but not as often as I would like which makes me feel sad. I think it's because I'm focusing on so many other resolutions that the thought of sitting to just be present for 30 minutes gets pushed to the side. I'm probably only meditating 3-4 days a week so this will be something I will incorporate more frequently as I get rid of time wasters.

3. Keep a food diary. Josh has always been a champion at keeping a food diary, and he's lost 30 pounds in a year as a result. I don't have 30 pounds to lose or I'd disappear but I do need to keep it for the health of my body, which brings me to my next resolution.

4. Eat 25+ grams of fibre everyday. Do you know the average American only consumes 10-15 grams of fibre a day? Women need on average 25 grams and men need 38! I always considered myself a healthy eater until I sat down to calculate how much fibre I was eating and was shocked. The benefits of eating a high fibre diet are astounding and not something that we think about until we're older. I was doing very well in this area until I ate uncooked kidney beans and got food poisoning. Don't panic, beans out of the can are pre-cooked. I tend to use dried beans and had soaked them a few weeks ago, froze the leftovers, defrosted them, forgot I hadn't boiled them and made burritos with them and got violently ill. Always boil beans for a minimum of 10 minutes after soaking.

5. Have 1-2 drinks of alcohol maximum/day. It probably sounds like I'm an alcoholic having this on my list. Actually, Josh and I don't normally drink during the week and this past month we've hardly had anything to drink on the weekends. However, we have had a few big nights out and I've always felt really guilty afterwards, so I added it to my resolutions chart partway through February to see if it would boost my mood.

Since this post is already painfully long, and most of you have probably stopped reading at this point, I'll do a shorter post in a week where I review how things have gone this past month.

Have a very HAPPY Saturday everyone!