Try, Try Again
Silly me. I should have known that what works for one does not work for all. Night one of my mini happiness project started as I was creating papers to place inside my beloved mason jar, and I thought to myself, Well this is funny. If I pull out the paper that says, "take a deep breath" is that suddenly going to make me happier? Taking a deep breath is something I practice in times of uncertainty or when I'm nervous or anxious. Starting my day by taking a few deep breaths is the norm, so why will completing this task from a piece of paper provide anything differently?If I pull out on that says, "call Christina" am I suddenly going to be happy and my job for the day is done?" The efforts that I placed on the cards would be nice acts of kindness or chores or reminders for myself, but that's about it.
Remix!
Writing daily tasks on a piece of paper is not going to solve my problem of being bored for three weeks or feeling anxious; they are not going to help me get a job and they are not going to make me happier. I figured that out rather quickly. I still like the idea of the papers, and they look cool all folded up in the jar. I am now
revamping my mini happiness project!
Take two.
Since I like the jar idea and the way the fancy paper looks in it, I decided that it will be dubbed my Happiness Jar, containing the things I am grateful for. Every night when I'm getting ready for bed, I will begin my nightly prayer by writing down at least one thing I am grateful for from that day. I do this anyway in my mind, but if I have a tangible list, tangible papers in front of me with an unending list of what I am grateful for, I will find myself feeling more complete, and in times when everything seems to be going wrong, all I'll have to do is look at the jar. After only a few days and weeks I will see how full it is getting with the things I am grateful for. It will be a reality check just by looking at it. Plus, knowing I have all of those things in my life, will make me happy.
As for the commandments part. There are still things I want to work out with myself. There are still rules I need to set and attitudes I need to be aware of. Just like Gretchen Rubin wrote down things she needed to work on, I too, will create a list, my own 10 Commandments, of things I need to practice. I will test out the list, add, delete, rearrange, try, and try again, until I come up with 10 things that I can practice every day, or when times get tough, to better help myself and therefore the people around me. I think one major golden rule that I know will help me is, think before you speak. Too often I snap or I say things that I don't mean, and usually I don't take time to consider what the people hearing me would think. Commandments similar to that will help me for three weeks but can also be carried over and through busy days and hard times. Any behavior that I can control that will remove tension or an argument is one I need to work on. That might be my first commandment, my first goal at making myself, and others around me, happier.
Writing daily tasks on a piece of paper is not going to solve my problem of being bored for three weeks or feeling anxious; they are not going to help me get a job and they are not going to make me happier. I figured that out rather quickly. I still like the idea of the papers, and they look cool all folded up in the jar. I am now
revamping my mini happiness project!
Take two.
Since I like the jar idea and the way the fancy paper looks in it, I decided that it will be dubbed my Happiness Jar, containing the things I am grateful for. Every night when I'm getting ready for bed, I will begin my nightly prayer by writing down at least one thing I am grateful for from that day. I do this anyway in my mind, but if I have a tangible list, tangible papers in front of me with an unending list of what I am grateful for, I will find myself feeling more complete, and in times when everything seems to be going wrong, all I'll have to do is look at the jar. After only a few days and weeks I will see how full it is getting with the things I am grateful for. It will be a reality check just by looking at it. Plus, knowing I have all of those things in my life, will make me happy.
As for the commandments part. There are still things I want to work out with myself. There are still rules I need to set and attitudes I need to be aware of. Just like Gretchen Rubin wrote down things she needed to work on, I too, will create a list, my own 10 Commandments, of things I need to practice. I will test out the list, add, delete, rearrange, try, and try again, until I come up with 10 things that I can practice every day, or when times get tough, to better help myself and therefore the people around me. I think one major golden rule that I know will help me is, think before you speak. Too often I snap or I say things that I don't mean, and usually I don't take time to consider what the people hearing me would think. Commandments similar to that will help me for three weeks but can also be carried over and through busy days and hard times. Any behavior that I can control that will remove tension or an argument is one I need to work on. That might be my first commandment, my first goal at making myself, and others around me, happier.
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