Tag: finding happiness

2026- A New Response to the Happiness Project

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Last January, I leapt in to my New Year’s resolutions with vigor and excitement, focused on four areas- creativity, spirit, health, and connection. I had just read Gretchin Rubin’s book, “The Happiness Project” and decided to take on my own happiness project. I was excited to see where the project would take me and who I would become.

This time around I’m walking into the new year both tired and comfortable, but still with a fire that burns like the end of an incense stick. It’s small, but glowing, smoking, filling the whole room with a joyful, warm scent making the space come alive. I’m worn from the year at work. Special education is one of the toughest careers I’ve taken on in a life of many changes. I left school this year for winter break only to get hit by the flu. Between being sick and just being wiped out from teaching, most of my break was spent either sleeping or just laying low in my apartment trying to regain my energy.

I still love that idea of the Happiness Project. I gained a lot from it over the past year, building my meditation practice, reminding myself of the importance of balance, encouraging myself to pull out my art supplies, and learning that when fun becomes work it often fails to be fun anymore.

This year is special because it is the year that I am as old as my mother ever was. If I am lucky enough to keep on keeping on, I will have seen more years than she ever did. That seems so strange to me. She was so much older and wiser than I could ever dream to be, yet here I am. It seems something to celebrate and reflect on as it is both beautiful and confusing.

So, what do this year’s resolutions look like? How do I grow in gratitude and happiness? How do I come to know the woman who raised me and honor her existance?

I expect that a lot will continue from this past year. I’ll keep building my meditation practice. I’ll keep encouraging myself to delve deeper into my arts. This year I’ll be working on my children’s book “The Magic Blanket,” a story of my mother’s passing. It will be my first book and, with luck, maybe not my last. I’ll keep seeking balance in life, finding those ways to get out and play, not allowing myself to get to caught in my work life, and continuing to honor the life I’ve been given with good food, exercise, play, song, and celebration.

It doesn’t have the same structure and I won’t be tracking my progress in a detailed, daily way, but it’s written now so I have a place to come back to, to see if I’m doing what I’ve wanted to and to hold myself accountable. What are you seeking in the year coming?

The Happiness Project: One Year Later

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It was in November of 2024 that I first came across Gretchin Rubin’s book, “The Happiness Project” and decided to take on my own happiness project.

Last January I leapt in, focused on four areas- creativity, spirit, health, and connection. I went online and bought a planner to help me track the process and think through my direction. I set clear, measurable goals, and jumped. I started out with 15 minutes a day of creative time, 15 minutes daily of meditation, and 15 minutes daily of stretching/opening exercises. I started strong. By April these things began to feel like habits and I sought more. I added in time to make music, get outside, and to read for pleasure. As spring warmed I took that idea of getting outside and started running again. By mid-summer I was running about 10 miles a week and really loving it along with building my community connections through volunteering at the zoo and the MSCR pontoon boats.

Each of things was something that I enjoyed, but by August I learned there was something I didn’t like anymore. I didn’t like my planner or being committed to doing all of the things that I’d added to my list. While I loved to play with art supplies, I didn’t like having to make sure I did my 15 minutes a day of creative time. The same was true for meditation or music or anything else. I’d somehow taken so many things that were so fun and relaxing and made them into jobs that I had to do or I’d have failed. That wasn’t what I sought to do. How had I taken this stress reduction exercise and turned it into a stressor? It collapsed and I collapsed.

As school started again I got lost in the new year, preparing for all my students and trying my best to stay afloat amongst the growing icebergs of work that are the life of a special education teacher. The best I could do in the moment it seemed was to let go of the structure of my “Happiness Project.” I had to let myself not create, not meditate, not make music, not run, not play outside. It seems a strange way to approach it I suppose, but it worked. I decided for myself, unknowingly I’ll admit, that the project was no longer a job for me and I didn’t have to do it.

It took some time where I didn’t meditate or run or create or do much of anything that I’d set out to do in the beginning of the year, but after a month or two pieces started to drift back in. I meditate daily now. My creative time has been knitting almost daily. I started running again in the fall and did a 5k. I’m cutting my tv time and increasing my time reading fiction. The one thing that I’ve not returned to though has been my planner. I have learned that while happiness is intentional it can’t be overplanned or it becomes work.

The Happiness Project Marches On

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Consistently posting about my happiness project 2025 continues to be a challenge. Just a week after my last post I got hit with one of the more intense seizures that I’ve had in the last few years which opened the door to getting sick. Add to that the simple reality that February in an elementary school is one of the most wearing months for kids and staff with cold weather, long days, and sniffling noses all around and I’ve been just worn out!

I am thankful though that I started this happiness project this year. I think it’s played an important role in getting me through the stress and darkness that is February and is helping me see the light ahead as we march in March.

Due to my seizure early in the month and the days of illness and recovery that followed I missed nearly a week of recording my progress toward my goals and, quite honestly, likely missed much of my daily efforts to in favor of just sleeping. Still, I came out strong. I only recorded three days that I went completely without watching any television though I think there were one or two more during my two weeks of illness and seizure recovery time. I also successfully met my stretching goal on 14 days, meditated on 18, and did my dedicated creative time on 16 days. Again, these are just the days that I recorded and I missed 5 days of recording because I was just too exhausted from my seizure, work, and illness.

I feel pretty good about what I’ve accomplished so far and it’s helped me just feel good. I’ve picked up my knitting again, finished a hat, and am nearly done with a gift for someone special to me. Stepping away from the tv has allowed me to quiet my mind and let myself heal from the challenges each day working in special education brings. I am reminded how the screen acts as a drug. It only numbs the brain for a moment, but the stress is still there and comes back stronger all the time. Turning off the screen lets me turn down my brain and let that stress out. It heals me.

So far March is starting strong. I missed meditation on the first two days, but I’ve also had a couple days already without any television and I’ve been spending more time outside taking longer walks. It all balances out. This project is reminding me daily to keep an eye on how I am treating myself and encouraging me to take the best care of me that I can. How are you treating yourself? How can you take the best care of you possible? Wishing you all the best in the spring to come!

Happiness Project 2025- Starting February

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Okay, so I’m not doing so great at getting a post out to my blog at least once a week to update the world on the status of my happiness project. Maybe that’s okay. Maybe every two weeks or so will be just fine for the updates. What does matter, at least to me and I suppose that’s what’s most important in this project, is that I am doing a good job keeping up with my commitments to myself with the project itself.

January was all about maintaining my daily meditation, doing a daily stretching routine, and building in some creativity time into each day. I tried to dedicate at least 15 minutes each day to each of these activities. I’ll admit that some days I fudged a little and maybe meditated or stretched for only 10 or 12 minutes, but even on the short days it felt good. Creativity time kind of went the other direction. Creativity time has felt wonderful enough that there’s been quite a few days that I had to cut myself off after a few hours in favor of having dinner or maybe just going to bed. I’m also now the proud owner of a new paint by number of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” which should provide me with entertainment for quite a while to come and several new skeins of yarn which also promise great fun.

February will be continuing much the same. I’ll keep meditating, stick to my creativity time, and continue to stretch every day. This month I’ll also cut out tv/videos for at least two days a week, other than those that I watch for work. I’ve had many times in my past when I had no television and didn’t watch videos on a computer. I’m seeing now that those have often been the happiest times of my life. Yet, I go to Netflix or Youtube or whatever online video source to numb my mind. So, it seems time to bring back the brain. I expect I’ll be listening to more audiobooks while playing with my art supplies and just doing more reading. Stay tuned for what comes next! What’s happening in your happiness journey?