Wait a second, two weeks have passed already??? Wow! Even with so many kids at school sick, making our numbers low and slowing everything down, the world sure speeds up when you go back to work after winter break. When I started this project I was wrapping up a relaxing two week holiday break from my career as a special education teacher at a local elementary school and wondering how I might survive the upcoming semester. This project is a much needed tool to keep this teacher not only afloat, but thriving.

My goals for January are spending at least 15 minutes daily being creative with my arts and crafts supplies, 15 minutes in meditation, and 15 minutes doing qi gong or another similar stretching exercise. Here’s what’s been happening so far and what I’m learning.

Back in November, when I first came across the idea of the Happiness Project, my search for a wellness planner didn’t find much in local stores. Ultimately, I wound up going online and buying a flowered paper wellness planner from a company in Australia. It’s turning out to be a fascinating learning tool and great way to keep myself on task with my goals.

Each day, I turn to the front of the planner where there are four graphs each showing the months and the days of the month. I’ve labeled each graph with one of four title; health (in January that means qi gong or other stretching exercises), creativity (any sort of playing with art supplies), spirit (meditation), and connections (I’m still defining this, more on it in an upcoming post). So far I’ve succeeded in meeting my health goal 12 of 14 days, creativity 12, spirit 13, and connections 8 of 14 days.

From there I go to the two pages dedicated to the week. The first pages has small squares to write just a sentence or two about my day, a surprisingly insightful exercise to look at what’s made me happy or sad or whatever feeling for the day. The second page for each week has spaces to write and track my goals, note my gratitudes, list what I’ve positive and self things I’ve done each day, note my exercise for the day, and write my meal plan for each day. It’s maybe a five or ten minute exercise each day just acknowledging my day, who I am, and what I’m doing right. It feels good to acknowledge the little bits. I can feel myself grounding and getting stronger.

So, what have I noticed so far? Just a few simple, small things I suppose. First, fifteen minutes with art supplies can easily turn into an hour or two or more. It just takes getting started. Once started, creative time is a superb mind emptier. Nothing feels better than a cleared mind, that time when you realize you’ve spent and hour or two or more just focused on the colors and textures totally forgetting about all the worries of life. Second, it is hard on many evenings to get started with even just fifteen minutes of qi gong or whatever relaxing exercise. After a long day at work, even the idea of stretching can feel too much. But, if I can get myself to do that first stretch, I can do the second and in just a few minutes the chi is flowing more freely and everything just feels better.

Outside, the Wisconsin night is frigid and dark, but my happiness project is offering a bit of much needed emotional warmth in the Midwest winter. Play time, meditation, stretching, and relaxing, it is feeling good being intentional about caring for myself. I highly encourage healthy self-care, whatever that looks like, for you.