Introducing the 2012 Happiness Project!

Several months ago I saw a post about a project a lady was doing... a happiness project. I googled it to check it out and read up about Gretchen Rubin's year long happiness project. Several week passed with this stuck in the back of my head, when I saw the book at Barnes and Noble and couldn't resist. It wasn't just a fun read, it totally connected with several parts of me. I love lists. I love plans. I love resolutions. I love monthly goals! I love weekly goals!

After mentioning the book to a friend and to my daughters, hoping to put together a happiness project of my own, I got busy with life and shelved the idea... thinking that I had plenty of time before January rolled along (that's when I planned to start my happiness project, by the way). Suddenly, it's the end of the year and friends and family want updates and I find myself scanning, re-reading, pondering and planning at full speed (not what I should do) to kick this project off (which I will do!).

So, this is my introductory post and one of my personal 12 commandments will be to let go of having to have things perfect (that stops me from starting so many things). Therefore, I will be evolving and learning right along with my friends and family! Please feel free to email me or jump in with comments, suggestions or questions.

Here's the plan... we each need a copy of the book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I wont assign chapters or anything like that... because our own happiness projects are about our own lives, not about Gretchen's life. But, I think many of you will enjoy her humor and how friendly she is. Her honesty is refreshing and her goals are obtainable, which sets one terrific example for each of us. My goal for 2012 is to live life much happier, come what may (and a lot of “not nice” tends to come my way at times).

The overall way it works is to pick eleven areas of life in which you would like to make a change (or a few changes) and assign each area to a month of the year. These are changes that we believe, if achieved, would add to our happiness in life. At the beginning of each month I will write about my goals for that area of my life for that month. These should not be overwhelming and once the month is over, the idea is to move forward with that change in place. So, as the year progresses, we will build on each month's growth in our lives.

If I do not blog during the month about my happiness project (my blog covers several different areas of my life), I will definitely be jotting down thoughts and ideas about my progress, struggle, victories, etc. and will post a follow up for how those goals went. And once again, I'd love to see comments from you! Send an email, facebook message or comment on my blog. By the end of the year, we'd have eleven areas we've worked on and tried to maintain (which is why some of us might only pick one or two simpler goals per month!) and the 12th month we will see how it feels to apply each months resolution to our daily lives.

I also hope to develop a reading list to dip in and out of throughout the year so that I can glean wisdom from other great mind and lives.

And I'm just gonna be real. Cause that's all I've got! No plan of perfection... Just taking on life and learning how to make some tweaks along the way to increase my level of self-satisfaction, confidence and contentment.

I hope to have you join in! Really!! Don't delay... email me, message me on facebook, leave me a comment!

Coming soon: 2012 monthly resolutions. Would you like to join in? Think about at least a few areas in your life that you'd like to make a couple of changes in. My 11 areas to work in have already changed a couple of times since I first starting making my list... so don't worry! Can't think of 11 areas right now? No problem, pick an area for January to work on (remember, just a couple of very do-able things that you can continue with that can make a difference in your level of happiness or satisfaction).

Come along with me!

Blessings!