Well, it's fall and time to start reading books again and filling my head with new things to learn. The weather has been awesome all fall, so I haven't had much time for reading, but a bit here and there (while kids are doing music lessons, after my energy is drained in the afternoon, etc). My cousin recommended this book, and it's been an enjoyable surprise. I think what I loved most about it was how honest she was with herself. Her strengths and her weaknesses, her successes and her sins/failures. I love that. Although I've always thought I was pretty honest with myself, I realized I'm nothing compared to her. That is on my list of things to improve, however that happens!
So, the book is called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, where the author takes a year to analyze her life to see if she's really appreciating all she has or just taking it for granted. Each month is a different challenge. If you read the reviews on this book, you can see that it runs the spectrum on the way people took it. As with all books, I'd say read it as it is, take the meat and spit out the bones. I found a few nuggets to make changes in my own life, without adding things to my already far-too-long to do list (which is what I feared would happen, and could easily).
Here's a few of the nuggets on the pages I marked~
- Happiness has 4 stages- anticipate it, savor it, express it (talk about it), recall it. Any experience can be amplified or minimized, depending on how much attention you give each stage.
- Be yourself- if you don't know who that is anymore, think about what you did with your free time as a child. Do those things again. Don't judge your own fun by someone else's standards.
- Adult fun can come in several forms, there's rarely "fun for the whole family". Accomodating fun (we do it because the people we love want to do it), relaxing fun (doesn't require new skills or actions), and challenging fun (learning new things, takes energy and foresight).
- Whatever skills you admire in others, emulate them and over time you will turn that way too. (I know this works, because it has happened to me several times.)
- Act the way you want to feel. Fake it until you make it sort of thinking. If you want to laugh more, you have to practice it often. Chesterton apparently said, "it is hard to be light". I tend to agree. We also have to give up our pride, defensiveness, and self-centeredness when we do this.
- Know the difference between a resolution and a goal. A goal has an end date/accomplishment, a resolution is a whole life change that never ends until a new one is made to replace it.
- say yes more (to fun, to play, to sleepovers, to kids)
- engage in marriage more
- seek out each kid individually more
- read about new topics
- declutter my house
- dance in the kitchen to fun music
- freely cry @ sappy movies, sermons, songs
- freely laugh @ same
- healthier communication skills
- be brave (but not stupid)
- don't judge too hastily
- assume people are doing their best (from Brene Brown)
- don't expect it to last forever (things end)
- when one loves, one doesn't calculate
- laugh @ myself more
- enthusiasm is (social) courage. Show it.
- cut people slack
- know my boundaries to remain healthy
- be Rachel (whoever that is anymore!)
