Preparing for the Begining

In order to start my Happiness Project I have to organize myself and make lists of resolutions for each month. The book gives me some guidelines and it presents some questions I must ask myself first.

What makes me feel good?
It makes me feel good to read, to write, to research subjects, to learn new skills, to accomplish things. Spending time with my family, going out, shopping, watching TV with my hubby, playing games in the internet. Help people. Bowling & skating & weight lifting & swimming.

What makes me feel bad?
Taking on more things than I can reasonably handle. Not eating enough. Not sleeping enough. Not being able to communicate my feelings to those people around me. Taking things too personally. Hearing the unsaid insults of people. Clutter in my home. Taking "me" time for granted, or not having it at all.

Is there any way on which I don't feel right about my life? Does my life reflect my values?
I live a much hurried life, where there's little time for downtime. I wish I could have more time to do my research and my writing. Right now I work outside the home so I don't have much time to do the things that I want to do. I also know my home is really cluttered and I need to address that issue. We will be moving in the next couple of months so we have to take care of it before then. I'm not sure how to classify my values so that's something to look into.

Am I in an atmosphere of growth?
I believe so. I am constantly reading, and finding ways to learn things. I would like to take some courses though. Crochet, screen printing, QuarkXpress, Publisher, graphic design....
I can learn these things on my own but it would also be nice to have someone knowledgeable to explain things to you and give you homework.

So now I have to figure out what my values are, then analyze how they are present in my life and then start making resolutions.

First Step. Do a Happiness Project

I just finished reading the book The Happiness Project and it recommends making resolutions instead of goals. The difference between a goal and a resolution is that a goal, once you do it its done. But a resolution is something you can stick to for the rest of your life, or for how ever amount of time you'd like.
So this is my first resolution: post on my blog every Tuesday & Thursday, and write every Monday & Wednesday that way I have time to edit.

As part of my new Leaf on this Blog, I want to start it off by doing my own version of the Happiness Project as a means to discover more aspects of myself and to enjoy life more.
I will start planning for it now and start the project in January 1st, 2011 until December 31st, 2011.

What do I want to accomplish with my Happiness project?
I want to be able to not get so upset when a stranger shows no patience toward me, when they are rude and nasty on the street. Currently when this happens I feel the urge to curse back, although I never do anymore, and this holding back of emotions causes my chest to tighten and pressure builds up and I get pissed. Like today, I was writing on this diary & I reached the last stop on the train. I was not paying attention so I stayed on my seat. The lady train conductor screamed: "Last stop! Hellooooooo?!" Pa' que fue eso! It got me SO pissed! In the past there have been times when I've fallen asleep in the train and in that stop a conductor would yell: "Last stop!" and this would wake me up, I would get off the train and that would be the end of it. But the hello at the end made me feel like the woman was saying to me: What are you an idiot? Don't you see that the train stopped? Didn't you hear me say Last stop before from the other train car? I guess what I want to work at is at not hearing the unsaid insults of other people. Because every time I get angry it is because I hear these insults even though no one is saying them. So in essence it is me who's insulting me.

My second resolution is: Do not take things personally. Do not say to myself insults that other people have not said.

This is a good start. My original idea for this blog was it to be a journey of self discovery, something that would help me to discover my True Identity and help others find theirs through my experience. But identities are harder to come by than say a year long happiness project. I believe this is a good start to my much longer True Identity project. So the first step to my true identity project will be to do a happiness project. Now i have to do some more research and start working on my happiness project. Hope you join me for the ride.