From Ottawa with love (and happiness)

I am of two minds about the happiness campaign. First of all, it seems to me that I live my life constantly grateful about everything that surrounds me. When I wake up in the morning it is with a happy anticipation for what the day will bring and thankful that I have yet another day to enjoy. On the other hand, we all face challenges that at times shake our positive appreciation of life and that is when “counting our blessings” kicks in. Second, I have a problem prioritizing my list. As soon as I decide on something, I have a guilty feeling about the rest. If I say that “seeing” or “hearing” are more important than my husband or my children, what does that mean? That they are further down my priority list and thus, not as important? But I know that they are essential to my life, just like seeing and hearing.

I did my list anyway and I don’t mind sharing it with the others who are participating in the campaign…

1. Seeing
2. Hearing
3. Feeling
4. Being in good health
5. Being able to move freely
6. Being able to think
7. Having a husband that loves me
8. Having the love of my children
9. Being independent
10. My brother
11. Having my children independent
12. Wonderful grandchildren
13. Having daughters-in-law that are good mothers and good people
14. Having daughters-in-law who put up with me!
15. Waking up in the morning
16. Eating
17. Doing things well done
18. Being able to make decisions
19. Going to the bathroom
20. Being able to dance
21. Enjoying what I consider a privileged life
22. Good friends
23. Having work
24. Being able to help people
25. Being able to do my artwork and feeling great when one turns out well
26. Looking forward for the day
27. Having my house
28. Eli phoning me
29. Talking to my sisters-in-law
30. Reading a good book
31. Working in the garden
32. Mowing the lawn
33. Looking at the garden
34. Having breakfast reading the Economist
35. Planning things
36. Seeing the grandchildren on Skype
37. Looking at the trees against a very blue sky
38. Reading in the garden
39. Listening to the birds
40. Weeding (up to a certain point…!)
41. Having a beer after weeding
42. Preparing the outdoors for the day
43. Barbequeing
44. Having friends sitting around
45. Indulging my friends
46. Sitting down with a Scotch at the end of the day
47. Recappping the day with my husband
48. Planning a trip
49. Being supportive
50. Planning a dinner with friends
51. Appreciating the rain and thinking that it will be easier to move my plants
52. Showing my artwork to the grandchildren
53. Showing my artwork to friends
54. Having lunch with a good book
55. Putting things in order
56. A clean house
57. Preparing a nice meal
58. Making plans and carrying them out
59. Looking at photos
60. Reminiscing
61. Giving presents

Does Money Make You Happy?

Hat tip to Jacob for coming across this timely and relevant article.

Does Money Make You Happy? (Globe and Mail)

What they don't explain is why someone making $35,000 per year is actually 10% happier than someone making $125,000 per year.

What do you think? Post a comment...

Open Minded but Questioning

I have a lot of questions about this campaign, but I will follow along in any case. One thing is that to me there are things to be grateful about in every situation and at all times, and I don't know why I need to abstract myself away from my present circumstances. Why not maintain a gratitude orientation and fell happy about where I am right now. With my fingers moving over this keyboard, and feeling healthy, seeing colors, eating a delicious snack of Ryvita crackers.



Also, I feel the lists have to be kept private because there are different people in our lives and they will want to have a certain placement.



And the listing - are we dealing with how we actually feel or how we should feel.



And gratitude for things has to turn into recognition of where they come from: the Sole Power who grants all good things. I need to be grateful to the Creator and not anything else.



As usual I am trying to reprogram myself and so I am hesitant also to think about my current preferences and feelings and eager to make myself grateful for everything....

So... in the grid of people facing a culture change I am one of the questionning ones, open but skeptical. Since I have my own campaign which is to acquire Rabbi Avigdor Miller's Good Mind.

Jacob's Happiness Project

1. My girlfriend
2. A cup of coffee
3. A freshly pressed dressed shirt
4. Peanut butter on green apples
5. Inspiring someone else
6. Making a new friend
7. Hearing from an old one
8. My girlfriend’s laugh
9. When a great song comes on the radio
10. Going to bed on freshly clean sheets (ed. note: I wish I was rich enough to afford this service everyday)
11. When I tie my tie at the correct length the first time
12. An unexpected “thank you” card
13. New magazine day – when one of my three magazine subscriptions come in the mail
14. Grabbing a big rebound in a basketball game
15. Getting a donation for my fundraising efforts
16. Wandering the aisles of Chapters
17. Finishing an issue of the New Yorker
18. Glass of ice water on a really hot day

19. Grabbing a really big rebound in a basketball game

20. Sundays - WAFFLE DAY!

21. Cinammon

22. PVR

23. The ability to fastforward through commercials thanks to PVR

24. Blueberries

25. Law & Order

26. Finding a good book on sale

27. Cooking a good meal

28. Becoming a regular at a restaurant

29. Indian food

30. Afternoon siestas

31. An infant grabbing your finger

32. Toddler's smile

33. Corn on the cob

34. Volunteering

35. 

The Happiness Campaign

Which would we rather be... happy or rich?

Of course happy... then why do we spend so much time trying to be rich... and so little on identifying and proactively working on happiness?

Introducing the happiness campaign... ideas and simple excercises to build our happiness muscles.

The key to this campaign is understanding that happiness is "the pleasure of appreciating what I have".  

Imagine... if someone was blind for their whole life... and then, thanks to some new medical procedure, they got their sense of sight... we can just imagine them standing, smiling, and staring at, for example, a flower for hours noticing so many details, the colour, the shape, etc, etc.  Imagine how much money they would have paid to have that medical procedure done, millions of dollars!  Well, the unfortunate truth is that most of us do have the sense of sight (for free!) and just take it for granted... simply because we have never lost it (ironic isn't it!).

The happiness campaign seeks to increase our happiness through simple exercises to be able to better appreciate what we already have.

Level 1 Excercise - Happiness Top 50 List

Level 1 is 5 minutes a day for 5 days.  (or 25 minutes in 1 day)

On each of the 5 days please write down 10 items you are grateful for.

It can be your health, your family, even your fingers... whatever makes you happy.

The goal is to get to a list of 50 items you are grateful for.