Happiness: Better Late than Never!

laughing Buddha, originally uploaded by prayerna.

Some of you may know that I've deemed 2010 the year of "letting my life speak". In January and February I've had many many chances to practice this. Part of my journey has been a little thing called The Happiness Project. Gretchen Rubin is the cause of all that happiness. It's a fascinating story that I encourage you to check out.

So, the reason for this post is not only to update you on my never ending search for personal happiness but to offer you the chance to increase your own. There are a couple of really handy things that Gretchen has put together that has helped me put my focus where it needs to be when it comes to my happiness. Namely, me....or you, if you are thinking about your own happiness. The first one is the Happiness Project Toolbox. It is chock full of fabulous self-esteem goodness! There are so many opportunities in there to help you "trudge the road of Happy Destiny". An aside, if you will, on the word "trudge" which means to "walk with determination". It makes trudging sound much better now don't you think? So, with determination I am walking the road of happy destiny.

The other support she offers comes by form of a pledge. Now, if you are anything like me, I've pledged my life away one too many times on things like weight loss, organizing, bill paying, exercising. Embarrassingly, my list could go on and on. This feels different to me...somehow, more attainable. Well, Gretchen's proposed to those of us pursuing happiness that 2010 be the year of the Happiness Challenge. Each month, she suggests an area of life to take on, and over the next four weeks, she proposes real and manageable resolutions to help you increase your happiness. So far over 7,800 people have taken the pledge to be in charge of their own happiness. You can join me on this adventure by going here and signing the pledge too.

And, finally, I wanted to take the time to let those of you (and you know who you are) know how grateful I am for the love and support you have given me over the past year. Moving to South Carolina has been challenging in so many ways and on so many levels. But you, my dear friends and family, have never failed to love and sustain me throughout it all. Know that I've got your back too if ever you should need it.

You Are Lovable!

One of the blogs I follow called, Kindness Girl, is by Patience Salgado, a real woman with a big heart. She has a project called Guerrilla Goodness. You might remember me writing about this in a post around this time last year entitled, Guerrilla Goodness Quaker Style. Well, she's put together a piece that is inspiring. I'm ready...are you?



Oh,and by the way, you are so lovable!

Guerilla Goodness Quaker Style

This week is Random Acts of Kindness week. Greenville Friends, the small Quaker meeting in Greenville, South Carolina we attend, has First Day School on the first Sunday of the month. It was my month to organize a lesson and I was very excited to have February because I had been reading about an activity a fellow mom blogger, Patience Sogaldo, does. She has her own blog, Kindness Girl, that I follow regularly. Along with her sisters, she also contributes to the blog Supersisters at PBS Parents(a great website I might add). She does a thing called "Guerrilla Goodness" which was my inspiration for First Day School. Get on over to her blog and read all about the history of Guerrilla Goodness. Maybe it'll inspire you too!

We set out to do our own little Guerrilla Goodness project in honor of Random Acts of Kindness Week. I talked a little about sneaky guerrilla warfare but that as Quakers we honor the Friends' testimony of peace. Kids love the idea of being sneaky! Hey, let's face it, who doesn't like being sneaky every now and then? So I told them we were going to practice sneaky guerrilla goodness. I caught 'em...their curiosity was peaked, along with the bribe of juice boxes and snacks later, of course. It was a joy to see the personalities of all the children, even the shy ones, emerge as they began to dive into all the crafty goodness. Seeing wonderfully loving sayings written by a child's hand makes a sneaky love note even better don't you think? I gave them some examples of sayings the kids could write but they began to come up with their own like:

• Love Your Sluf (translation: Love yourself)
• Think good thoughts
• The day is sunny, so are you!
• A three year old thinks you are cool!
  

As they were creating their notes they began to talk of who they would give them too. The list grew and grew. Some of them even decided to continue the project when they got home. We put of few of the notes on some of the cars in the parking lot and gave some to some of the adult Friends in the meeting for worship. The rest that they made they took home with them to practice their own random acts of kindness. I also made up a little "goodness bag" that had a few chocolate kisses, a heart sucker and two guerrilla goodness type cards printed from a website dedicated to anonymous kindness called Help Others. You can go there and print your own. It's lots of fun and does a body good!



So I'd love to hear what your plans are for this week of Random Acts of Kindness! Leave a comment telling me...that alone is a random act of kindness delivered to moi!

Clicking My Heels...

Yesterday another wave hit; not from Faye or Gustav but from my heart. I found myself at a loss. Longing for the familiarity of my life in Indianapolis, the tears once again showed up. I wanted to be able to get in the car with Gavin and Anna and head to Irvington Friends for my weekly dose of fellowship with Friends and my Higher Power but instead watched as men in suits and women in dresses, all with Bibles in hand, walked into the Episcopal Church next door to our little house. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just longed for the known intimacy of my friends and family and the spirituality that brings me comfort and peace. These two little words, comfort and peace, can come in so many ways. Who knew (certainly not me) that coffee with friends, meals shared with family, and the mutual grumblings about everyday life with those close to me are the trappings of comfort and peace. As Dorothy would say,"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard". Slowly we are creating a backyard here, fire ants and all. But each of us in our own little ways are clicking our heels and repeating the words, "There's no place like home...there's no place like home...there's no place like home", longing for the familiarity of our previous lives eight and half hours north of here. But that was then and this is now. Now is Clinton, South Carolina. If working a 12 step program has taught me anything it is that present moment living is the key to serenity. Our true home is the present moment. Thankfully, no 'heel clicking' is required; just a deep cleansing breath and surrendering to what is.