Happiness Project- Neutral November

I'm starting my happiness project with what I like to call "neutral November". I'm so used to doing everything fast; eating, showering, cleaning, etc. I want to kind of slow down because I think it can cause me some anxiety sometimes. I don't want to be on this weird auto-pilot and not enjoy the things I'm doing everyday; so I'm taking some time to slow down the pace of my life a little and to make room for other things I've been wanting to try. Hence, the "neutral" pace..not too fast to where it's all a blur, but not so slow it's frustrating.

This is the actual checklist I'm using for this month. Believe it or not, writing it down makes me more conscious of it. Every day you're supposed to check off stuff and see the progress. As you can see, I still got a little bit to go but at least I'm trying? lol that's my optimism talking.

Most of these are pretty self-explanatory so I won't go into them. To clear up, the "one-minute rule" is something I got straight out of the book. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, says she'd give herself one minute to do something to avoid clutter build up. So, if she felt lazy but knew she needed to put her shoes in her closet, she'd give herself a minute to get it done. I'm done it so that I can learn to not do things when I want. Sometimes, things just need to get done and I tend to wait until "I feel like it". I can't always do that so this is my attempt to change it.

I don't feel I engage my dogs enough so I want teach them more tricks. They know down, hand, stay, jump, roll over, touch, and turn around (for when it's time to go back home on walks). I still feel I need to bond more. I bought this book and hopefully it'll be an easy process.

The early bird thing is something I feel I need for the future. I have NEVER been an early bird, but waking up earlier will give me more time of my day and keep me thinner. That one will probably be my biggest struggle which is why I've put it in the first month, lol.


I've been doing pretty good about the nightly reading and writing and the nightly 15 minute clean up. Actually, back in September when I was coming up with the 12 traits I wanted to improve, I also wrote down a bunch of goals to rank them. Surprisingly, most of the goals I'd written in August/September were already part of my routine. I am very self-deprecating, so for those couple of minutes, I felt confident. It made me feel a little better about how much I've changed in a year without this checklist.

I'll check in with more progress later!

til next time, stay classy!♥
-M

Running a bit behind!

Sorry for the late entry!
It's been a little hectic these past few days, but I am still going to post the Friday video (even if it's a Saturday).

I'll also be posting up about my progress on my happiness project sporadically. As I have mentioned before on my blog, I recently read a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It basically chronicles her year-long journey to be happier. She takes concrete steps to make this happen and her website offers a lot of help for those who would like to do their own. So yeah, I'm doing it. Hopefully, it's a lot of learning involved. I tried it through October but it was a little wishy-washy so I'm restarting it this month with a whole heart. In honor of this motivation, here is a video on happiness. :)

The music is a little tacky but the information is good.

It's a documentary and if you have Netflix, there's one that's better called Happy.

Have a great weekend!

'til next time, stay classy!♥

-M

late again..

This entry is about two days late from my usual time slot on Sunday.
I didn't write last weekend but it was finals week, so please cut me some slack.
It was a busy semester but I ended up having the best overall semester in my entire college career (with the exception of one class).
I think it was a matter of focus...I hadn't really given school much importance these past few years and I finally feel a little more in control now that I can see the fruits of my labor.
As I've mentioned before, I finished reading The Happiness Project and I convinced my boyfriend to start one with me. I also went on the website for starting tools and it's pretty cool that all these resources are free. Most authors won't do that. I mean, she does have a one sentence journal she's trying to profit off of but other than that, she's not trying to drain you of money with millions of spin-off projects/products. On this website was a list of happiness projects groups in the US and I e-mailed a girl in San Antonio (since she was the closest one).
I've felt kind of trapped lately. The city I live in doesn't give you much variety and I wanted to devote my summer to "Being Michelle" and exploring things I want to explore...but I can't here. We'll see how that goes.
I also think that I'm going in a different direction than my friends..I have thought this before when I was engaged but this time is different; I'm talking about a difference in preferences. I used to bond with my friends a lot more because we shared the same interests but I find myself more willing to meet people who are more in tune with what's interesting me lately: books, good TV, art, writing, dogs, fitness, and spirituality. It's getting a little harder to relate when you can't get excited over the same things. 
I think I've always kind of question this thought but it's just become more and more obvious as time passes. I want to grow and I feel like I'm being stunted. 
I'm taking steps to change that though; I'll keep you posted. 


'til next time, keep it classy♥


Here's a picture of Eric and I on the day of his graduation:

Of course one of the dogs had to get in. They are really taking a liking to him lately and vice versa. It's so cute. :)

late entry.

So I didn't have time to write last night but that doesn't mean I forgot. I was just in a funky place. Something weird went down in my house last night (a break-in attempt?) and I was a little out of whack. I didn't even sleep much. However, today brought some good news. I have some really understanding teachers this semester so that's helped me a lot with my full plate. Also, I heard again from the author of The Happiness Project. Initially, she e-mailed me back but only gave me a one sentence reply. Needless to say, I was a little bummed since I had taken the time to carefully craft the e-mail: long enough to give background but short enough to be bareable (lol) and then ask for some advice. I didn't know which of the three e-mails she gives to send it to, so I sent it to all three (hahaha, desperate, much?) but luckily, today she had the time to read my e-mail again and gave a more heartfelt reply:

"Hi Michelle --
Thanks so much for your kind email. I'm thrilled to hear that my work resonates with you. 
It sounds as though you’ve done a lot of thinking about what really makes you happy and the conditions that you need to feel happier as you make decisions as you move forward. I wish I had some easy advice! What works for me is to Be Gretchen—Be Michelle. The more I think about, and put into action, the truth about my own nature, temperament, interests, and values, the happier I get. But it’s very hard to do! Good luck, I'll be thinking of you. HAPPY 2012! I very much appreciate you taking the time to write. 
Warmly,
Gretchen"


Pretty cool, right? Anyways, I cried about my past for the first time in a really long time. Looking through my phone, I think I had an emotional response to the acceptance I finally embraced wholeheartedly. Then, today I read an article on Huffington Post that explained what I felt pretty well:

"I learned that a hard edge and stubborn spirit can only get you so far. I began to see the wisdom in acceptance, surrendering to discomfort. Softness is not in opposition to strength; it supports it. Where I used to see my ex as some malevolent demon, "el esposo diablo," I began to see him as a hurt, fearful child cowering in a corner. Compassion seeped into the anger, softening its edges and allowing me to downshift. Anxiety, which had been a constant companion, was slowly replaced with a calmer mind."


These past few days have just been days where I've felt very overwhelmed...in a good way.
Recovering from a mild stomach virus, my classmate (who I'm not even close to) helped me out a lot and I'm just more thankful every day...especially for Eric.


'til next time, stay classy!♥

dogs, books, and happiness.

 I missed one week of updating but this is pretty much what I was busy with. I shaved my Chow for the first time and the bottom picture shows the end result. The one on top shows the "before" product.

I've gotta say that this whole being productive thing has really been what I needed. Yes, I'm always on the go but it's given me a real sense of empowerment. I feel like I used to be a very bad pet owner to previous pets and I'm really investing a lot of time, energy, and money into this batch of dogs and it feels good. I've also taken on paying for 3 phones (mine, my mom, and my little brother) and have been steadily getting back to reading (instead of watching Hulu). I need to finish the two books from the two blogging sites and the next entry will probably be the book review on Torn (a little foreshadowing for ya). Anyways, I'm reading The Happiness Project. I wanted to get it when I found it at Target but Eric reminded me I still had Barnes and Noble money on my Nook from Christmas (smart..why I keep him). So I got home and instantly bought it but haven't really had a chance to touch it until this month. At work, I'm in the warehouse and all over the store doing inventory that I haven't been able to enjoy being up front and just relaxing for a bit. One of our coworkers quit though and that's allowed me to indulge a little and it really is an awesome book. I should finish it tonight after some studying. I think she makes a good point about the difference between being unhappy and being depressed. It's an obvious thing but we tend to hyperbolize our lives and always just think we're depressed. I see a lot of my thoughts, mannerisms, and flaws in that book so it's nice to see how adjusting them can change your quality of life. It gives me some motivation to embark on my own happiness project. Though I must admit,I haven't felt this calm in a reallly long time.I'm off Facebook and it's liberating to do it out of choice than by force. I wasn't using it much anyways and I rather live life in real time than be glued to my phone reading as everyone else lives theirs. Plus, I read some statistic somewhere that people who are on Facebook more often tend to feel more unhappy and like they're missing out than those who aren't. Pretty weird how much that's affected us, huh? This blog will become my little "timeline", if you will. 

This is my "shave Dusty" oufit. :/ I'm sorry.

Weasley always smothers me after work. 

Can you tell Dusty has no more hair?

Great read so far. Very motivating.

Eric and I at my cousin's quinceanera. :)

Looking through my e-mail, I've saved drafts of links to websites I've been meaning to blog about. I'm telling you! I think about blogging all the time! Making it a habit when there's not enough hours in the day is the hard part! Here's one:


http://www.ivillage.com/katherine-heigl-marriage-josh-kelley/1-a-418893
People give her a hard time but I've always liked her and this blog essay by her just solidifies my opinion of her.


AND I never mentioned it here, but I got some writing submitted to a writing company in Austin. Here is my piece:
http://www.writebynight.net/writing-help/sticks-and-stones/


A lot of catching up to do, right?
'til next time, stay classy! ♥