Gretchen Rubin started a Happiness Project a few years ago. She’s even written a book about it. I read about it in our local Metro yesterday. She had a theme for every month.
Her January theme was Boost Energy, Vitality
This is what she had to say: “The key thing here is that outer order contributes to inner calm. Consider clutter and organizing. It matters. A messy closet doesn’t matter, but it does. You get a disproportionate boost from it. You can self-medicate through cleaning closets.”
My daughter told me that her goal for this year is “use it or lose it”. In other words, if she isn’t using it, she’s going to get rid of it – get it out of her home. I get it – if I have too much stuff around that I’m not using, it clutters up my space and my mind. When I de-clutter, I feel free. I’m not spending as much time on rearranging, cleaning, dusting, storing and maintaining it. It frees up valuable space and time that can be used for other things.
The same goes for my closet. When I have too many clothes in my closet (and who doesn’t?), it takes longer to decide what to wear. After I’ve reorganized my closet and gotten rid of the things I never or seldom wear, it really does give me a boost of energy. Energy to go shopping to buy things that I actually WILL wear, ...I think :)
How do you feel after you’ve tidied up an area, cleaned up the kitchen, washed your car, organized your closet? How do you feel when you have outer order?
What will it take to de-clutter your home, your desk your closet, your kitchen, your mind? What will it take to give you inner calm? What will it take for you to ‘get happy’?
Please leave a comment and tell us how you plan to boost your energy and vitality this month.
4 comments:
Sounds really good. I think about it a lot. Maybe I just need to tackle one thing at a time. Thanks for the reminder of how good it feels to de-clutter.
That is an excellent idea. If we try to tackle too many at a time, it's overwhelming. One thing a week or even one a month would be a good start.
I'm really happy to be able to share with others, the influence of 'Happy' you have had on my life.
'Get Happy' has reminded me of the bitter/sweet emotions I felt earlier this month when I took down the Christmas decorations.
I ended up sorting through the decorations and re-packing only what I use now....sending the rest to 'Share'. I ended up feeling happier about having to dismantle the Christmas cheer.
Well from there I started reorganzing my walk-in closet and office to make room for my newly packed and organized decorations....but for some reason I didn't finish.
Your blog reminded me of the added peace and contentment I felt when getting organized. So now I feel motivated to 'happily' finish what I started.
Great blog for another reason, in which i'm reminded me of how easily I get side-tracked or procrastinate.
It's just who I am but I know I will always be inspired by you in some way that makes me want to improve my balance in life.
So along with my newly revived goal of decluttering, I'll work on developing a stronger focus to stay on track.
I truly believe that being happy comes from an appreciation of all the simple treasures that are revealed to us in the everyday and ordinary moments of life.
From reading this blog to having an uncluttered closet, these types of moments are precious to my soul and add to the number of smiles in my heart.
I really do appreciate all the moments of uplifting awareness which you have so 'happily' provided with such humble warmth.
From life coaching, to your blogs, to your friendship, you continually reveal to me a path of comfort and well-being.
In regards to our marriage, your coaching gave us so many awesome skills that taught us how to find more 'get happy' moments too.
After 33 years of being together and still happy, we were so intrigued and surprised at just how much more there was to learn and understand about each other.
The lessons on self-discovery, plus learning new ways to communicate and express ourselves, have shown us both that life as indviduals and within our marriage, has many more wonderfful levels to reveal.
Changes in our lives have been extra refreshing and rejuevanating just because of your bubbliness too.
We always look forward to uncovering old goals, disovering new goals and more importantly, learning the
'how to' from you.
This 'Get Happy' post on your blog told me I just had to share our story and to say "thank-you".
We really look forward to the next coaching session(s). Since New Years, we've written down so many 'ideas' about income ideas and goals. We actually feel we have a map to our future now. :-)
Until then, take care Betty and I'm off to declutter a dresser. :-)
Roni,
Thanks so much for all your comments. I'm looking forward to what 2011 has in store for you!
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