Resilience, Jackals, and the MIT

Last December, I did something completely out of character: I joined a Happiness Project group.

Do I value happiness? Sure, who doesn’t? Do I like projects? Yes, yes, and yes again. But groups? In the words of my favorite attorney, “That depends.” The idea of joining a group of near strangers – all women – on some open-ended quest for pleasure and contentment seemed suspiciously like a surefire way to glorify suburban American, 30-something, white girl problems.

A Happiness Project? Me? And all of them? I felt skeptical. And, I’ll admit it, a bit . . . uncomfortable. After all, my life is good. I count my blessings on both hands. I have a healthy, beautiful family; rewarding work with a unified, high performing team; free overnight shipping with Zappos VIP service, etc. If I looked for sources of unhappiness, would I begin to borrow trouble? Would I give too much attention to the negative and forsake what was already so good in my life? And if any unhappiness did come to light, ahem, would I feel safe sharing it with strangers and asking for help?

The answer to that last question was no. Publicly acknowledging my vulnerabilities scared the whooey out of me. So, once I realized that, I had to join the group. I had to face my fears -- which really meant facing myself.

The last six months have been incredibly valuable: I’m part of a group of generous, smart, optimistic, practical, action-oriented, courageous women. And, rather than creating a “Happiness” Project, I’ve come to think of this as an ongoing practice in “Resilience.” Resilience is empowering me to experience and invite more happiness into my own life and, hopefully, it's helping me serve and guide others toward greater happiness in their lives.

My 2013 Happiness Project Theme

Resilience. The ability to quickly, almost automatically, bounce back from a difficult week, a difficult encounter or conversation, a lapse in judgment, or unexpected stress.

My Actionable Steps

1.       Silence my jackals (inside and out).

2.       Make time to play.

3.       Do your most important task (MIT) first.

4.       Practice single-tasking.

5.       Give up gluten, already.

6.       Sleep well.

7.       Get thee to yoga!

8.       Make my house a home.