O P o t B

Getting to this list was quite an exercise.  The dilemma I faced was exactly how would I classify what makes me happy?  In order to do this I first had to examine what would I classify as being happy? And this made me realise that it is this very aspect that makes us different.  So while we may all have some common things that we derive happiness from, how it contributes to making us feel happy will be fundamentally different. To start with I started at the easiest place, material wealth.  I examined the things that I have acquired over time and when I looked at most of the things that I have, while it gave me a sense of achievement that I had managed to acquire these things, that was where it stopped.  And while a sense of achievement is a good feeling, and may contribute to my overall state of happiness I felt that it was not a major contributor.  I recall that after both my divorces that, materially, I had left behind most of my possessions and not to...

Keeping to the commitments I made was a really tough chore.  One would think that with only two commitments it would be easy, alas not so.  It would seem that every time I wanted to tackle the task of meeting my commitments to my self there was always something else to do.  What I was really doing was finding an excuse why not meet my commitments and this I had to admit was at first puzzling.  Once I had actually taken out the journal and set pen to paper I had managed to fill three or more pages.  The trick was to get the pen out and, irrespective of mood etc. just write.  Unbelievable how fulfilling that is. One of the things that I have found quite intimidating is actually learning more about myself.  While this seems like a trivial issue, it is quite a daunting task.  What makes it daunting is that you have to look at yourself, critically and honestly and to find out what makes you tick and the this is scary. I would have to look at mysel...

I started reading a book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and decided maybe it is a good time to start my own happiness project.  And just in case your imagination starts running wild, no this is not about the pursuit of happiness, instead, it is about increasing the level of happiness in life.  Now I will be the first to admit, while I am happy, I do not necessarily feel happy all the time and the intention of this project is to make this feeling of happiness more prevalent. While this sounds like a trivial task to many, including me, I soon discovered that this is far from the truth and that in order to create an environment in which happiness becomes more prevalent I am going to have to do some serious soul searching and make some serious commitments to myself.  And herein lies the problem. I have often made commitments to myself and, more often then not, have let myself down.  This, I have discovered, is not a very good place to be.  If I am un...