BYU has a program for employees and their spouses where they are challenged to make their lives better, through continually learning and being more physically fit, spiritually stronger, and emotionally healthier. All year they put together 6-week challenges and when we complete it we get a prize (we've won everything from a duffel bag or beanie to an exercise ball), and our health insurance gives us a small kickback at the end of the year (wahoo!). The challenge we're working on now is called Building Wellness:Improving Your Happiness. We're supposed to exercise for at least twenty minutes/three times a week. Then we pick from a list of "happiness tools," complete at least one every week and (since that's what we LDS people do!) record all about it in our journals. I'm not the greatest about writing in journals, Farris does a much better job. That's one reason I started this blog as motivation to write down some of the things I wanted to remember about our family. SOOO, I'm going to write about this challenge in here. And if any of you would like to join us in the challenge I'll have to see what I can cook up for a prize for you--something homemade, crafty or yummy, you can decide! Some of the happiness tools are:
Savor the Moment: Stop and notice the smells, sights, feelings, etc. around you for at least 10 minutes, 3 times each week.
Share the Good News: Write in your journal about some good news you shared with someone else and how it impacted your positive outlook on life.
Learn to Cultivate Optimism: Practice improving what you say to yourself when something bad happens and record your daily experiences with practicing.
Volunteer: Spend at least 30 minutes this week volunteering at a community center, for an event, on a project, etc. If you already have a set volunteer role (such as a church calling), do so in a creative way that brings new life to your offering
Serve a Friend or Your Spouse: Improve your relationship with a friend or your spouse by doing something nice for them. You could make breakfast for them, bring them a treat, or perform some other small act of service.
Random Acts of Kindness: Do five random acts of kindness this week. You can smile at a stranger, hold the elevator door for a co-worker, let a car in front of you on the highway, etc.
Enroll in a Class, Join a Book Club, Hiking Club, or Other Group: Meet with the class/group and get to know the people in your class who share the same interests or circumstances as you.
Listen to Music or a Humorous CD: Keep a CD of happy, upbeat music or of a comedy routine in your car to listen to as you travel.
Do Something You Love: Free up at least an hour this week and do something you love but never have the time for, like trying a new recipe, knitting, reading a book, or attending a sports event.
Enhance Your Spirituality: Pray, read your scriptures, or read a Church-published text (i.e. the Ensign) more than you normally do. You should either pray once more a day, read your scriptures 10 minutes more each day, or read one more church article each week.
Set a Personal Spiritual Goal: Set a goal about a spiritual aspect of your life you would like to improve and record your experience throughout the week.
Write Down Your Problem: Write out possible solutions to a problem you are having and strategically decide on a plan to overcome the problem. Carry out the plan and evaluate and record the outcome.
Fix a Problem: Forgive someone by taking responsibility for your part in a disagreement, staying constructive, proposing solutions, and focusing on what you value about the other person.
This week I decided to do the Savor the Moment tool. With four busy kids running around, I tend to get caught up in the laundry, mopping, picking up, feeding, and all those other million things that happen every day, over and over again. I enjoyed taking time to sit and watch, think about, and rely on all my senses. My dentist told me once that he gets a lot of women in who fall asleep in the chair because its the only time they sit down for longer than a minute. How crazy is that? Maybe all of us need a few minutes every day to savor the moment.
After school one day the kids piled out of the van and immediately began playing in the snow. My first impulse was to get them in the house, get homework and chores done. But instead I sat on the stoop and watched them. It was hard to sit when I knew there was so much to get done inside, but it was finally (kind of!) warm and the snow was melting. The kids were happy and giggling, even Seth was crunching through the piles of snow. Another favorite time was watching Farris read stories to the kids. After a few minutes our snuggle-bug Caleb came and curled up on my lap. He's almost 7, how much longer will a little boy snuggle so happily onto my lap? The other ten minutes was split up in a couple different times of watching the kids goof off, snuggling with Seth, or looking out the window. It was hard to give myself permission to not be continually thinking "What's next? What do I need to be doing now?", but you know what? The laundry got done (errr, except that load that I still need to fold...), the floors got mopped (until Joseph spilled honey today), and the kids had enough food to eat. All those things happen over and over again each day, why not enjoy life as it comes instead of trying to be the Perfect Housewife all the time? I think being a better mother and a happier person is much more rewarding than a dustless, spotless, laundry folded as soon as it's out of the dryer woman without energy to appreciate the many, many blessings that are poured on each of us every day.
I think next week I'll try the Enhance your Spirituality tool. I decided to finally get all the way through Jesus The Christ this year, and I did really good for about a week...then kind of tapered off. So I'm going to get back in the habit of reading a little each day so I can finish my goal of reading it this year.
Anybody else want to try the challenge? Let me know, and I'll start thinking of a prize for you!
