It's still a reusable bag, even if I never reuse it.

Do you get double the bad karma if you FINALLY bring your recycled bag to the supermarket, but forget to tell the cashier so he puts your groceries in a plastic bag, which you then have to carry home IN your reusable bag because you don't have a free hand?

Also, I'm on the second to last chapter of The Happiness Project and Rubin does a whole section on "Pollyanna Week"! Not that I thought my idea was entirely original; I just don't want to get sued.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm no stranger to the energy game. I read Prevention magazine. I watch Dr. Oz at the gym. I might be 50 years old. Still, I know certain rules.

1. Get enough sleep--well, duh.
2. Eat regularly--not a problem, my friend. There are snacks to be had, you just have to know which office to wander nonchalantly into to find them.
3. Drink water--especially if you drink coffee. Coffee has caffeine, which can perk you up, but if you don't drink enough water it will dehydrate you and slow you down. Insert the "The more you know" rainbow star here.
4. Exercise--I'm pretty good about running in the morning. Except when it's cold. Or raining. Or looks like it might rain. Or if I reach the snooze bar in time...

Still, I thought I should research some more strategies. Here are some that I found on the world's most accurate and reliable source--the internet.

1. Change your socks in the middle of the day--Really? I can only sometimes get ONE pair of socks on, and you expect me to remember another? Highly unlikely.

2. Splash some water on your face--Listen, I don't get my make-up done until half-way through my morning, so I'm sure as hell not gonna mess it up an hour later.

3. Avoid the mid-day cocktail--Wait, ya'll are drinking in the middle of the day and didn't tell me??

So, clearly, not all energy tips are plausible for all people. Still, day two of taking the stairs has gone relatively well. To save time, I've allowed myself to take the elevator down (since you don't do a lot of working moving down stairs) and walking back up. Some of my research did make me feel better about my energy levels, though. I read that we as humans are usually wired to feel a little groggy in the morning, then get productive around lunch time, then need a nap in the afternoon, then get a surge of energy in the evening , and then get tired again in the evening. This is way some countries take a "siesta" in the afternoon, and return to work in the early evening, when they can be more productive. The rest of us just have to nap in a back hallway with our head propped up on a folded pipe-and-drape during our lunch break (ah, apprentice years)

The point is, listen to your body. I get hungry at 11 am and 3 pm, so I split my lunch in half and eat them at these times. I am more productive in the morning, so I sometimes wake up early to finish homework. I am exhausted by 2:30 pm so I sometimes skip my run and watch a back episode of America's Next Top Model. Just kidding. It's Say Yes to the Dress.

Clean it up :/
Do it right :)
Let it go :/
Move more :/
Eat right :)
Act energetic :/

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be”~ Marcel Pagnol

Photo by http://www.whattovisitinmalaga.com/siesta-live-longer/

The song is not called "Love in a Broken Down Escalator"

When I finish up my degree, I'm going to find a special type of hypnosis that helps me to remember Sign Language, but completely erases the trauma I experience as a result of community college. Where else would you hear that a student needs to take a semester off because she was head-butted? Where else would you see an afro-spray line on the classroom wall marking past students' heights? Where else would their be more writing on the desks in profanity, than on the blackboard?

In an effort to "move more", I chose to make a resolution: No using the elevator at work. This may sound like a no-brainer, but I work in what is literally called "The Tower". I go from the fourth floor to the first floor and in between about ten times each day. Still doesn't sound like a big deal? Well, I congratulate you on being less lazy than I am. It's a harder habit to break than I thought, especially towards the end of the day, when I'm so tired I want someone to wheel me out of the building on a dolly. In fact, several times, I walked into the elevator, not paying attention, and then sighed as I stomped back towards the staircase. Still, I made it through one full day. It wasn't so bad, though I don't think I necessarily feel like I have more energy. Maybe it takes some getting used to. Add the run I had this morning, and the fact that I'm too broke to buy a subway token and thus will be walking EVERYWHERE until tomorrow, and I'd say I sufficiently fulfilled the "Move more" requirement.

The problem with a Happiness Project, is that no one else is doing it with you. You can be so proud that you've tackled nagging tasks like writing emails or returning gifts or hemming skirts (Damn, I still have to hem that skirt tonight..), but that doesn't mean the universe is gonna give you a cosmic pat on the back. More often than not, the person will not reply to your email, the store will be closed, and the hem will fall out the next day. It takes A LOT of energy to be vigilant in your attitude-- to smile and say that it's all going to be fine, and not fall to your knees yelling "KAHN!"

Clean it up :(
Do it right :(
Let it go :(
Move more :)
Eat better :)
Act energetic :(

"'Not knowing is part of the fun.' Was that the motto of your community college?"~Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory

photo by http://www.rebeccahjamison.com/2011/05/sleep-best-mothers-day-gift.html

Alligator Spotting at 3 AM

Reader, I have a confession. I have grown bored. As I read Rubin's Happiness Project, I am finding myself less inspired. Because this is my own personal project, I called a meeting of me, myself, and I, where it was decreed that I could do whatever makes me happiest in my happiness project. Ergo, I am ending Simplicity month early in my eagerness to move on to another focus: Energy.

First let's review what we learned in our time focusing on Simplicity

1. No one is thinking about you as much as you think they are.
2. Follow your passion, no matter what people think.
3. Cleaning out your closet is incredibly satisfying.
4. Take your time while licking envelopes.
5. Tap dance is difficult.
6. Take time to talk to people.
7. Bring an extra pair of shoes.
8. Be glad.
9. Less choices, more decisions.
10. Watch more Boy Meets World.

One additional thing that I learned was emphasized in Gretchen Rubin's book. "Happiness does not always make you happy," she says. Sometimes, in concentrating on happiness throughout the day, you end up seeing all of the ways you fail to be happy. You become acutely aware of the purse-lipped looks of disapproval you give people, and the way you feel like drawing frowny-faces on forms that were incorrectly filled out and then slapping them on the person's desk like a school marm. Discouraging as this awareness can be, at least I am aware of it now. I notice when I am not compartmentalizing, or not being grateful, and isn't that the very root of change?

In the spirit of change, my next segment will be on Energy. I will not drop my goals from Simplicity, but add to them. I notice that I am significantly more awesome person when I have energy. I am more fun, wittier, and I get a whole bundle more done throughout the day. We all complain about energy. Somehow, when we join the workforce, our ability to pull all-nighters, take an exam, and then party on a boat until 5 am dwindles(I'm sorry, was that not your college experience?). How do we get our energy back when our lives are oh so busy and taxing? I plan to focus on three things this segment.

Eating better
Moving more
Acting energetic

I'll elaborate more tomorrow, but let's look at my ratings for today

Clean it up :(
Do it right :)
Let it go :)
Eating better :/
Moving More :)
Acting energetic :)

"What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy"~Voltaire

photo by http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs41/f/2009/048/6/5/Im_on_a_boat___Lonely_Island_by_bradjolly.jpg

What would Mr. Feeny do?

You know you are broke when you are planning to save money by wrapping a gift in magazine pages, and then you realize you can't afford to by a magazine.

In The Happiness Project, Rubin discusses the important of pursuing your passion. I see a lot of people struggle with finding their passion. Many often work on something they feel they should be passionate about. They should listen to more NPR, read more biographies, or play online poker. Whether it's what their friends do or what society thinks they should do, they pick something, that in the end doesn't bring them happiness. To find and pursue your passion, you must be truly honest with yourself as to what you like.

For example, for a while, I made a rule to turn off the TV during breakfast. I thought it would help me appreciate the quiet and my mixture of slow-cook oatmeal and peanut butter (Remember what I said about the addiction? I wasn't kidding). The truth is, my favorite part of the morning is having Boy Meets World on in the background. I mean, if you need a small jolt of happiness, I highly recommend watching the episode where Tapanga takes the bus from Pittsburgh to see Cory in Philadelphia. Or the one where Eric stalks Tapanga the entire episode and ends up in the couch cushions. Or the one where Sean joins the mob to make money for Christmas presents. Ok, even I know that one is a little far-fetched, but still, it is the perfect way to start my day.

Rubin says that to find your passions, you should look at what you liked when you were 10 years old, because you probably still like them now. The problem is, that people are not willing to admit to liking the same thing they liked when they were 10. Those novels I wrote began to look silly, and I hid the cartoons I used to draw under piles of homework, but why? I love to write, and I love to draw, but because I'm not the best at it I hid my passions away or dismiss them.

This week, I plan to start writing a new children's show I've been thinking of, sing show-tunes at the top of my lungs, and even draw a picture or two. Because one of my "truths of adulthood" as Rubin calls them, is "No one is thinking about you as much as you think they're thinking about you." So, let it go! And watch Boy Meets World. You can learn a lot from Boy Meets World.

Clean it up :/
Do it right :(
Let it go :)

"I'm a damsel, but not the distressed kind, one who's totally calm and in complete control of her own destiny."-Topanga. Boy Meets World

photo by http://boymeetsworld.wikia.com/wiki/William_Daniels

DON'T go home and kick the dog

The rule for women in the workplace is "Never let them see you cry." Personally, I'm curious as to the rules about hiding under your desk or devouring half of the donuts in the second floor office.

I am just the worst at compartmentalizing. I have trouble remembering things, so I keep a to-do list running in my head at all times. This often means that when I'm at work, I'm running through things I need to do for school, and when I'm at school, I'm thinking about the work day, and when I'm at home I'm thinking of buying a pint of Ben & Jerry's to have for dinner. Yeah, like you haven't done that at least once...

Often times this causes me to be distracted and not particularly pleasant. In seeing a group of friends one evening, I found myself unable to make my usual jokes and dreamed of the moment my head would hit the pillow. So, how do you "let it go". How do shed the daily annoyances and stresses and be your usual happy go-lucky self when you're done for the day?

First of all, we love to think that multitasking is a more productive way to get things done, but we're wrong. It's the "I can totally have 12 tabs open on my computer" theory. Studies show that it causes people to be less efficient and more stressed than when we focus on one thing at a time. Basically, I should focus on work at work, school at school, and Pinterest at...well, anytime in between.

Secondly, writing things down has always been an excellent way of letting things go. Creating a physical and thorough to-do list means I don't have to keep it up in my over-capacity brain. It is said that venting doesn't always make you feel better. People think that talking about their bad day will help release stress, but many times it causes you to refocus on it. That being said, I have found that keeping a journal helps me get all the crazy out, and let's me think a little more clearly.

In theatre we always say "Check you baggage at the door," which means, don't let your outside life affect your work in rehearsal. So, maybe if I think of each thing in my life as a different rehearsal, I can check my desire to roll my eyes at the waitress or yell at the cab driver that they HAVE to take my credit card, because IT's the LAW.

When that fails, never underestimate the healing effects of a brief but complete nervous breakdown.

Clean it up :/
Do it right :/
Let it go :)

"Again, don't waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions. Go "Over! Under! Through!" and opinions will change organically when you're the boss. Or they won't. Who cares?

Do your thing and don't care if they like it."~Tina Fey. Bossypants

photo by http://www.realjock.com/gayforums/2257863/?forumpage=3

Papercuts on your tongue or Why I hate Wednesday

Some days you just wake up feeling less than glad. It's hard to look at the shampoo that exploded in your back-pack and think "I'm glad that it's not a jar of tomato sauce" or to forget your dinner at home and think "I'm glad I get to eat this low-carb cardboard proetin bar." I call those days Wednesdays, because for me, they are the WORST.

In my quest to keep things simple this month, I have really strived to "let things go." I've stopped checking audition pages for shows that I could never possibly juggle with my schedule, and I've stopped trying to squeeze in every little party or social event that pops up. It's not easy, because like everyone else, I like to believe I can do it all. What? You mean I'm NOT like Hermione in Harry Potter with her little hour glass that lets her be everywhere at once? Oh, don't worry friends. There are plenty more HP references where that came from.

People often think that the more choices there are, the better. I call this the breakfast cereal policy. Why do we need an entire aisle in our grocery store dedicated to cereal? Don't get me wrong, I love cereal so much that I can't keep in the house or I would eat it for three meals a day. But why do we need 20 different types of Cheerios? Studies show that having too many choices actually makes people more anxious and frustrated than having just a few choices. The reason it is often difficult to make a choice is that you know that while you are gaining one thing, you are also leaving other things behind. If you pick on color crayon out of a box, you are letting go of all your other options. That's why it's easier to pick a color out of a box of 10, rather than a box of 52. Pick one out of the first, you're only leaving nine behind. Pick one out of the latter, you are leaving a whopping 51 crayons that you cannot use.

The point of this ever mature and intellectual Crayola hypothetical, is that I need to stick by my philosophy of having less choices and more decisions. It's fine to have two or three events to choose from, but I should limit it to that. The other important thing is that once you have made the decision, let it go. Often people don't even enjoy their choice, because they are wondering about "what might have been," like the man who doesn't taste his soup, because he's wondering if he should've ordered the salad. It's important to think about your decision, make your decision, then stick with your decision.

Oh, and did I mention I got a papercut on my tongue from licking envelopes today? It hurts about as much as you would imagine.

Clean it up :(
Do it right :(
Let it go :(



"Did you ever have to make up your mind? You pick up on one and leave the other one behind It's not often easy and not often kind, Did you ever have to make up your mind?"

Read more: LOVIN SPOONFUL - DID YOU EVER HAVE TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND LYRICS http://www.metrolyrics.com/did-you-ever-have-to-make-up-your-mind-lyrics-lovin-spoonful.html#ixzz26wzso7Kn
Copied from MetroLyrics.com

photo from http://profilespr.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/what-your-cereal-says-about-you/

The Glad Game

Pollyanna was one of my favorite movies in junior high. First of all, I celebrated Halley Mills entire catalog of work--from the original Parent Trap to her later years on Saved by the Bell: The Early Years (Yes, that's her as Miss Bliss. Such an apporpriate name for the woman who once played Pollyanna, the enternal optimist). I also loved the upbeat, whimsical tone of the movie. It was like a musical without the music.

At a certain point in the movie, Pollyanna makes everyone play "The Glad Game", saying that there is always something to be glad about. In reading The Happiness ProjectI have been thinking a lot about gratitude lately. It seems that I, like many others, am wired to take things for granted. Sure, we all know we are lucky to have food, shelter, jobs, and love, but do we actually FEEL grateful? Compared to some of the third-world countries on this here earth, we have literally everything to the point of excess. Yet, we go through are days feeling like we don't have enough. Shouldn't we be starting the day saying "HOLY COW! LOOK AT ALL MY STUFF!"

Studies show, and I think it is true, that people seem to be made happier by getting than having. I keenly remember the surge of joy I felt when I got my black VW Bug. "Bruiser" (as I named her) and I had some great times together that I remember with fondness now, but at the time seemed commonplace. I got used to having a car, and it became a sort of baseline. Now that I live in the city and have sold the car, I miss it like an old friend.

You might feel the same way about your Iphone. Remember when it came out? Remember how excited you were when you got it? Remember how you couldn't talk to your friends for like, four hours, until you'd played with all the features? Now, it just seems like something you have. Sure, you would be upset if you lost or broke it, but I doubt you wake up every morning, see it on your bureau and exclaim, "OH SNAP! I GOT AN IPHONE!"

How do we feel grateful for the things we have, right now, in the moment? I decided I would spend today playing Pollyanna's "Glad Game". Instead of letting my mind settle on things that were bothering me or negative, I would start every sentence in my head with "I'm glad that..." For example, when I was groggily getting out of bed for my morning run, I thought "I'm glad that I love to run and that I'm fit enought to do it." When the weather was overcast all day I thought, "I'm glad that it's not pouring or 100 degrees outside." When the wind blew up my dress on Walnut I thought, "I'm glad I'm wearing cute underwear."

Sounds corny, right? The wierd thing is, I think it kind of worked! It instantly took my mind of negative things, and redirected it towards the positive. It also helped me to remember not so good times (ie when I was unemployed or when I sprained my ankle and the busses were on strike and I couldn't afford a cab so I literally crutched everywhere. A mile-and-a-half on crutches everyday gives you kickass arm muscles, though). I instincively compared my situation to these times, and actually felt the negativity fade. I plan to use this trick for the rest of the month to instill gratitude in my everyday life. As Gretchen Rubin often says, sometimes you have to act the way you want to feel.

Clean it up :)
Do it right :(
Let it go :)

"Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world."-John Milton

photo by http://dollydilettante.blogspot.com/2007/10/all-about-pollyanna.html