The Happiness Project Toolbox

I am trying out the Happiness Project toolbox for 2010. It's a place where you can create resolutions, checklists, etc. It's a pretty interesting site. I am doing as the site creator did and devoting each month to a different area of my life. Here is my schedule for 2010:

Jan: Consumption and Ownership
Feb: Love and Community
Mar: Energy
Apr: Money
May: Mindfulness
June: Order and Simplicity
Jul: Health and Well-Being
Aug: Creativity and Fun
Sep: Family
Oct: Friends
Nov: Attitude
Dec: Giving

I have some other plans for the year, but more to come on that later. Hopefully, posting this here will keep me honest.

I am a complete nerd in that charts, lists, and check lists really motivate me into action. Because I like having goals and concrete methods of measuring those goals, this kind of project works really well for me. My husband, I'm sure, would roll his eyes. He could never view his life as a series of lists. And that's why he complements me so nicely.

Happy new year and here's to having a plan.

Join Me: Low Impact Month of January

Americans are consumers. Just look at the rhetoric that surrounds the current economic crisis. We have the opportunity to reevalute as a society what our values are and to restructure our economic system so that it is more responsible (environmentally and socially) as well as more sustainable (because let's face it, an ever-increasing cycle of production-and-consumption has to crash at some point). But instead, we're concerned with how much people are spending.

However, we can each make a difference individually by our consumption habits, which is why I am inviting anyone and everyone to join me in a month of responsible consumption for January 2010. This doesn't have to be huge: it's as much about making yourself more aware of your spending as it is about anything concrete. So join me. I'd love the company.

I'm hoping to go big here - or maybe more aptly labeled "go really small" - but that isn't necessary for you. You can make a difference in your consumption patterns and your awareness just by working on one element of you consumption for a month.

You could commit to any or all of the following:

• Not buying anything besides basic groceries



• Bringing your own bag to the grocery store



• Bringing your own reusable cup to your favorite coffee shop



• Recycling more - not just cans and bottles - recycle those items you don't use anymore by taking them to FISH (or other local charities) or joining Freecycle.



• Along those same lines, recycle electronic goods. Computers can go to Computer Corps.



• Carpooling/biking/walking as much as possible



• Buying only shade-grown, fair-trade coffee beans



• Turning off lights when not in a room



• Turning off your computer when it's not in use



• Unplugging electrical items and/or cords when not actually using them



• Buy only used items



• Choose products that are more responsible - less packaging, American made (less energy in shipping with strong labor laws) - or made by conscientious companies as suggested by Responsible Companies.Com



• Not buying fast food



• Using cloth napkins



• Put a stop to your junk mail



• Buy only from eco-friendly co-ops like this one



• Volunteer in a community clean-up activity



• Volunteer for a local organization that promotes environmentally or socially responsible behavior, such as Muscle Powered; a local charity, such as Advocates to End Domestic Violence; or a national organization, such as Grassroots Recycling Network. (I'll talk more about this later, but much of our consumption habits come from shopping being a hobby. Finding other, more meaningful activites to engage us promotes more responsible consumption.)
  


• Buy organic whenever possible



• Eating vegetarian a couple times a week



• Buy from local artisans, especially for gifts



• Get others involved. Kids love projects, so consider getting a child to commit to one of the above with you and make it a fun family project.

Got any other ideas? Let me know about them.

I restructured my monthly plans. They are posted below. March was a bust, thanks to research papers. I'm hoping to get back on track during April. I'm starting a little late. No worries, though.
New Monthly Challenge
I have revised my monthly plans:
Jan: low-impact consumption- check
Feb: veggies at two meals a day - check
Mar: I skipped this month due to research papers
Apr: A blog a day
May: a walk a day
June: A workout a day and a scrapbook page a day
July: Low impact consumption in honor of the Hungry Ghost Festival
Aug: a half hour reading a day, a workout a day
Sep: low-impact consumption
Oct: A workout a day
Nov: A thank you card a day
Dec: A meditation a day

Hair Cut, Life update

• Took DD to get her first salon haircut last week. It was fun to see her actually sit still for a haircut and fun for me to not have to worry about how I was cutting. I found out that I hadn't been cutting it evenly. Oh, well. She's always cute - with a straight haircut or with a crooked one. Meanwhile, DS liked the "car seat."

• By now, you have probably noticed I haven't been up on the weekly challenge of a blog-a-day. With research papers en masse and DH's sprained ankle, very little has been done around the house or around the computer. No worries. I'm not beating myself up. I'll take March off and be back on the schedule next month.

• I get to give my first Dharma talk next week. It will be on Buddhist teachings on consumerism. It's focus will be American society as the hungry ghosts. Once the outline is finished, I'll post it.

New Monthly Challenge

I have revised my monthly plans:
Jan: low-impact consumption check
Feb: veggies at two meals a day check
Mar: a blog a day
Apr: A scrapbook page a day
May: a walk a day
June: A workout a day
July: Low impact consumption in honor of the Hungry Ghost Festival
Aug: a half hour reading a day
Sep: low-impact consumption
Oct: A workout a day
Nov: A thank you card a day
Dec: A meditation a day

What I Learned from a Month of Low-Impact Consumption

(Note: this is a work in progress.) I have been reflecting a lot lately on what I learned from my month of low-impact consumption for the month of January (even while wandering the aisles of Walgreen's yesterday).

1. Let's start with the obvious: we don't need as much as we think we need. I tell this to overworked teens all the time. They can't get their homework done because they work until 11:30 at night (which is illegal). They have to work because they have to pay for insurance on their car. They have to have a car because . . . they have to get to work. I'm sure you see the problem with that logic, but after all, they are teens, and their brains are still part child. I try explaining to them that they don't need a car, that many people get by without them, that we have these things called buses. Now, telling a 17 year old that she can ride a bus to school is like telling Paris Hilton she only needs one purse. It just doesn't fly. But I never thought it was a lesson I needed to learn. But, alas, I realized the concept of need is a problem for even me. These thoughts went through my head during my low-impact consumption month: I can't finish this scrapbooking page without buying some more coordinating ribbon. I need to buy a new coat. I need a new pair of jeans. Before I finish this making this skirt, I need to buy a new measuring tape. Clearly, I survived a month without buy blue grosgrain ribbon. I cannot survive without food, and I think I can make a case, albeit a weak one, for my need for coffee, but very few things are needed in life. I have promised myself that I'll make the effort to use more appropriate language. I don't need grosgrain ribbon for that scrapbook page, but I think it would be cute. I would like a new jacket, but I'll survive without it. With only one pair of jeans I can squeeze into, another pair would be useful, but one does get me by. I could use a new measure tape, since mine's been sliced, but it's still largely usable.
2. Shopping takes up a lot of time. Not running to Target for tights for my daughter or to Famous Footwear for those "needed" brown tennies or to Old Navy for that great winter sale gave me more time to spend with my children and doing things I enjoy - like sewing, scrapbooking, reading, napping and, of course, meditating. And the not-so-fun, but productive things like grading papers and doing laundry. (The funny thing about the sewing is that I realized I spend so much time shopping for sewing that I don't have time to sew. I have accumulated enough of a "stash" to hold me over for a long time, years if I continue to sew at the slow pace I have been.)
3. I'm not as fragile as I thought. Here in Northern Nevada, we've been having an unusual stream of snow storms. I realized . . . or thought I realized . . . that I needed a new winter coat. The one I currently have fits well enough for me to wear it, but it's a little tight and definitely not zipable. Even with the cold weather, I decided that a not-so-well fitting coat is better than no coat at all, which is what many people, not just in other countries, but in our own town, have for the winter season. Feeling lucky for what we have is a rare commodity in a consumeristic society.
4. Fastfood is really fattening. I lost weight just by not going to McDonald's with my daughter.
5. It really doesn't take that long to make a couple sandwiches.
6. I don't miss fastfood when I don't eat it.
7. I use food as a comfort item. I never thought I did that, but when I had a bad day and didn't have my Starbucks cup to get a comfort-food hot chocolate, I thought my world would implode, which leads me to the next point:
8. I am obsessed with caffeine.
9. My daughter has adopted my consumeristic tendencies. She wasn't like that for years. We could go down the toy aisle of any store, and she'd enjoy looking, but not beg for toys. Not so now. I realized that when I was in the grocery store with her. My plan was to only buy groceries, but it was a struggle getting her out of the store without stickers, ice cream, and coloring books. We did it, though!
10. The best part was that it was truly an exercise in mindfulness. I realized how quickly I jump to the I'll just go to the store and buy it without even considering real need.

New Challenge/Staying Sane with Papers

For the month of February, I have decided that I will eat veggies with at least two meals per day. For some people, this may seem like a no-brainer, but I'm more of a bread and meat and fruits eater, so this could be challenging.

I forgot on Friday, so I started yesterday. It was good for. For lunch, I ate a salad before I ate the rest of my lunch. For dinner, I had hot and sour soup, which - now that I think of it - doesn't really have many veggies at all. Hmm... I need to pay more attention.

I wanted something that wouldn't mean a lot of extra time, since I will be getting 90 research papers in soon. I won't have much time to do anything besides live and grade, particularly since Jason has a play opening in two weeks and since I have a limited amount of time due to committee due dates. I am working on keeping a positive attitude and trying to find a way I can grade all those papers without giving up the rest of my life. I know it's possible.

My plan:

• Remember to keep a positive attitude and remember that this time is short lived.
• Allow for flexibility. If a paper doesn't get graded in time for committee, so be it. We'll all survive.
• Ask to be subbed out a couple days to grade.
• Use my special ed teachers to plan and teach so that I can grade.
• Use a B6 prep here and there to grade.
• Start deligating more, esp. with department head work.
• Hire a cleaning lady.
• Working out and meditating to help with stress.
• Saying goodbye to sewing and scrapbooking for a while (gotta finish that skirt first!).
• Keep the papers down to 1/2 hour a pop versus the 1 hour allotment I've used in the past.
• Ask my co-teachers to take the lower end special ed students' papers.
• Make sure I give students enough time to write, edit, peer edit, and edit again so that their papers are as good as they can make them.
• Refuse to grade sloppy, unedited papers.
• Ask my friend to babysit once in a while at night so I can grade.

Okay. This isn't therapy. I need to print this list and post if on my mirror and in my car and in my purse and on my computer at school.

The End of an Era

Now that my low-impact month is coming to an end, I am going to have to be careful to not go on a spending spree. There are a few things I truly need, but my list of shopping wants is crazy long. I need to not be such a hungry ghost and spend frivolously.



For February, I think I'm going to try to eat veggies for two meals a day. Sounds boring, I know. Research papers come in during this month, so I can't commit to anything that takes up more time.



Here are tentative monthly plans:

Jan: low-impact consumption

Feb: veggies at two meals a day

Mar: a scrapbook page a day

Apr: A blog a day

May: low-impact consumption

June: A workout a day

July: ?

Aug: ?

Sep: low-impact consumption

Oct: ?

Nov: A thank you card a day

Dec: A meditation a day

Low Impact Consumption

For the month of January, I pledged (along with the members of the Environmental Club at CHS) to a month of low-impact consumptiom. To my surprise, it wasn't as difficult as I expected.

I decided I couldn't buy anything but groceries. I decided later to allow for a couple exceptions: Starbucks as long as I bring my own cup, some pictures for my mom's brag book before she left for her snowbirding trip for two months, a reward for Rosalind, some digi files, and food at restaurants that aren't fast food.

This has been an excellent excercise in mindfulness more than anything. It has taught me that I shop without thinking. I have a number of times immediately thought, "I'll go buy that." Now that the month is coming to an end, the one thing I know I want to buy is a sports bra. I can't even remember most of the other things that I had considered buying, which just goes to show that I don't "need" all those things I think I need. Or for that matter, I don't even really want all those things I think I want.

For next month, I will focus on something else, as is my plan for the year. I think I'll do a couple more low-impact months this year, another month of every day workouts (did that for 21 days this month), a month of thank you cards, a month of meditating (although I'd really like to do that daily anyway) and a month of veggies at two meals a day.

I added a pci of Roz to this post, since my children are much of the reason I'm doing this low-impact month. I want them grow up in a clean environment, and I want them to know that material items do not bring happiness.